Winery & Vintage Info
Plantagenet’s vineyard estate has been carved out of the Great Southern's distinctive Marri Soils named after the massive native Marri, or Red Gum trees that grow there.
The soils are ironstone gravelly sandy loams over a base of clay or ironstone rock. The vineyard block sites were selected where good water drainage allows control over vine vigour, one of the most important determinants of fruit quality.
The 2022 Great Southern vintage provided some challenges to viticulturists and winemakers. One of the wettest and coldest winters on record provided a delayed start to the season. The ample soil moisture allowed healthy canopies to flourish. Some further spring rain at flowering reduced crop levels, however the loose bunch set was a blessing and also allowed intense flavour development. Some nice sunny weather helped the vines catch up their development leading into harvest, with only about a two week delay on average. Intermittent rain and heat events meant that the viticulture team needed to be on-song. It was tough but the end result was some intensely flavoured grapes.
The fruit for the 2022 vintage Three Lions Pinot Noir was machine harvested in the cool early hours, was de-stemmed and not crushed to preserve as much whole berry component as possible. After several days of cold soak the must was allowed to warm gradually and inoculated with Pinot specific yeast strain. Gentle extraction from twice daily pump overs was followed by a light pressing to preserve the fruit aromatics and minimise tannin extraction. A short maturation in older French oak and early bottling to preserve freshness.
