The Hermit Ram Ancestral Method Muller Thurgau 750ml

Muller Thurgau is the forgotten grape of the New Zealand vineyard. Widely planted in the 80’s it’s now a bit of a rarity. The wine from the vines that are still planted is these days generally lost in to bulk blends.  The fruit for this wine comes from one of the oldest vineyards in Canterbury. The vines are 35+ years old and produce a miserly amount of grapes per plant. I found the idea of using old vine (for New Zealand) fruit and a completely unfashionable grape for a gently fizzy white too hard to resist.  The grapes were fermented whole cluster in open top fermenters. The open top fermenters were pressed after approximately 2 weeks of carbonic fermentation and pressed to tank for a natural clarification. Some juice was frozen and added back to the wine just prior to bottling for the second fermentation to happen in bottle.  Intensely aromatic, delicately frizzante, cloudy orange with incredible texture, this wine was bottled with nothing added or taken away.

-- Winemaker