Clos Henri Petit Clos Pinot Noir 2016, Marlborough, New Zealand

Floral notes of lavender and dried rose petal show on the nose followed by berry fruits and savoury aromas. The wine has good balance of freshness and richness with supple tannins, flavours of tangy cherry and a lightly wooded finish. It has some bitterness too, that goes along with its fruity side really well. 2016 vintage is new and round, juicy and more ripe than 2015, with an additional light bitterness.

Food match: Stuffed pork fillet with tapenade or perfect with barbecue meats.

Wine facts:

• organic, sugar free
• grapes: Pinot Noir
• sugar: 0 added sugar, residual sugar <1 g
• sulphites: low sulphites <22 mg
• ABV 13.5%   

Petit Clos, translated from French to mean ‘small enclosed vineyard’, captures the vibrancy of our estate. Petit Clos wines come from our younger vines, from a mixture of soil types.

Viticulture: in the French tradition, our entire vineyard is high densely planted - this forces the vines to compete with one another, resulting in highly concentrated grapes. The younger Pinot vines on our estate are situated on 3 different soil types. All our Pinot Noir is hand-picked in the cool, early mornings to retain fruit integrity.

Winemaking: this wine was fermented in stainless steel open tops and then aged in large (7,500 l) French oak vats for 11 months. Ageing in large oak vats, instead of smaller barrels, gives the great wine balance with subtle oak which enriches structure while retaining aromatic intensity.