Technical Information
Variety percentage: 100%
Nebbiolo Picked: 30th March – 7th April 2015
Yield: 25Hl/Ha
Area harvested: 1.7Ha
Average brix: 24.5
Vintage 2015
An absolute cracking vintage for the King Valley, one of the best in recent times! We had near perfect conditions, with a cool dry summer and warm dry autumn, providing steady warm days and cool nights, which are ideal for ripening grapes. These conditions allow the flavours and aromatics to develop in balance with the sugars as the grapes ripen. During vintage, our local scientist said that these conditions would produce vibrant whites, and reds with great flavour, colour and tannin; already we can see that we have some amazingly good wines to look forward to from 2015, with great drinkability and longevity.
Vinification
Since 2003, we have developed new plantings of Nebbiolo with a clone called 220. We had noticed that our best fruit was coming from dry ridges, so our new plantings have been on premier ridge sites. The resulting wines have been richer in colour and concentration of flavour. The grapes for this wine were hand harvested then crushed and de-stemmed. Fermentation start immediately and the juice was inoculated with a yeast strain form Barolo (a region famous for producing Nebbiolo). Fermentation lasted for about five days before the wine was lightly pressed and then allowed to finish fermentation in oak barrels where polymerising helps to soften and round the tannins. Finally, the wine went through malolactic fermentation and was then aged in barrel for 20 months.
Maturation
Type of oak (%): Gamba, Fontainebleau 50%, Jupillies 25%, Allier 20%, Nevers 5%
Oak Age: 20 % New oak Oak toasting: 100% medium
Fining Agent: Light egg white finning
Filtration: cross flow
The Wine
Classic Nebbiolo colour, garnet with a deep brick red hue. On the nose, the wine displays typical Nebbiolo characters of rose petal and violets, with subtle star anise notes keeping your attention. The palate is deep, structured and powerful, all elements we pride ourselves on when working with special varietal. Rich red fruits, spiced plums and red liquorice lead us to solid earthy tannins, and a remarkably bright and generous finish. Perfect with a winter duck ragout.
Final Analysis
Alcohol: 13.3 % Alc/Vol
Acid: 6.3g/L
Bottled: November 2016
Released: June 2019
pH: 3.54