Rippon - Gamay 2022

Rippon - Gamay 2022

NZD$75.00
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Description

Here it is: lovingly grown, wild fermented, barrel matured. No nutrients, no filtering or fining of any kind, the barest whisper of sulphur, a full skin, carbonic maceration Gamay Noir. It’s completely alive and quite beautiful. As much as we note that schist’s compression and foliated structure can issue wines of precision and detail, here schist’s refractive, luminous nature shines a direct, unadulterated light onto Gamay’s own primary fruit and spice.

 

Vineyard/vines:  Planted in 1987 on their own roots.  3800 per hectare.  Soils:  ancient ejection cone of Schist gravels (Tinker's Field).

Handling:  Picked by hand into 10kg cases allowing fruit to arrive at the winery's sorting table perfectly intact.   It was placed into its fermentation tank without de-stemming (89% whole cluster) and with no sulphur dioxide added.

Fermentation: The winery's resident yeast population (non-inoculated) fermented the fruit in a closed environment saturated in carbon dioxide). Reaching a maximum temperature of 25C during 16 days of fermentation, it remained on its skins for 16 days and was then pressed and run into neutral oak barrels for 8 months. It naturally went through its malolactic fermentation in springtime and was then racked, blended and run into bottle without filtering, fining or any sulphur dioxide additions.

 

--------THE PRODUCER--------

Rippon Vineyards

A complete farm entity, Rippon is a unique and distinct parcel of land on the shore of Lake Wanaka which, for over a hundred years, has been cared for by successive generations of the Mills family. It is Wanaka’s oldest vineyard and the Mills family chose well as the temperate climate helps with consistency. They also secured one of the most scene vineyards in New Zealand. 

 

--------THE GRAPE--------

Gamay Noir

Gamay is the red grape of the Beaujolais region which is sandwiched between Burgundy and the Rhone Valley in France. Consequently it is almost like an amalgam of Pinot Noir (of Burgundy) and the Syrah (of the Rhone) as it is light and floral in flavour but with a deeper colour. The best examples are found amongst the 10 grand cru regions of Beaujolais where it produces wines with depth and red and purple fruit flavours.

 

--------THE REGION--------

Central Otago

Central Otago is one of the most southerly wine regions in the world and it is most commonly referred to as Pinot Central, in New Zealand. It has a long history of winemaking dating back to the mid 1800s and in fact a 'Burgundy' from Central Otago won a gold medal in a Sydney wine competition in 1881. A few winemakers including Alan Brady helped to craft it into a leading Pinot Noir region for the world thanks to his fruit-bombs. Many fantastic aromatic white wines excel here also.