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Ochota Barrels

2022

‘A Forest’

Pinot Noir   |   Adelaide Hills - Australia
Shelf Talker Spec Sheet Wine Label Bottle Image

About

The opening bass line of ‘A Forest’ by The Cure transcends the listener into a blissful, enigmatic and meditative trance in a place where the road splits into hopeful jubilation or heartfelt loss.  The same holds true for this wine as nearly a decade on in the evolution of this wine, it has found the path of jubilation.  The paradox of Adelaide Hills Pinot Noir is that the highs are there but often disappointment looms.  Amber has achieved a lot of substance with this wine as the depth of flavor really takes it to places it has never gone.  A small vineyard change in 2021 given the catastrophic losses of the previous vintage have resulted in a more textured wine.  The clones remain a blend of triple-seven, D5V12, and the Swiss mother vine clone of MV6.

The grapes were hand-harvested partially destemmed (roughly 1/3 of the lot).  The berries and bunches were kept separate by clone and cold soaked in open-top plastic fermenters until fermentation occurred naturally.  The ferments were gently hand plunged across 1-3 weeks before being basket-pressed to old French barriques and puncheons for maturation.  After six months the wine was bottled without fining or filtration and just a small addition of sulfur.

Stats

  • Grapes: 100% Pinot Noir
  • Vineyard: Scanlon & Virgara Vineyards
  • Vine Age: 16-36-years-old
  • Soil Type: Primarily ironstone riddled clay-loam
  • Viticulture: Practicing organic
  • Fermentation: Native – open-top plastic fermenters (2/3 whole-cluster)
  • Skin Contact: 10-20 days
  • Aging: 6 months in seasoned French barrique and puncheon
  • Alcohol: 12.5%
  • pH: 3.54
  • Total Acidity: 5.4 g/L
  • Total SO2: 35 ppm
  • Total Production: 589 cases
  • UPC: None

Tasting Note

A strikingly floral nose of crushed petals and stems sets this liquid’s framework.  Garrigue and Nordic forest undergrowth taunts damson fruit, pain d’epice and subtle peaty elements into a convincing show of rusticity.  The delicate sappiness holds the taut, yet compact and textural palate in a state of flux, whilst tarry red currants and slightly meaty components enfold long with a savory egress.  Through the experience a medicinal quality flutters, reminiscent of billie hoke, which cannot be ignored by the further travelled.

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Producer


Ochota Barrels

Region


Adelaide Hills

Country


Australia

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