Lingua Franca Estate Eola-Amity Hills Pinot Noir 2022

A cold and rainy spring led to a late frost that devastated the Chardonnay crop. However, the end of June brought a weeklong heat wave of 35-40°C that helped kickstart the period of bloom. July was calm and moderate with little rain. Thankfully, the frost had little effect on Pinot Noir, which has a later start, and less exposure. Bloom came the first week of July, and veraison began on Labour Day weekend, finishing a week later. Picking was expedited due to rain pressure, with Pinot harvest starting at the end of the first week of October and ending on October 20th.

The fruit was sorted in the vineyard, hand-picked, then wild-yeast fermented in medium sized concrete and stainless-steel tanks. The Estate Pinot had 19% whole cluster fermentation. The rest of the fruit was destemmed with only whole berries selected for the final wine. The grapes are sorted first in the vineyard and then by hand and machine at the crush pad. Bins of whole berries are carried by forklift to the stainless-steel fermenters. Fermentation is spontaneous with wild yeast as is malolactic. Punch downs are done by traditional pigeage. After fermentation, the Estate Pinot Noir 2022 was aged in a combination of 25% new and 75% old French oak barriques for 12 months and four in tank, prior to bottling.