2017 Cornelius Armitage Pinot Noir

Rich and powerful bouquet showing dark plum and cherry fruits with spice, bramble notes, earthy characters with cedar oak. A brooding wine with dark fruits dominating the palate with layers of spice, earthy flavors, and cedar oak. This is a powerful Pinot Noir with plenty of ripe tannins and firm acid giving the wine great structure and depth. A wine built for longevity and will reward cellaring over the next 10 to 15 years

Winemaking Region: Bellarine Peninsula, Victoria.

Clone: 114, 115, MV6

Winemaking: Fruit was hand-picked at optimal ripeness. 100% de-stemmed to a small 3 tonne open fermenter and cold soaked for 5 days. Fermentation was wild with the temperature peaking at 28 degrees. The wine was hand plunged daily over the 2 week period the wine was in tank. Pressed to barrel where it was left maturing for 16 months. It was then blended, filtered and bottled.

Oak Use:16 months in Troncais barriques, 1/3 new, 1/3 one & 1/3 two year old.

Cellaring: Now to 2033.

Halliday Wine Companion

This wine, and its Single Vineyard siblings, have been identically vinified except three clones here, MV6 the sole clone in the others. Destemmed, 5 days cold soak, 10-day ferment, matured in French oak (50% new) for 15 months. Complex bouquet; very good mouthfeel and balance throughout the long, spicy red and purple fruits. - James Halliday (19 June 2021)