The Burn Cottage Vineyard Pinot Noir 2021 is a biodynamic masterpiece, showcasing the natural beauty of Lowburn’s terroir. With lively aromas of lavender, thyme, and ripe berries, it offers a complex, mineral-driven character, complemented by a vibrant, tonic-like vitality. This elegant, medium-bodied wine is crafted with minimal intervention, using handpicked grapes and indigenous yeasts, allowing the true expression of Pinot Noir to shine through. With excellent aging potential, it promises to evolve and deepen over time, making it a thrilling and exciting wine to enjoy now or in the future.

Decanter | D 98
Published: Oct 3, 2024
Date: 2024-2032

From the biodynamically farmed home vineyard in Lowburn. A lively and complex character. Lavender, thyme, blueberry, cherry and pomegranate with earth, spice and a dense mineral vein. A lovely sappy, tonic-like vitality that belies the serious core of dense savoury fruit beneath. Very charming. Time will only deepen the layers to explore.

Closure: Screwcap
Alcohol: 13.50%
Body: Medium
Oak: Oaked
Grapes: 100% Pinot Noir

The Wine Advocate | RP 96
Published: Dec 14, 2023
Drink: 2023-2036

The 2021 Burn Cottage Vineyard Pinot Noir is alive and energetic, svelte and composed. As I write this, I am sitting at the bottom of the Burn Cottage Vineyard in Lowburn, looking up the rows. This is a mineral, nuanced expression, with graphite and white tea, pomegranate pearls, raspberry licorice, rosehips and crushed pink peppercorns. This is what I came here for. It’s thrilling, lacy, delicate and focused. Exciting wine, exciting drinking. It sits on the palate nicely—evenly weighted, and it spools through the long finish... yes! 13.5% alcohol, sealed under natural cork.

Jamessuckling.com | JS 94
Published: Oct 25, 2023

Baked strawberries, pomelo zest and potpourri with underlying sweet spices of red licorice and ground cloves. Medium-bodied, finely-grained silky tannins with refreshing acidity. A hint of tomato leaf notes at the end. Zesty and flavorsome. From organically grown grapes. Drink or hold.

Jancisrobinson.com | JR 16.5
Published: Mar 21, 2023
Drink: 2023-2030

Ted Lemon no longer consults here and the wines are made by Claire Mulholland.
Pretty dark purplish crimson. Spicy, intriguing nose and pretty sweet palate entry. California influence? Seems definitely sweeter than most in this organic/biodynamic line-up.

Burncottage.com

At Burn Cottage we believe in minimal intervention winemaking. Our task is to discover the genius of the site and of the individual vineyard blocks within and to allow the wines to reveal it. 

We believe in minimizing sulphur usage and avoiding all additives whenever possible. We avoid the use of cultured yeasts, bacteria, associated nutrient products and filters. We avoid racking whenever possible and do wine work according to lunar and celestial rhythms.

Our grapes are handpicked and then brought to our winery, where we sort through the individual bunches, of which a portion is kept whole with the stalks intact. The balance is then destemmed and the individual berries cross over a second sorting table for inspection by the winery team.

Each block within the respective vineyards is fermented separately in a combination of open top wooden and stainless steel fermenters. The indigenous ferments are nurtured for 17-22 days and given a combination of gentle pump overs and plunge downs before being pressed off and transferred to French barrels. We prefer oak to be a partner and support the wine but not to show overtly, and so we only use 20-30% new oak.

After around 11 months in barrel we then taste, evaluate and select the parcels of wine that will be bottled, unfined and unfiltered as Burn Cottage Vineyard, Moonlight Race and Valli Vineyard. Our wine talks of place, climate, geology and most importantly of the people that make the dream possible.

Label artwork:
The Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily is a fairy tale by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe published in 1795 in Friedrich Schiller's German magazine Die Horen (The Hours). It portrays, in imaginative form, Goethe's impressions of Schiller's Letters on the Aesthetic Education of Man. The story revolves around the crossing and bridging of a river, which represents the divide between the outer life of the senses and the ideal aspirations of the human being.

This is a story about the combining the 'ideal human being' in everyone with 'outer life experiences', the two working in harmony. If this can be achieved then the human will become complete and fulfill his destiny. This was an inspirational story for Steiner and informs his life's work, including Bio-dynamics. The practice of Bio-dynamics can be seen as an undertaking of the "ideal human being" working towards a better way with long term solutions to existing problems. Bio-dynamics is a practice of the 'ideal human' as this approach is in contrast to the short term economic gain approach of chemical fertilization.