SHEILD Pinot Noir 2023

Reviews and accolades

Cameron Douglas MS: 92/100.  An attractive bouquet of ripe berry fruits, spice and wood smoke. A dry wine touches the palate with layers of complexity from boysenberry and dark cherry, some wood spices and generous textured mouthfeel. Fine tannins and acidity deliver contrast and structure, mouthfeel and length. A lovely wine, balanced and well made with best drinking from late 2024 through 2029.

Tasting note

An opaque ruby colour announces the darker fruits to be found in this wine. Soft yet balanced acidity underpinning the perfume and flavours of black cherry and plum. Medium to full bodied the palate is plush, gently spiced, and structured thanks to tannins that are velvet smooth. The finish leaves a lasting impression that is gently warming and just a little earthy.

Aromas and flavours:

Additional information

Wine type: Red wine

Varietal: 100% Pinot Noir

Food match: Try it alongside game birds such as quail, turkey, and duck; with a fillet of grilled salmon; or equally with pork, veal, lamb or venison.

Vineyards: Whenua Matua (Moutere), , Livingston Road and Twin Rivers (Waimea Plains), Nelson, New Zealand

Soil type: Moutere Clays and Stoney Alluvial.

Vintage 2023: Winter 2022 was not especially cold as local sea temperatures remained warmish and influenced the land. Precipitation on the other hand was frequent, and sometimes heavy. Budburst was again early as Blair and Trudy have become accustomed to with the La Nina dominant weather umbrella. Spring growth was also vigorous with water at field capacity in the soils, and warmer temperatures. The energetic spring conditions proved challenging for flowering and fruitset resulting in variability within varieties and across regional sites. Periodic rain events continued through summer and the vineyard vigor continued as well. Temperatures remained warm so fruit development was not retarded. Fingers were crossed from verasion and with a large amount of luck the rain held off and fruit was allowed to ripen and be harvested. Picking started early March with the Rose and was completed in a relatively short four week period. Grapes were once again clean and ripe.

Regional climate: Nelson’s sheltered topography gives protection from strong winds; combined with its proximity to the sea this gives milder temperatures than other South Island regions, mitigating frost risk. Regularly New Zealand’s sunniest region and with good diurnal variation this helps emphasise varietal character. High sunlight hours and a long growing season give wonderful fruit purity

Winemaking: A trio of Pinot Noir Clones, bring different attributes this wine. In descending order these are Abel (which has a uniquely Kiwi story) which brings good colour and tannin to the wine, Swiss selection 10/5 providing a good structural backbone, and Pommard Clone 5 which has bright berry characters that lend perfume to the nose. The Abel and the CL5 were machined off early in the cool of morning. Then processed to vats with minimal crushing of the berries, to encourage carbonic fermentation characters. Each must was held cool for approximately 5 days with the aim of extracting colour, flavour, and aroma precursors and fine tannins from the skins. Clone 10/5 (which constitutes 40% of the blend) was handpicked and whole bunch fermented. In all instances fermentation was instigated using a commercial yeast strain. Chosen for the characteristics they lend to the wine. There was a German isolate from the Rhine valley which allows some expression of indigenous flora, and two Burgundian isolates chosen for the mouthfeel and perfume they lend to the wine. Pump-overs and plunges were carefully applied to the destemmed musts to manage the alcoholic extraction of components from the skins. Stomping with freshly scrubbed feet and much hilarity was applied daily to the whole bunch vats to slowly release the juice, hence sugar into the hungry ferments. Once each of the wines were dry and the youthful tannins began to relax, the wines were pressed off and settled overnight. Then racked along with only the fine yeast lees, to new and seasoned Hogs Heads. The fine lees were stirred through the wines twice during the winter to add volume to the palate, and to help protect the un-sulphured wine from oxidation. Indigenous bacteria came to the party as soon as Spring began to warm the cellar and malolactic fermentation was completed. This secondary ferment working its magic to soften the acid profile. The wine had 10 months in barrel, before being blended and finished for bottling on the auspicious date of February 29th, 2024.

Alcohol: 13.5% vol

Residual sugar: <1g/l

Bottle size: 0.75l

Notice: contains sulphites

Cellaring potential: 2027+

Closure: Screwcap

Produced and bottled by: Drinks Cabinet Limited, Atawhai, Nelson 7010, New Zealand

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