Tillie J Wines Yarra Valley Pinot Noir

A bouquet of fleshy ripe plums and fresh raspberries, layered with savoury hints of charcuterie and freshly cracked black pepper. Elegant yet plush on the palate with notes of juicy wild strawberries, violets, black tea and hint of toasty oak spice on the finish. The parcels of fruit for this wine were sourced from 2 vineyards less than one kilometre away from one another in Gruyere on the Yarra Valley floor. Both are MV6 clones from north west facing slopes on grey loam soils. I farm and manage one site, practicing sustainable viticulture techniques from gentle pruning methods, integrated pest management with the use of beneficial insect species and alternative under vine cultivation techniques to avoid herbicide use. Once in the winery, two thirds of the fruit was destemmed and one third left as whole bunches. Both batches were fermented separately in small open top stainless steel fermenters for primary fermentation. They were inoculated with a Pinot Noir specific yeast strain and the whole bunch portion was sealed and left to begin carbonic fermentation for approximately 3 days. The ferment was then gently foot stomped to release more juice to encourage fermentation. Both batches were gently plunged twice daily for gentle extraction. The wine was then pressed and barrelled down to French oak barriques of which approximately 10% is new oak. There it completed secondary fermentation and further maturation for 9 months before blending, filtration and bottling. This wine is also vegan.