Description
VALLI is the personal vocation of pioneering winemaker Grant Taylor. Grant’s name is synonymous with Otago Pinot Noir. He has been crafting wines there since 1993 when there were only 20 ha planted – today there are over 2000. Grant founded VALLI in 1998 with the intention to produce single vineyard Pinot Noirs highlighting the different characteristics of Otago’s sub regions. More than 20 years later, VALLI is doing just that, producing single-vineyard pinot noirs from Gibbston, Bannockburn, and Bendigo in Central Otago and the Waitaki Valley in North Otago, as well as a dry Pinot Gris from Gibbston and a Riesling from Waitaki. In 2015, established Otago winemaker Jen Parr joined Grant in the winery where the two aim to create wines with honesty, integrity, and most of all, a sense of place. When you drink a Valli wine, you are enjoying more than just a wine: you are experiencing a place.
Waitaki – New Zealand’s newest and most exciting wine growing region, with the first commercial vintage being in 2004. Like Burgundy, the soils are limestone based. These soils lend an incredible ethereal nature to the wines, which are highlighted by perfume and minerality. Slightly cooler than Central Otago, the Waitaki Valley should not be cropped as heavily, and therefore Valli’s Waitaki Vineyard is close planted at 5000 vines per hectare with early ripening clones from Dijon and Pommard.
“This vintage we trialed an early pick for extreme freshness (approximately 13% of the final wine), with the balance picked nine days later. The small bunches were hand-harvested and whole bunch pressed for gentle extraction. The pressed juice was warmed in tank, homogenized and put directly to barrel in order to benefit from the full solids during fermentation. The wine was fermented in French oak barriques (25% new) with weekly stirring through malolactic fermentation. It was blended at 11 months and bottled without filtration. Natural sediment may occur.
