Sailor Seeks Horse Pinot Noir Dijon Clone 2022

Description

This tiny vineyard is one of Australia’s most southerly located in the Huon valley in southern Tasmania. Paul and Gilli Lipscombe own the vineyard and make the wines and both have considerable vineyard and winemaking experience behind them including winning the Jimmy Watson trophy for Home Hill where they have been the winemakers in recent years. From working together in the Languedoc to New Zealand, Oregon and Margaret River they spent a lot of time researching and considering the best possible vineyard site with the aim  to produce Australia’s best Pinot Noir and Chardonnay finally settling on this ideal north facing vineyard which is sheltered from the prevailing south-westerly winds. Best described as a warm site within a cool climate, the soil is free-draining quartz inflicted mudstone soil over clay. The vineyard is planted to a large variety of Dijon clones as well as numerous other clones planted by the previous owners and all vineyard work is done as organically as possible. In 2019 a new planting including some Trousseau has been made on the steep north-west facing slope beside the main vineyard block.

So to the name, where does that come from? Paul & Gilli Lipscombe explain ... “There was a handwritten sign on the wall at the Red Velvet Lounge in Cygnet, our local coffee and cake respite from the Tasmanian weather. It said, “Sailor Seeks Horse” and went on to explain that the author had sailed solo around the world and ridden across the US from coast to coast and back again…on a mule. He’d then decided he wanted to travel around Tasmania by horse but didn’t have one. So, was there anyone who would lend him one? If they didn’t have a horse then a pony would do. It was an idea that resonated with us. Here we were, trying to do something a little bit crazy, without much money and requiring a little bit of help to get to where we wanted to be.”

About the 2022 vintage from the winemaker:  “2022 can be summed up as ‘wet then dry’. Maybe that’s a touch simplistic but less is more as they say. Good canopies early in the season and then a relatively stress-free growing season meant bunches were a little fuller than 2021 and so yields came in at about our average which means a few more bottles this year than last. 

While it was dry at the end of summer and temperatures were fairly normal, it wasn’t particularly sunny and as the fruit came in we had an inkling that it was a good Huldufólk Chardonnay year but we’d have to see whether we could find a Huldufólk Pinot. As it turned out, there were no single/double barrel Pinot combinations that were as complete as previous iterations and so we decided to see what a blend of all the Dijon clones (115, 114, 777) together would look like. As both fruit and wine they are often quite different to the ‘older’ clones and tend to be lower yielding and ‘purer’. It’s easy to reach for the term ‘Burgundian’ in this context and while it’s a broad brush it gets you to the destination quicker than a bunch of flavour/texture descriptors. Perhaps. Either way, we loved the wine so we decided to bottle it!”

“Mix of 777, 115. 114. Same treatment during ferment then 24% new oak and no whole bunch. Elevage same as the main Pinot Noir. Strawberry, cream, sandalwood, weight, lightness of touch combined with structure, sapid.” Paul Lipscombe.

96 points, Dave Brookes, Halliday Wine Companion “A blend of pinot noir clones 777, 115 and 114 from the Huon Valley; destemmed, wild ferment, 12 months’ maturation in oak (24% new). Wild strawberry and red and dark cherry fruit tones with a touch of cranberry lift. Hints of exotic spice, dried flowering herbs, sous bois, roast duck, pressed citrus blossom and young ginger. Svelte and sapid, with a light meaty edge, gypsum-dust tannins and a peacock’s tail of spice, red fruits and game.”

RRP $99  Our Special Price $89.99 – VERY LIMITED