Single Vineyard Wines
Mt Difficulty Mansons Farm Pinot Gris 2011
Made in a late harvest style with residual sugar of 90gL-1, this rich & unctuous wine displays bold citrus and stone fruit aromas. These same fruits exlode on the palate with unrestrained enthusiasm, continuing right through the palate. The residual sugar helps to bring richness and balance to the wine without being cloying. This wine will age well, developing some delicious oiliness over time, and is well suited to most food types.
Cellaring Potential:
Mansons Farm Pinot Gris will improve for 5-8 years given optimal vintage and cellaring conditions.
Vintage:
Proper care at all times in the vineyard and winery was the making of vintage 2011. Conditions were difficult but the quality of fruit was very good, provided the right decisions were made.
Spring was fantastically settled, which led to excellent flowering and fruit set. Usual spring conditions actually arrived late, and unsettled weather was the norm right through January and February! Despite this, it was also pretty warm; it was almost too perfect for canopy and bunch development leading to bigger than normal berries, and higher bunch weights as a result. Finally some semblance of normality arrived in March with conditions settling. These conditions continued through autumn, other than one wet spell which highlighted how tender and thin-skinned the berries were this season. In the winery it was a season where the fruit needed empathy, and the direction of the wine was dictated by the fruit.
Vineyard:
The grapes for the wines that carry the Mt Difficulty label are subject to two strict criteria: they are managed under the umbrella of the Mt Difficulty viticultural team and must be sourced from vineyards situated in a very specific area - the South side of the Kawarau River at Bannockburn. Mt Difficulty Single Vineyard wines are even more site specific, created to express the terroir from which they come, and thus Mt Difficulty Mansons Farm Pinot Gris is the essence of the vineyard itself. Mansons Farm is made up of two soil types: fine Bannockburn soil and Molyneux soils. Bannockburn soil is classified as man-made having come about as a result of hydraulic mining and sluicing in the higher ground on the south side of Felton Road. Molyneux soils are gravels formed from schist and greywacke with a thin cover of silt or sand. They are drought-prone and not fertile, but are suitable to deep-rooted crops when managed carefully.
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Mt Difficulty Long Gully Pinot Noir 2009
This is the fourth Long Gully Single Vineyard Pinot Noir. Long Gully has always displayed classic red to black forest berry characters and for this cooler vintage blackcurrent and boysenberry really shine through. These same berries dominate the entry onto the palate, and flow in a rich and sensuous vein of fruit through the mid-palate. The wine finishes strongly with masculine fine grained tannin flowing into red berry fruit.
CELLARING POTENTIAL:
Mt Difficulty Long Gully Pinot Noir will improve for 10 -15 years given optimal cellaring conditions.
Vintage:
2009 was a vintage with excellent flavour definition – intense cool varietal flavours with excellent concentration and typically high acidity providing lovely focus on the finish.
A cooler vintage; the volume of the harvest was down 15% on average. Climatically there was a good start to the season, but December was slightly wetter than usual which reduced bunch numbers. A typically turbulent January was followed by a cooler, wet February which slowed down vine growth. Good canopy management was essential, with canopies left as open as possible to minimise the effects of the weather. Central Otago provided its usual long, fine, warm autumn but a week into vintage a cold spell brought on a cold response in the vines. This hurried the ripening process considerably; shortening and intensifying the season.
Vineyard:
The grapes for the wines that carry the Mt Difficulty label are subject to two strict criteria: they are managed under the umbrella of the Mt Difficulty viticultural team and must be sourced from vineyards situated in a very specific area - the South side of the Kawarau River at Bannockburn. Mt Difficulty Single Vineyard wines are even more site specific, created to express the terroir from which they come, and thus Mt Difficulty Long Gully Pinot Noir is the essence of the vineyard itself. Long Gully has Lochar soils with thin and wavy clay pans which are deep enough to cause no impediment to roots or drainage. These are well-drained, high pH soils ideally suited to viticulture. They generally have a 30 cm depth of top soil over fine to moderately coarse gravels. Long Gully has five different clones of Pinot Noir planted - 5, 6, 10/5, 113 and 115.
