Notes:

2007 Earth Smoke Pinot Noir

Only one barrel produced (due to poor weather during flowering), from our east-facing home block. Clay-limestone soils: 30% clay, 12-15% active lime. Biodynamic from the beginning.
Late April pick, 100% hand destemmed. Ambient soak of 5-7 days, warm vineyard yeast fermentation, 27-28 day cuvaison. Natural, spring malolactic. Twelve months on original lees in a one-year-old French barrique; bottled unfined and unfiltered, with the moon in Leo, June 2008. Alcohol 11.8%, pH 3.85. Production: 22 cases.

Limpid, light ruby, with leanings towards garnet. (As in 2006, less starkly hued than the Angel Flower, but no less saturated.)

Fascinating aromatic panoply of fresh red things - redcurrant, rhubarb, fraises des bois - and ripe, leaf-driven scents - strawberry leaf, cherry branch, rosehip, jasmine tea; also delicate soil notes. At only 11.8% alcohol, certainly no jam or preserves here: much more flower, bud, fruit, leaf.

Delicate but dimensional, subtle and expansive. Fresh red and earthy flavors of tiny beets, first strawberries, and thimbleberry. Something here that recalls an early spring day; certainly not the "ripeness is all", weight and torpor and gravidity, of late autumn. Focused, long, quiet, but determined.

2007 Angel Flower Pinot Noir

Again, a mere barrel produced, here from our north-facing home block. Denser, shallower soils, still clay-limestone: 20% clay, 3-7% active lime. Also biodynamic from inception.

Mid-April pick, 100% hand destemmed. Ambient soak of 5-7 days, warm vineyard yeast fermentation, 27-28 day cuvaison. Natural, spring malolactic. Twelve months on original lees in a single one-year-old French barrique; bottled unfined and unfiltered, with the moon in Leo, June 2008. Alcohol 12%, pH 3.75. Production: 22 cases.

Confident, extroverted, ruby red.
A show of sunshine, charm and spice: for Austen fans, Lydia Bennett to the Earth Smoke's Elizabeth. Roses, red berries in cream, and cinnamon petits fours. Exquisitely well-mannered, not a sullen bow in its quiver. On the palate, serious and fine, with overt (for lack of a better word) breed. Still pretty and charming, but with the informing grey matter of limestone soils. Behind the smiles and corsage, there is depth and drive, tenacity and wit, spark and grit.

2007 was a vintage at home we hope no time soon to re-experience; and yet it gives us confidence (prejudice?) and pride to see our young vineyards prove true, in such difficult circumstances.

2008 Calvert Pinot Noir

A sufficient, but small-berried harvest from this beautiful Bannockburn site, gratefully received after the penury of the poor-flowering 2007 vintage. Managed biodynamically by the consistently brilliant team at Felton Road. Soils of schist and quartz sand.

Hand picked, 75% destemmed, thus 25% whole cluster, transferred by gravity to tank. Ambient soak of 3-5 days, warm indigenous yeast fermentation, 27-28 day cuvaison. Natural, spring malolactic. Fourteen months on original lees in French barriques (25% new); bottled unfined and unfiltered on the winter equinox, June 2009. Alcohol 14.3%, pH 3.71. Production: 700 cases.

Ruby/black, with purple tinges.
Thyme branch, creosote, raspberry puree; a note of bruised blackberries in fresh cream. Reelingly floral: hedgerose, nasturtium, lavender. An intriguing muscat/orange zest component - musk this year in place of spice. Rich and broad, expansive, alluring and inviting without becoming profligate; very ripe, something almost essential, but nothing reduced or preserved; really saturates the palate and senses, in a lush but invigorating way. May well tread the line between lust and listen, but there's content here for anyone inclined to attend.

2007 Eaton Family Pinot Noir

2.4 tonnes/acre from a steeply sloping, close planted, north facing vineyard in the Omaka Valley. Dense, clay soils.

Hand picked, 85% destemmed, 15% whole cluster, transferred by gravity to tank. Ambient soak of 5-7 days, warm indigenous yeast fermentation, 27-28 day cuvaison. Natural, spring malolactic. Fifteen months on original lees in French barriques (33% new); bottled unfined and unfiltered on the winter equinox, June 2008. Alcohol 14.2%, pH 3.65. Production: 870 cases.

Deep ruby/garnet.
Petits fruits rouges: cherry, redcurrant, wild strawberry; floral and spicy: primrose, cinnamon, nutmeg; also the dusty/earthy note so typical of this site. Sappy and bright, juicy and insistent; red fruit coulis, redcurrant jelly, delicate notes of cherry and red licorice, and a dusty/spicy register; shows particularly fine tannins. This vineyard has been sold to new owners, so a bittersweet wine: our best example yet, and alas, our last.

2007 Howell Family Cabernet Franc

2 tonnes/acre from a tiny parcel (1.9 acres) on sandy red loam soils, in the Bridge Pa triangle of Hawke's Bay. Hand picked, 100% destemmed, transferred by gravity to tank. Ambient soak of 5 days, warm indigenous yeast fermentation, 55 day cuvaison. Natural, spring malolactic. Twenty months on original lees in French barriques (35% new); bottled unfined and unfiltered on the summer equinox, December 2008. Alcohol 14.2%, pH 3.80. Production: 280 cases.

