Winery & Vintage Info
Nestled perfectly on North facing slopes which run down to the Derwent River, the vineyard has a perfect aspect for the production of cool climate wine grapes. Prevailing Westerly winds keep good airflow through the vines and air circulation is critical in keeping the vineyard disease free. Derwent Estate practice natural pest & disease management for the vineyard.
From humble beginnings in 1992 of one variety and block, stage 1 of their planting was increased to 4 varieties and over 4.5 hectares by 1997. As Derwent Estate and Grantons reputation grew for producing stunning fruit, keen interest was attracted by several major wine companies for us to grow small parcels of super premium fruit for them. This saw stage 2 of the vineyard development commence in 2003 as a 5.3 hectare planting which supplied grapes for the Bay of Fires Wines and the Penfolds Yattarna label. They currently have 10 hectares under vine which includes 5 different varieties.
Picked at flavour ripeness in small parcels, the grapes for the 2018 Derwent Estate Pinot Noir were in perfect condition on arrival at the winery where 85% of the fruit was gently de-stemmed and 15% as whole bunch. Eventually 20 open fermenters were used. 15% of the must was inoculated with a selected yeast strain, the balance was allowed to ferment naturally. Most batches spent 28 days on skins, all fermenters were hand plunged four times daily. Gently pressed into 100% French oak, 25% new, no sulphur in barrel, malolactic fermentation naturally occurred in spring. A small amount of Sulphur was added prior to bottling, this vintage was filtered. Winery Notes
