Seifried Nelson Pinot Noir 2023

91 Points (4.5 Stars) - Sam Kim, Wine Orbit, February 2024, New Zealand

Vineyard: Seifried Rabbit Island and Brightwater vineyards
Sugar at Harvest: 23.7°Brix
Date of Harvest: Mid - Late March 2023
pH of Wine: 3.68
T.A of Wine: 4.8g/L
Suitable for Vegetarians and Vegans: Yes

Our Rabbit Island vineyard is situated on a wide river flat. The soil is gravelly loam which is very sandy and free-draining. This vineyard is about 1.5 km from the sea which helps moderate temperatures.

Our Brightwater vines are grown in an extremely stony area of the vineyard where water and nutrient levels are low. This helps us to restrict plant vigour and to crop at low levels. Our Brightwater vineyard is situated 15 km from the coast and is sheltered from the south by the Richmond ranges. The ‘soil’ is a combination of rocks and boulders which is very hard on farm equipment but vital for holding the warmth of Nelson’s sun and for ripening the Pinot Noir grapes.

The fruit in our 2023 Seifried Nelson Pinot Noir comes from both our Rabbit Island and Brightwater vineyards where our Pinot Noir vines are well over thirty years in age and are showing great maturity and depth of flavour.

Parcels of fruit were picked incrementally in March 2023 at the peak of flavour and phenolic ripeness. The de-stemmed fruit had a brief cold maceration period before individual parcels were inoculated for fermentation. Throughout fermentation plunging
occurred twice daily and was tapered off to once daily as the fermentation neared completion. The young wine was drained to new, one and two-year-old French barriques for malolactic fermentation and barrel ageing. The wine was stabilised and bottled in January 2024