Blank Canvas Una Volta Central Otago Pinot Noir 2018

Blank Canvas Una Volta Central Otago Pinot Noir 2018"Creamy textured Pinot Noir with ripe plum, dark berry, liquorice, anise and spicy flavours. A classic 'iron fist in a velvet glove' with seemingly good cellaring prospects" Bob Campbell, Master of wine, Real Review, Sep 2020 "A one off parcel of Pinot that offers aromas of violets, as well as blueberries and cherries. The palate has an attractively supple and sleek feel with plush tannins and vibrant acidity, holding blue fruit flavors smooth and

"Creamy-textured Pinot Noir with ripe plum, dark berry, liquorice, anise and spicy flavours. A classic 'iron fist in a velvet glove' with seemingly good cellaring prospects" Bob Campbell, Master of wine, Real Review, Sep 2020

"A one-off parcel of Pinot that offers aromas of violets, as well as blueberries and cherries. The palate has an attractively supple and sleek feel with plush tannins and vibrant acidity, holding blue-fruit flavors smooth and fresh" Nick Stock, Jamessuckling.com, Nov 2020

"This too is very spicy and quite floral in character though the fruit is more deeply pitched, offering up notes of dark pinot fruit and plum nuances. There is a bit more volume as well to the richer though less well-delineated middle weight flavors that conclude in a delicious and complex if mildly edgy finale. This is certainly pretty but the balance is less well-dialed in plus there is a hint of warmth" Allen Meadows, Burghound, Nov 2020

This wine is gloriously immense, with black fruit compote, warm baking spice notes and a rich velvety texture. Maintaining a minimalist philosophy, the wine was bottled without filtration which means nothing is taken away though a natural depost will occur over time.

'Una Volta' means 'One Time'. In 2018 a single vineyard nestled in the Queensberry subregion halfway between Wanaka and Cromwell in Central Otago, offered its pristine fruit. Having both grown up in Central Otago, the bounty of the region always proves tempting, but this fruit was stunning. The nature of this fruit, being from a warm and vibrantly fruity year, presented an excetional situtation where winemakers decided to use only the free-run portion, such was the power and density of the wine following fermentation.  Soils here are mineral rich with glacial origins and mixture of loess, gravels, schist and quartz. Vines are VSP trained and cane pruned, planted in 2003.

2018 was a very special year in Central Otago. Queensberry, located halfway between Cromwell and Wanaka has a distinct, warm and dry microclimate with low-yielding clay and schist oils. The warm and dry Summer allowed for an even and favourable flowering which led into a brilliant and stable Autumn. Small berries ensured high skin to juice ratio which translated into intensity of fruit tannin and flavour in the resulting wine. The grapes for this wine were hand-picked on the 30th March 2018.

This small-parcel was hand-picked from the Queensberry vineyard and trasnported overnight in a refrigerated truck to the winery in Marlborough. It arrived in the early morning where 50% of whole clusters were placed in a single open-top fermenter and crushed the remaining portion over the top. Wild fermentation occured after about 5 days of cold soak. Due to the ripeness and warmth of the year the free-run portion of the wine was selected as the silkiness and density of this portion was beguiling in itself, and was somewhat compromised by adding the overwhelming structural  component of the ressings. This makes for a very distinct and unique Pinot Noir. Subsequently the wine spent 12 months maturing in French oak barriques (35% new) after which the wine was gently racked and bottled without filtration on the 19th June 2019. It was cellared for a further 13 months prior to release. The result is a very dense, fragrant and velvety Pinot Noir expression.