Deep ruby/black, with purple lights.
Hugely perfumed: fruit, violets and furred game, and a tapenade-like mix of olive, black pepper, and herbs, especially savory and thyme. Black fruits turn redder with air: blackberry morphing to raspberry. Prettily floral and just slightly feral at the same time: hare served at a table set with irises.
Layered and lush, both dense and plush: a weighted pile of velvet. Far-reaching flavours of raspberry, clove, bramble and brine; and mouth-coating, powder-fine tannins. Surprisingly fresh and cool, given the ripeness of the fruit. Finishes fine and concise and long, after the almost bawdy mid-palate sweetness.

2008 Kerner Estate Pinot Blanc

2.1 tonnes/acre from this cool, strong-soiled site on Fareham Lane in the Waihopai Valley.

Poor flowering yielded a very small crop of mostly tiny berries. Hand picked, whole bunch pressed, no settling; indigenous yeast fermentation lasting 10 months, in used French oak, primarily 450L puncheons. Bottled March 2009. Alcohol 14.6%, pH 3.60, RS 1.9 g/l. Production 300 cases.

Burnished yellow gold.
Beguiling nose of white blossom, wet stone, pear skin, pate brisee; youthfully forceful, but not without latent depth and nuance.
Great power and concentration, but manages to convey detail and succulence: begins with a challenge of stone and spice, then offers a truce of fresh white peach and baked apricot, finishes with a resolution of fruit and extract. Still boisterous and new, it will be fascinating to watch this wine temper and settle with time. For us, the best raw material we've been gifted by this block.

2008 Hille Late Harvest Semillon

1.7 tonnes/acre, 90% noble rot, 10% dessicated, ripe, yellow berries, a whole vineyard pick, for greatest site expression. From a maligned Marlborough vintage for dry whites from late varieties, and rightly so: we waited for ripe flavours in the non-botrytis-affected fruit, while noble rot continued to advance, and eventually consigned ourselves to no dry Semillon this year. Our reward: the sun did eventually reemerge, the berries shrivelled beautifully, and we were gifted this unique wine, from a season the likes of which we'll probably never see again.

Collected at 39 brix, whole bunch pressed, no enzymes or sulfur or fining "agents" added. Unsettled juice fermented with vineyard yeasts for 19 months, in 450L French hogsheads, 60% new. Bottled unfined, filtered, on the summer equinox, December 2009. 13.4% alcohol, pH 3.45, TA 6.7, RS 100g/l. Production: 150 dozen full bottles, 130 dozen half bottles.

Luminous, viscous, deep-lighted gold.
Heady musky/floral/spicy bouquet, multifaceted and complex: beeswax, lanolin, talcum powder, candied ginger, dried orange peel, verbena, citrus blossom, and a suggestion of vanilla bean.
Lovely lift and floral sweetness, with an undercurrent of blossom honey and stony acidity; really fresh and pretty, light-footed and charming, for so concentrated and age-worthy a wine.

2007 Hille Semillon (Dry)

3.2 tonnes/acre from this vineyard at the very top of the Brancott valley; remorselessly stony soils and a long growing season.

Hand picked in four tries, whole bunch pressed, no settling, indigenous yeast fermentation of 13 months, in French oak, primarily 500 litre puncheons (50% new). Full, natural, spring malolactic. Bottled May 2008 after 15 months on original lees. A blend of 95% Semillon, 5% Sauvignon Blanc. Alcohol 13.5%, pH 3.19, RS 2.4 g/l. Production: 450 cases.

Straw yellow. (See notes above re: clarity.)
First nose of sweet herbs - chervil, fennel, lovage - then opens abruptly to preserved lemon, alyssum, board wax, and toast.
Urgent, implosive, adamant; flavours of lemon curd, butterscotch, and wet stone; tight, electric, and very long. An intellectual, provocative wine.

2007 Riverbrook Riesling

3.5 tonnes/acre from this close-planted vineyard on Brancott Valley Road; silt-bound gravels.

An assemblage of two wines, from two picks: 85% clean, small-berried, loose-bunched fruit, fermented nearly dry, and 15% late-picked fruit with purely noble rot (our intention had been to make two wines, until we discovered that they longed to be together, a single, complete expression of season and site). Hand picked, whole bunch pressed, no settling. Indigenous fermentation of 9 months (dry), and 13 months (botrytised), respectively. Bottled May 2008. Alcohol 12.5%, pH 3.27, TA 5.7 g/l, RS 20g/l. Production 280 cases.

Very pale white gold.
A very different aromatic expression from that of the Lebecca above: more tropical fruit - guava, pineapple - but also notes of nut oil, hot rock, sea spray/iodine, Indian spice; and an attractive, wintergreen lift.
Musky and mineral on the palate; nuts again, and red and brown spice; finishes clean and fluid, long and cool.

2007 Lebecca Riesling

3.7 tonnes/acre from this vineyard on Wratts Road in Rapaura; deep, gravelly silts. Ripe, clean, golden fruit, with no botrytis. Hand picked, whole bunch pressed, lightly settled. Indigenous yeast fermentation of 5 months, which stopped naturally. Held in tank on fine lees for another 8 months. Bottled May 2008. Alcohol 11.0%, pH 3.15, TA 6.4g/l, RS 34g/l. Production 350 cases.
Pale white gold.

Fresh, and ripe; comice pear, white peach, red delicious apple; lifted and floral - honeysuckle, alyssum, cherry blossom; wet stone.

Compact and juicy, flavours of ripe pear, red apple and talc; lightly sweet floral notes play through the phenolic architecture of the wine; apt balance of acid and sugar, so that the sweetness seems to disappear on the long, minerally finish.

For tasting notes on previous release wines, please click here.

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