Gamay Rose
Fruit Condition: High yield , good health and ripeness
Picked: 24th April 2011
Handling: Picked by hand into small, 10kg cases allowing the fruit to arrive at the winery’s sorting table intact. The skins and juice are macerated until natural fermentation begins (5-8 days of skin contact), before being pressed. It is then run into a settling tank and left to settle for one day before being racked out into its fermentation tank.
Fermentation: The winery’s resident yeast population (non-inoculated) started fermenting on day 5, reaching a maximum temperature of 24ºC. Pressed on day 8. Reached dryness on day 11 and was immediately taken of its lees and racked.
Bottling date: 18th October 2011
Wine analysis at bottling:
pH 3.1
T.A 9 g/L
Alc. 13.3 % v/v
R.S 2 g/L
Nick’s impression:
The vines seem to be pulling themselves out of a testing time. Yields were extremely high. It’s a real treat to work with a variety planted by so very few in New Zealand, especially as it clearly loves having its feet firmly planted in Rippon’s schist soils (as it is often found in its native Beaujolais); and as a Rosé, its vibrancy and freshness set it apart
Label Design: Nicola Jackson, New Zealand’s Francis Hodgkin Fellow in 1992