Mt Difficulty Pinot Gris 2011
The warm vintage of 2011 has resulted in aromas of white peach and peach blossom mingled with nectarine. The palate displays luscious stone fruit, while the mid palate is full, creamy and well textured. The wine has a rich, mineral driven finish.
Cellaring Potential:
Mt Difficulty Estate Pinot Gris will improve for 4-8 years given optimal vintage and cellaring conditions.
Vintage 2011:
Proper care at all times in the vineyard and winery was the making of vintage 2011. Conditions were difficult but the quality of fruit was very good, provided the right decisions were made. Spring was fantastically settled, which led to excellent flowering and fruit set.
Usual spring conditions actually arrived late, and unsettled weather was the norm right through January and February! Despite this, it was also pretty warm; it was almost too perfect for canopy and bunch development leading to bigger than normal berries, and higher bunch weights as a result. Finally some semblance of normality arrived in March with conditions settling. These conditions continued through autumn, other than one wet spell which highlighted how tender and thin-skinned the berries were this season. In the winery it was a season where the fruit needed empathy, and the direction of the wine was dictated by the fruit.
Vineyards:
The grapes for the wines that carry the Mt Difficulty Estate label are subject to two strict criteria: they are managed under the umbrella of the Mt Difficulty viticultural team and must be sourced from vineyards situated in a very specific area - the South side of the Kawarau River at Bannockburn. Each has a specific terroir, largely influenced by climate, and offers a variety of soil types from open gravels to heavier clays. Mt Difficulty Estate Pinot Gris is blended from five of our Bannockburn vineyards: Templars Hill, Long Gully, Bannockburn Bay, Ferris and Lytefoot. Templars Hill and Lytefoot have a combination of heavy Scotland Point clay soils alternating with the drought prone coarse gravel Bannockburn soils. Long Gully consists of Lochar soils, which are well-drained, high pH soils ideally suited to viticulture. Ferris and Bannockburn Bay are the result of dune formation from parent material blown across the river from the Cromwell flats. They are very low in both fertility and water holding capacity.
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