Ten Minutes By Tractor Mornington Peninsula 'Up The Hill' Estate Pinot Noir 2017

Following an average rainfall and relatively warm winter, it was again the spring weather leading up to flowering which caused issues. October was our third wettest on record (96mm vs 62mm average) and November saw our second coldest maximum and minimum temperatures (19.3° vs 20.9°, 9.6° vs 10.9°), consequently the budburst interval (budburst-flowering) was our longest ever – 87 days vs an average of 75 days – and flowering was our latest ever (5 December vs our 21 November average). In the end, due to the excellent February and March, hang time (budburst- harvest) was average – 205 days vs an average of 204 days – and harvest date was close to average – 1 April vs an average of 29 March. Yields are down because of the problems around flowering but summer and early autumn saw long, slow ripening – perfect for our Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.

The grapes for Ten Minutes By Tractor 'Up The Hill' Estate Pinot Noir 2017 vintage were hand-harvested late March-early April. Whole bunches varied with different parcels between 0-10% with the destemmed portion all whole berries, and transferred to a mix of 5 tonne concrete and 1 tonne stainless steel tanks. Held cold for a few days to delay start of indigenous yeast ferment which then typically runs for 25-30 days. Cap management by pump over with some plunging towards the end of the ferment. Following pressing, the wine was transferred to 25% new 228 litre French oak barrels for 11 months. Natural 100% malolactic fermentation before bottling unfined and with minimal filtration.