Light lemon with a green gold hue. The faintest of pink blushes emerges when you swirl the wine around the glass, like some kind of prismatic phosphorescence.
Immediately alluring and inviting, perfumed but warm and slightly heady with a confluence of floral and fruit derived aromatics. Yin and Yang with yellow rose petal and citrus blossom, musk stick and cinnamon, clover honey and pickled ginger with a distance scent of Manuka flowers on the Ying. To the Yang; stone-fruit, rainer cherries, ripe beurre bosc pear, nougat and a hint of quince. All cast across drying river rocks, on a warm and still afternoon.
Electric entry with tensile acidity driving grilled grapefruit and preserved lemon fruit through layers of subtle baking spice, nougat and pistachio complexity. Hints of red cherry and cranberry sorbet add dimension. The quince carries to the palate with additional custard apple and lemon butter. Trademark saline texture builds with time giving way to a rosewater infused tannin scaffold. While there is a lightness and elegance, some serious underlying structure provides depth and an expansive flavour profile. The finish is like glacial silt laced with mica - powdery yet slippery - mineral and silk carried on zesty acidity giving persistence and focus. Absolutely unique.
Break out the hibachi for some miso coated scampi & squid - arigato gozaimasu.
Winemaking: This wine is all about the vineyard and minimal winemaking interference. So, the question is, how to best capture the sense of place and variety with so few levers to pull? Picking in the cool of the morning and whole bunch pressing to ensure minimal phenolic extraction. Gentle juice handling and into ferment with fluffy juice solids has given us fruit expression with a cosy overlay of silky yeast derived texture on a harmonic tannin base. Partial ferment in old French oak adds another dimension of complexity.
