Hasher Ernest Pinot Noir 2022

GROWING SEASON NOTE

After a relatively warm winter, which lead to an early bud break, the spring months were exceptionally dry. With the spring storms staying away, there was no wind to disturb the flowers and the superb berry setting gave us high hopes for an easy season with high yields. However, nature threw use a curve ball in the middle of harvest with lots of rain in February and March. We had almost 230 mm of rain in these two months, which is 2,5 times the average. Picking decisions were thus based both on phenolic ripeness and weather forecast. Early pickings allowed lower alcohol wines complemented with exquisite natural acidity.

TASTING NOTE

The 2023 Ernest Pinot Noir displays a vibrant ruby-red hue. The nose opens with wild strawberry, and sour cherry, complemented by sophisticated notes of Earl Grey tea, and distinctive fynbos herbs. A silky entry with soft tannins evolves into a pleasantly grippy finish, while fresh pomegranate and sour cherry flavours are supported by savoury notes and vibrant acidity. This fresher expression of Pinot Noir shows excellent balance and ageing potential.

SOILS: Ancient decomposed granite overlaying a saprolite clay (weathered
mother rock) with quartzite inclusions.
ASPECT & ELEVATION: Northerly slopes at 200 meters above sea level,
along the Onrus River, approximately 5km from the cool South Atlantic
Ocean.
TRELLIS & PLANT DENSITY: Guyot pruned on standard VSP trellis at 4000
plants per Ha as well as high density VSP trellis at 8000 plants per
hectare.
PICKING: Each vineyard was handpicked individually at optimal ripeness.
The first batch was picked 11th of February and the last batch was picked
19th of February.
PROCESSING: The chilled grapes were all sorted by hand before
destemmed and gravity fed into fermenters.
FERMENTATION: Processed and gravity fed into small open top fermenters
to ensure gentle cap submersion during fermentation. The grapes were
partly inoculated with selected yeast strains and the remaining was left to
run wild with native yeast strains. Gentle punch downs used when required,
softly pressed at 1°B, left to settle in stainless steel tank.
MATURATION: Kept in 228L French oak barrels for 3 months before racked
and returned to same barrels for a further 8 months using 27% new wood.

AGEING POTENTIAL: 5 to 12 years

Alc.: 12.6%