Kershaw Elgin Clonal Selection Pinot Noir 2019

Captivating floral attributes underscored by purity, focus and freshness framed by fine powdery tannins yet cushioned by a succulent texture and flavours of black cherry, pomegranate, rose petal and raspberry.

Selected from 7 tiny parcels of Pinot Noir in the Elgin Valley. SA’s coolest wine district, Elgin Valley, benefits from higher altitude, ocean proximity, specific cloud cover sequencing, high cold units and a large diurnal range, enabling the germane grapes, Chardonnay, Syrah and more recently Pinot Noir, to show a sense of place.

• Tukulu (50% gravel, 25% friable clay and 25% sand) giving elegance, freshness and aromatics • Koue Bokkeveld shales, often referred to as decomposed shales, give structure, concentration of flavours and an amplified perfume • Koffieklip, commonly known as Ferricrete, containing pebbles and sandstone, gives delicacy and fruity flavours

The grapes were handpicked into small lug baskets and manually sorted on a conveyor before the stems were removed. The destemmed berries fell onto a vibrating table in order to remove jacks and substandard berries before dropping uncrushed into small 500 kg open-topped fermenters. The grapes underwent a 3 day maceration before spontaneous fermentation began. A gentle delastage program was charted, whereby all the juice ran from the tank daily, to allow any unwanted lees to settle out and for the cap to completely collapse before running the juice back over the crumbled pomace. The grapes remained on skins for 12-18 days before being run off their skins to tank with the remaining marc gently basket pressed. The wine settled overnight before being racked by gravity to barrel. Malolactic proceeded in barrel followed by a light sulphuring after which the finished wine spent around 10-11 months undergoing maturation. During this period each and every barrel was tasted every 6 weeks and notes and scores logged to better understand our knowledge of clonal, soil and barrel selection. No finings were generally necessary, and the wine was simply racked and lightly filtered prior to bottling.

A small number of artisanal coopers were selected, all from Burgundy and only French oak was chosen. Each clone and soil type was micro-vinified as separate batches. Each batch used an algorithm that we developed to ascertain which coopers work best and how many new and used barrels were utilised. Overall, the average in 2019 was 22.4% new oak; 71.9% 228 ltr, 8.6% 300 ltr; 7.2% 500 ltr and 12.5% in breathable eggs.