2020 Blanc de Noir

Hand-picked from a single block of 1985 “Clone 93” Pinot Noir, this wine has emerged as quite the charming bubbly in our growing sparkling program. Perfectly suitable for special celebrations or everyday enjoyment! 

Pouring into the glass with a delicate, textured mousse and persistent bead, aromas of red apple skin and raspberry crema alongside ripe strawberry and cherry. Savoury notes of beet and earth add intrigue. The palate is tart red apple and cranberry juxtaposed with brioche toast and buttery rhubarb tart. Long, fresh and mineral on the finish, there is a wonderful creaminess that rounds out the palate.

WINEMAKER'S NOTES

The grapes for our 100% Pinot Noir sparkling are typically the first harvested from our estate vineyard each year, picked early to allow for low alcohol and elevated acidity. The wine was fermented in old puncheons with a champagne specific yeast culture. The base wine then spent 7 months on fermentation lees in barrel before going “en tirage” for secondary fermentation in bottle. After 22 months on lees in bottle the wine was disgorged in March of 2023 with a small amount of dosage wine from the 2020 Pinot Noir added to bring out the toastiness.

TECHNICAL INFO

100% Pinot Noir
Alcohol: 12.4%
Residual Sweetness: 7.46 g/L
pH: 3.04
Total Acidity: 7.24 g/L

  • VINTAGE NOTES

    The 2020 vintage will be remembered as small but mighty, in a year we will of course never forget. Mirroring the winter of 2019, a cold snap of under -20 C in late February harmed several vines and buds but fortunately damage was not as extensive as the previous year. Above average rainfall in May charged the soil with water and gave the vines everything they needed to hit the ground running after bud break. A period of cool and wet weather in early July coincided with flowering, unfortunately resulting in uneven berry set across the property.

    Summer was about as good as the vineyard crew could have hoped for: lots of sunshine, warm temperatures but not too much excessive heat. Vine growth caught up but we eased into harvest a week later than usual, in the second week of September. Luckily, smoky skies on the early days of harvest quickly dissipated so that we enjoyed clear days for the remainder of harvest. Dry conditions and mild temperatures allowed us to pick each block at perfect maturity. Unlike in previous years, the first frost (and snow!) did not arrive until late October, and
    we escaped harvesting our last bunches in whiteout conditions by only 12 hours!