Vintage
2020
ABV
12.5%
Wine Type
Red
Wine Style
Still
Wine Description
Kooyong Estate Pinot Noir comprises fruit from our Meres, Haven and Ferrous blocks. It offers an overall expression of the Kooyong vineyard, with parcels of fruit from various soils and mesoclimates blended to create the Estate label. Each year the same parcels are consistently chosen, giving this wine an underlying likeness across vintages.
The fruit was fermented in a combination of large-format oak foudre, large-format concrete tanks and stainless-steel tanks. Fermentation commenced spontaneously with ambient yeasts, included a proportion of whole bunches and lasted 16 to 18 days. Following fermentation, the wine was pressed and racked into French oak barriques (20% of which were new) and puncheons and underwent indigenous malolactic fermentation. The maturation period was 12 months. The wine was bottled without fining and with minimal filtration.
Displaying bright fruit notes more in the red spectrum, the nose opens with raspberry and strawberry, complemented by orange peel and spice notes of cassia and clove. Raspberry appears again on the palate, together with darker boysenberry flavours. Supple in the mid-palate, red florals and dark spices fill the mouth. It is driven by ultra-fine tannins that lead to a cranberry acid finish.
Winemaker's Bio
Glen Hayley’s winemaking philosophy is driven by authenticity; wine that speaks of place, preserving the character of the fruit and celebrating the vineyard in which it was grown. It is the fine balance between scrupulous attention to detail and minimal intervention that allows wine to fully express provenance. Glen’s passion for natural fermentation techniques extends beyond wine to sour beer, cider and fermented food.
Serendipity saw Glen discover the world of wine. A job in the industry on a gap year in Vancouver offered an addictive glimpse of his future vocation. Returning to Melbourne, Glen completed a Bachelor of Viticultural Science and Wine Production, while working in cool and warm climate wineries across Australia, France, Germany, New Zealand and the USA. His time with premium new world Chardonnay and Pinot Noir producers in Central Otago and Sonoma County, along with a concentration on white wines in the Loire Valley and the Mosel, helped shape his thinking.
His desire to focus on Pinot Noir and Chardonnay saw Glen join Kooyong and Port Phillip Estate in 2009. In 2015 Glen became Chief Winemaker.
The viticulture and winemaking teams at Kooyong and Port Phillip Estate are intensely collaborative. The team includes chief viticulturist Stuart Marshall and David Merli and winemaker Christian Bradshaw.
