2023 Pinot Noir

While the south Okanagan is known for Syrah or Bordeaux varieties (Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon), some insiders think the area is a bit too warm for Pinot Noir. Nonsense, we say! We love our Pinot Noir, and we love to have fun with it. Pinot Noir forms the base of our sparkling Ella, our White Pinot Noir, and this red Pinot Noir. Keeping in line with our ‘minimalist’ winemaking, we don’t add yeast, keep handling to a minimum, and let the fruit shine through.

How do we spin it? The 2023 vintage of Maverick Pinot Noir was whole cluster fermented, creating a juicy, vibrant and delicious version of south Okanagan Pinot Noir we love. Fabulous.

TASTING NOTES:
A complex nose of fresh strawberries and ripe plum underscored with golden beet and morel. The palate is robust yet yielding.  A medium-bodied wine with pretty red fruit upfront before moving into bergamot-infused tea flavour in the finish, will age well in the short term or pair now with pizza or a charcuterie board.

WINEMAKING NOTES:
The fruit from this wine was from our winery estate vineyard. The wine is made from whole clusters with the berries left unbroken and then it is gently punched down during its 5 weeks on skins. Fermentation is slow and relatively cool to retain the pretty red fruit character. Once pressed the wine is gently transferred to neutral oak barriques for aging. After 6 months of aging the wine is gently filtered and bottled. Only a small amount of SO2 is added.

WINEMAKER’S COMMENTS:
The defining moment of the 2023 harvest actually took place in mid-December, 2022, when a cold snap hit the Okanagan causing significant damage to the buds that would produce the next year’s crop. Spring in 2023 was cool, with average bud burst and flowering. Fruit set was extremely low (30-40% of annual average), and lower yield for the vines to ripen meant a quick season. A heat wave in July and then again in August brought some powdery mildew pressure in the vineyard, so the vineyard team worked hard to protect the limited fruit ripening in the vineyard. August though the end of harvest was warm and dry. Harvest was early, starting at the beginning on September, and finished by early October.

NOTES:
Production – only 74 cases produced
Alcohol – 12.5%
Varietals – 100% Pinot Noir
Vinification – hand-picked, whole cluster fermented for 5 weeks on the skins. Transferred to a stainless steel tank for 4 months of ageing before bottling
Cellaring – drink it now!