The Eyrie Vineyards Pinot Noir 2021

The estate Pinot Noir combines fruit from Eyrie’s five estate vineyards: Sisters, Outcrop, Roland Green, The Eyrie and Daphne. All five sites are in the Dundee Hills AVA at various elevations, ranging from Sisters at 67 metres to Daphne at 260 metres. As you go higher, three things change: the soils get less sedimentary and more volcanic; it gets colder; and it gets windier. So, the Estate Pinot Noir from Eyrie is a great representation of the Dundee Hills AVA through the delicate, perfumed Eyrie lens.

All five sites are farmed organically. The team practises no-till farming and uses no insecticides, herbicides, fertilisers, cover crops or composts. It has been done this way since David Lett established Eyrie Vineyards in 1965, and little (if anything) has changed. The result is some of the state's healthiest, most diverse and organically rich soils.

The 2021 season was warm, with long, dry periods punctuated by short spells of rain. The summer was warm but brought into balance by a cool close to the season in September and October. Chilly nights preserved acid freshness throughout, something Eyrie values deeply. Handpicked fruit was destemmed and fermented naturally in small fermenters ranging from one-tonne bins to five-tonne wooden cuves. Ferments were hand-plunged twice daily before being lightly pressed and aged in primarily old oak (just 8% was new) for 15 months.