Source: End of July 2019, The Wine Advocate; Issue Date: 31st Jul 2019 (RP-92)

The 2013 Surveyor Thomson Pinot Noir comes from the Lowburn subregion of Central Otago. It’s a warm site in the context of the region, and the wine shows excellent ripeness in its aromas and flavors of black cherries. It’s medium to full-bodied, with supple tannins that turn silky on the finish. Especially now at six years of age, it’s more elegant than powerful, with savory notes of mushroom, leather and loam adding interest on the lingering finish.
Drink Date: 2019 – 2023

Source: Winemaker,

2013 Vintage Report

One thing can be said for growing grapes in Central, every season is different requiring its own blend of engagement with the vines. A higher than average rain fall and more moderate temperatures thru the later part of the season perhaps made this one of the better seasons. Following a moderate spring, a perfect flowering period, with moderate bunch numbers set the season up well. Cooler temperatures and lower light days thru the bunch closure to veraison periods, preserved fruit flavors and held acidity. Down pours, mixed with extended dry periods held canopies in good condition allowing good maturation time on the vine. This resulted in good ripe fruit in perfect conditions but as always the truth is in the glass.

WINEMAKING NOTES:

The pinot was hand harvested into six very distinct lots and fermented separately with 30% whole bunch on average for texture and extraction of more tannin. Indigenous yeast was used to ferment the wines to dryness the wines were hand plunged three times a day. The wines spent about a month on skins, to extract structure, colour, aromatics and finesse. They were then gently drained and pressed to 225 litre French oak barriques. The wines then rested and matured for ten months on yeast lees.100% malolactic fermentation naturally occurred in spring. The wines were then racked and blended before undergoing minimal fining and filtration.

pH: 3.64 TA: 5.9g/ l R/s: 0-1g/l Alc: 13.5%