Tokar Estate Pinot Noir

Region: Yarra Valley, Victoria

VINEYARD: The Gruyere sub-region of the Yarra Valley where Tokar Estate sits, produces a more savoury, dark fruited and structured Pinot Noir than other parts of the Yarra Valley. Our Pinot Noir is made from the fruit of the two Pinot blocks at the entrance of Tokar Estate, planted in 1996 and 1998. The main difference between the blocks is the orientation, Pinot A faces West whilst Pinot B faces East. From one we get structure and power and the other provides prettiness. Both blocks are Pinot clone MV6 and are spur pruned on VSP trellis.

WINEMAKING: The Pinot fruit was picked in late February and was in the fermenters within a matter of minutes. The wine was composed of five small lots with slightly different processing (varying the level of whole bunch inclusion and the amount of destemmed berries, etc). After a cold soak, the ferments were encouraged to proceed with wild yeasts followed by a post ferment maceration to build a structure that would carry the intensity of fruit. The wine was matured in French oak hogsheads (around 10% new) for eight months where they underwent wild malolactic fermentation and remained on lees. The batches were kept separate until undergoing rigorous barrel selection shortly before bottling.

SENSORY ANALYSIS: The colour has a medium red hue and is bright and clear in appearance. Sweet cherry lifts from the glass with orange peel and roses. There is also a savoury edge too with miso and herbs balancing the sweet fruit. The palate has ample fruit but is surprisingly driven and savoury, with relief coming from a burst of boysenberry and cream. Fine chalky tannins and fresh acidity keep everything in line and will see this wine age beyond 5 years (but it is delicious drinking now!).