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2022 Sailor Seeks Horse Pinot Noir
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WINEMAKER: Paul & Gilli Lipscombe
REGION: Huon Valley, TAS
VARIETY: Pinot Noir
VITICULTURE: Organic/Sustainable
Even though the 2022 season fell into another La Nina event, we had good rainfall early on and then, as seems normal these days, the tap was turned off in the new year. So we had a fairly pleasant, dry, if not particularly sunny summer with a return to more typical yields compared to 20/21/23. After the previous two years it was a relief to use a few more fermenters in the winery with the fruit tasting great and the end of the season finishing off ripening nicely.
Wild ferments, gently plunged twice daily, then left on skins post ferment until the tannins aligned and pressed straight to barrel. 5% whole bunch. 10% new oak, mix of barriques, hogsheads and puncheons. 12 months in oak, 3 months in tank pre-bottling. Sulphured mid-summer. Unfined. | Savoury, blue/red fruit, sappy, classic SSH nose, garrigue, flow.
So, in our pursuit to produce the country’s best Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, we headed to Tasmania and after scouring the state, we decided on the Huon Valley. Neither too dry nor too wet, too warm nor too cold and with two of the most awarded vineyards in Tasmania (Elsewhere and Home Hill), the industry had barely scratched the surface of the myriad of microclimates within the valley. Within a few weeks of arriving, we stumbled upon a dilapidated 6.5ha vineyard, planted in 2005 and then walked away from. Opportunity beckoned. NE-facing slope, sheltered from the prevailing cold south-westerly and planted to six different clones of Pinot; perfect. Half the vines were dead, blackberry above our heads and about one hundred trees littered the vineyard; not-so-perfect. But it wouldn’t be satisfying if it wasn’t challenging. That was one of the reasons we decided to change our lives. If you love what you do and have a plan, then it doesn’t matter what the challenges are, they are surmountable and all-the-more rewarding.