Fox & Archer 2019 Creekside Pinot Noir 750ml

Dijon Clone “828” Is planted in silty, rocky soil at about 550 metres above sea level.  The roughly 1 Acre Block is situated on the most eastern part of the Fox Family Vineyard, planted southwest facing for optimal sunlight. During the day It receives late morning and full afternoon sun. Creekside is literally named after an old creek that continues to run down the mountain and stretches along the eastern side of the vineyard block. The Creekside block crops high and needs to be thinned because of its high vigor, large clusters and berry size. It also tends to ripen slightly later due to its cooler eastern location on the Fox Family Vineyard. Harvest is usually in early October, and the fruit is picked when it has reached its optimal ripeness. The fruit is picked into baskets and processed in the morning due to the cooler temperatures that favour pinot noir. With the Creekside it’s destemmed mostly whole berry with no crusher so I don’t over macerate the fruit. I like to treat it a bit more gentil than the other clones due to its thin skin and delicate character. The fermentation is relatively short as I don’t like to let the skins soak too long as the wine will pull in a bit more colour, tannin and oxygen. I will ferment the fruit for around 10-12 days with a mix of wild and cultured yeasts used, I then gently press it off its skins with the use of a basket press. The wine will age in stainless steel and some neutral French oak for roughly 10 months before it goes unfiltered to bottle. I find the Creekside to have a very pretty lifted aromatic profile of dried roses, strawberry and subtle cherry. It has nice mature flavors but is more feminine and delicate on the palate.