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Mt Difficulty Pipeclay Terrace Pinot Noir 2009
Our Single Vineyard Pinot Noirs are made in limited quantities and are not produced every year. This vintage was distinctive showing classic Pipeclay Stella cherry and blackberry with a slight spice kick and lovely light violet florals. The wine displays a strong dark berry entry, which moves into a rich and sensuous mid-palate. The wine finishes strongly with a combination of fruit and finely grained structural tannin.2009 was a vintage with excellent flavour definition – intense cool varietal flavours with excellent concentration and typically high acidity providing lovely focus on the finish.
CELLARING POTENTIAL:
Mt Difficulty Pipeclay Terrace Pinot Noir will improve for 10 -15 years given optimal cellaring conditions.
Vintage:
A cooler vintage; the volume of the harvest was down 15% on average. Climatically there was a good start to the season, but December was slightly wetter than usual which reduced bunch numbers. A typically turbulent January was followed by a cooler, wet February which slowed down vine growth. Good canopy management was essential, with canopies left as open as possible to minimise the effects of the weather. Central Otago provided its usual long, fine, warm autumn but a week into vintage a cold spell brought on a cold response in the vines. This hurried the ripening process considerably, shortening and intensifying the season.
Vineyard:
The grapes for the wines that carry the Mt Difficulty label are subject to two strict criteria: they are managed under the umbrella of the Mt Difficulty viticultural team and must be sourced from vineyards situated in a very specific area - the South side of the Kawarau River at Bannockburn. Mt Difficulty Single Vineyard wines are even more site specific, created to express the terroir from which they come, and thus Mt Difficulty Pipeclay Terrace Pinot Noir is the essence of the vineyard itself. Pipeclay Terrace is made up of coarse, drought-prone Bannockburn soils and Scotland Point soils (impervious heavy clay). Bannockburn soils have a very low water holding capacity while the opposite is true of the Scotland Point soils, so irrigation systems have been designed to handle the very different requirements of each soil type. This vineyard is planted exclusively in Pinot Noir, with a wide variety of clones - 5, 6, 13, 113, 115, 667 and 777.
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Mt Difficulty Target Gully Pinot Noir 2009
This vintage shows concentrated red cherry and blueberry fruits alongside a distinctive liquorice / anise spice character. The wine displays a strong red fruit of the forest entry, which moves into a rich and sensuous mid-palate then finishes strongly with a combination of fruit and finely grained tannin.
CELLARING POTENTIAL:
Mt Difficulty Target Gully Pinot Noir will improve for 10-15 years given optimal cellaring conditions. 2009 was a vintage with excellent flavour definition – intense cool varietal flavours with excellent concentration and typically high acidity providing lovely focus on the finish.
Vintage:
A cooler vintage; the volume of the harvest was down 15% on average. Climatically there was a good start to the season, but December was slightly wetter than usual which reduced bunch numbers. A typically turbulent January was followed by a cooler, wet February which slowed down vine growth. Good canopy management was essential, with canopies left as open as possible to minimise the effects of the weather. Central Otago provided its usual long, fine, warm autumn but a week into vintage a cold spell brought on a cold response in the vines. This hurried the ripening process considerably, shortening and intensifying the season.
Vineyard:
The grapes for the wines that carry the Mt Difficulty label are subject to two strict criteria: they are managed under the umbrella of the Mt Difficulty viticultural team and must be sourced from vineyards situated in a very specific area - the South side of the Kawarau River at Bannockburn. Mt Difficulty Single Vineyard wines are even more site specific, created to express the terroir from which they come, and thus Mt Difficulty Target Gully Pinot Noir is the essence of the vineyard itself. Target Gully is comprised of Lochar soils and man-made Bannockburn soils. Lochar soils are well-drained, high pH soils ideally suited to viticulture with about 30cm of top soil over fine to moderately coarse gravels. Bannockburn soils were formed from sluicing operations during early gold mining activities and are drought-prone due to the coarseness of the base material. Target Gully has a variety of Pinot Noir clones – 5, 6, 10/5 and 777.
