Country: New Zealand Region: Central Otago Varietal: Pinot Noir Vintage: 2018 Colour: Red Style: Dry Producer: Wild Earth Wines Wild Earth founder Quintin Quider is an expatriate Californian who has spent many... years living on the South Island. He has gathered a small, dedicated team to produce his Wild Earth range in Central Otago. Established in 1998, Wild Earth Wines owns 35 hectares of vineyards in two of the region's finest locations - at the end of Felton Road overlooking the Kawarau River and in the North Lowburn district beneath the imposing Pisa Range. Vineyards : Most of the grapes for this wine came from the Terraces Vineyards in Felton Road (Bannockburn) and the rest from Wild Earth's Lowburn Vineyard. The Bannockburn vineyard is composed of predominantly Dijon clone vines and Lowburn is planted mainly with clones five and six. Vintage Information The growing season started off well with good soil moisture left over from winter. A cool start to October stalled growth, but a dose of rainfall coupled with a warm spell helped to improve growth immensely in November. A very calm spring in terms of wind, and consistently warm temperatures during flowering and fruit set, made for an excellent start to crop growth. Late in December the temperatures cooled down for about six weeks until the end of January. The season picked up some heat in the latter part of summer with a warmer and drier than average autumn. Harvest began a little earlier than average. The overall fruit quality is good across the board due to low late-season rainfall. Vinification The hand-picked fruit was de-stemmed into five separate stainless steel tanks to undergo a period of cold soak before being inoculated with selected yeasts to carry out the fermentation. The wine was aged in French oak barriques, of which 29% was new oak, for approximately 12 months. Tasting Notes Wild Earth Pinot Noir 2018 has a deep purple colour. On the nose it is perfumed with dark cherry and plum aromas together with violets and savoury notes of leather, mushroom and smoke. Medium-full bodied, the palate is full, even and accessible. Flavours of dark cherry and berry fruit shine though while the fine-grained tannins and well-integrated acidity give character and structure to the wine.