BLACK ESTATE SKYPUNCH VIOGNIER 2023

Winery notes (2023 Vintage)
"Our inaugural release from our neighbour’s organic vineyard Skypunch, on the hill beside Home vineyard. White gold hue. Aromas of tangerine, honey suckle, nutmeg, and hints of clove. The pallet is soft end enveloping with a fine salivating finish. Flavours of nectarine, mango, apricot frangipani tart, perhaps. This is an unfiltered wine with small amounts of sediment. Please allow the bottle to stand and settle before pouring. Decanting will allow maximum expression of aroma and purity of fruit to emerge. Drink now to 2033. Only 59 cases made.

Hand harvested grapes were whole bunch pressed over a 4 hour press cycle. The juice was settled for 48 hours, then racked to barrel. No additions were made except vineyard derived yeast propagated from a vineyard starter from the Skypunch vineyard. Juice was fermented in two 228L tight grained French casks (5 years old). The wine matured on fermentation lees and went through full malo-lactic fermentation in early spring. The barrels were racked after 12 months and allowed to settle on fine lees for a further 3 months in barrel then bottled. No fining or f iltration. Contains sulphites. 50ppm Sulphur Dioxide added at bottling.

The Skypunch Vineyard is located 6 kilometres North East of the Waipara Junction, in the Omihi sub-district of Waipara Valley, North Canterbury. This is a north-northwest facing sedimentary clay fan on a gentle hill side slope, just to the west of our Home Block. The soils are mainly Awapuni clay with calcium carbonate deposits. This vineyard is in conversion to becoming certified Organic and BioDynamic. The Viognier vineyard is 0.46 hectares. This vineyard is leased by Black Estate and managed by our vineyard team."