Garagiste Merricks Pinot Noir 2014

Description

Garagiste is definitely one of Mornington Peninsula’s brightest rising stars! Named in honour of the ‘Garagiste’ – ‘garage’ vintners of Bordeaux who thumbed their nose at the rigid traditions of chateaux, winemaker Barney Flanders makes succulent, finely tuned and elegantly crafted cool-climate Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Gris,highlighting the subtleties of the Peninsula’s different sub-regions with small batches of very limited and high quality wines. Fruit is sourced predominantly from highly prized Merricks Grove vineyard, Silverwood vineyard (Balnarring) and Hugh Robinson vineyard in Moorooduc. Since their first release in 2006 their wines are highly sought after, highly regarded and like their labels, very cool!

Sourced from the 19-year-old Merricks Grove vineyard and its grey sandy loam marbled with red ironstone. Up here, the altitude and coastal breezes seem to compress the wines’ fruit leaving a super-refreshing coiled mouth feel though the soils gift a deeper wine Garagiste’s corresponding Pinot from Red Hill. Hand sorted in both vineyard and winery, the 2014 Merricks was native yeast fermented then raised in 300-litre hogsheads (25% new) for 10 months. Bottled unfiltered.

What we love about Garagiste’s Pinots is their finesse, subtlety and complexity. Yes they are fun to drink and speak of where they were grown but there is also something engaging about them – they unfurl in the glass and keep evolving with every sip – a quality they share with great Pinot from around the world. This example exhibits an intense fragrance of cranberry, plum and raspberry complimented by aromas of licorice and clove. The palate is focused, elegant and  long with refreshing, elegant tannins fanning out across the finish. This is all class!

96 points, James Halliday …“Usual winemaking protocol, except destemmed by gravity. A pinot of great power and authority that has absorbed the new oak and used the tannins to its advantage; layers of blood and satsuma plum and other purple fruits in abundance.”    LIMITED STOCK.

RRP $52