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Magnum - Mt Difficulty Long Gully Pinot Noir 2008 1500ml
This is the third Long Gully Single Vineyard Pinot Noir. Long Gully has always displayed classic red to black forest berry characters and for this vintage warmer blackcurrent and boysenberry really shine through. These same berries dominate the entry onto the palate, and flow in a rich and sensuous vein of fruit through the mid-palate. The wine finishes strongly with lovely fine grained tannin integrating seamlessly.
Cellaring potential:
Mt Difficulty Long Gully Pinot Noir will improve for 10 -15 years given optimal cellaring conditions.
Vintage:
2008 was a ripe vintage - the concentration of flavours and varietal definition in all the wines is excellent, with fairly typical acid levels.
The 2008 growing season was close to ideal - poor weather during the previous December led to low bunch numbers, then a warm spring with less wind than usual created fantastic flowering conditions. The Grapevision vineyard management team worked hard to manage bunch yields, resulting in a crop level only 10% over our target. A hot and dry summer and autumn lifted the ripeness level of the wines onto the next plane. The condition of the grapes at harvest was great; with very little variability or shrivel. As is often the case given the dry conditions in Central Otago, we had no botrytis at all.
Vineyard:
The grapes for the wines that carry the Mt Difficulty label are subject to two strict criteria: they are managed under the umbrella of the Mt Difficulty viticultural team and are sourced from vineyards situated in a very specific area - the South side of the Kawarau River at Bannockburn. Mt Difficulty Single Vineyard wines are even more site specific, created to express the terroir from which they come. Thus Mt Difficulty Long Gully Pinot Noir is the essence of the vineyard itself. Long Gully consists of Lochar soils which are formed in older fans, with thin and wavy clay pans which are deep enough to cause no impediment to roots or drainage. They are well-drained, high pH soils ideally suited to viticulture, with generally 30cm depth of top soil over fine to moderately coarse gravels. Long Gully has 5 different clones of Pinot Noir planted - 5, 6, 10/5, 113 and 115.
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Mt Difficulty Long Gully Noble Riesling 2011 375ml
The wet early autumn of 2011 allowed us to capture lovely stonefruit botrytis characters along with floral citrus. The palate displays luscious stone-fruit and citrus characters, partly driven by the 220g/L-1 residual sugar, which lead into a rich full mid palate and finish on a lovely citrus note. Great natural acidity has resulted in a wine that starts sweet but finishes with a clean flourish.
Cellaring potential:
Mt Difficulty Long Gully Riesling will improve for 7-12 years given optimal cellaring conditions.
Vintage:
Proper care at all times in the vineyard and winery was the making of vintage 2011. Conditions were difficult but the quality of fruit was very good, provided the right decisions were made.
Spring was fantastically settled, which led to excellent flowering and fruit set. Usual spring conditions arrived late, and unsettled weather was the norm right through January and February! Despite this, it was also pretty warm; it was almost too perfect for canopy and bunch development, leading to bigger than normal berries, and higher bunch weights as a result. Finally some semblance of normality arrived in March with conditions settling. These conditions continued through autumn, other than one wet spell which high-lighted how tender and thin-skinned the berries were this season. In the winery it was a season where the fruit needed empathy, and the direction of the wine was dictated by the fruit.
Vineyard:
The grapes for the wines that carry the Mt Difficulty label are subject to two strict criteria: they are managed under the umbrella of the Mt Difficulty viticultural team and must be sourced from vineyards situated in a very specific area - the South side of the Kawarau River at Bannockburn. Mt Difficulty Single Vineyard wines are even more site specific, created to express the terroir from which they come, and thus Mt Difficulty Long Gully Noble Riesling is the essence of the vineyard itself. Long Gully consists of Lochar soils which are formed in older fans. They have very weakly developed, thin and wavy clay pans which are deep enough to cause no impediment to roots or drainage. These are well-drained, high pH soils ideally suited to viticulture. They generally have a 30 cm depth of top soil over fine to moderately coarse gravels.
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Mt Difficulty Mansons Farm Pinot Gris 2009
Made in a late harvest style with slightly higher residual sugar (40g/l), this rich & unctuous wine displays bold citrus and stone fruit aromas. These same fruits explode on the palate with unrestrained enthusiasm, continuing right through the palate. The residual sugar helps to bring richness and balance to the wine without being cloying. This wine will age well, developing some delicious oiliness over time, and is well suited to most food types.
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