Hughes & Hughes Milk Vat Pinot Noir 2023

Description

Brothers Matthew and Jonathan Hughes established Mewstone Vineyard in 2011 on the banks of Tasmania’s D’Entrecasteaux Channel in the tiny hamlet of Flowerpot. The small, boutique vineyard is a former cherry orchard and with some new plantings this year will expand to an ultimate size of just 3.5 hectares. The original plantings consist mostly of Pinot Noir with small plantings of Chardonnay, Syrah, Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc.

Jonny studied winemaking at Lincoln University in New Zealand before gaining further experience in regions as diverse and far-flung as Langhorne Creek, Central Otago, Mornington Peninsula, Barolo, the Hunter Valley and the Okanagan Valley. Back in Tasmania, he was the Assistant Winemaker at Moorilla for seven years, before moving on to a similar role at Pooley Wines in 2016, where the Mewstone and Hughes & Hughes wines are currently made.

Whilst the Mewstone wines are strictly produced from the Flowerpot vineyard, the Hughes & Hughes range of wines brings together fruit sourced from around Tasmania, with the aim of producing wines that are high on both natural acidity and drinkability. In addition, from time to time individual small batches are released that capture the results of investigations into the use of skins, stalks, solids and other fermentation variables.

The Hughes & Hughes range is a venture that focuses more on winemaking. Sourcing quality grapes from other local vineyards allows Jonathan to be more daring with his winemaking endeavours and bring together techniques that he has encountered from his world travels. The Hughes & Hughes range of wines are from purchased fruit mostly from southern Tasmania and as more vineyards develop in the dÉntrecasteaux channel region the aim is to source most of the fruit from this region. All Hughes & Hughes wines are bottled unfined and with low sulphur.

“The Hughes & Hughes range is one of the great examples of producers diversifying in the landscape of fine pinot noir and chardonnay (and sparkling wines) that Tasmania holds aloft. I like the cut of their jib.” Mike Bennie, The Wine Front, June 2019

This wine is fruit from a single vineyard in the North West (White Rock). Harvested on April 11th at 12.6 baume. Whole berries and a few bunches (5%) were fermented in our trusty Milk Vat for 20 days. Gently pumped over once a day while the ferment was most active (4-5 times in total). It was pressed to and matured in oak for ten months (30% new). Bottled unfined and unfiltered.

The 2023 is newly released.  Review for 2022 96 points, James Halliday “Sourced from the White Rock Vineyard; destemmed, not crushed; pressed to and matured in French oak for 10 months. Neither fined nor filtered; 1584 bottles made. Beautiful crimson; a lovely pinot noir in every way. It has precision and grace in abundance. All this from such a tiny fermenter used by countless first-up winemakers.”

RRP $61  *Our Price $55.99*

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