Montepulciano 2016 - Library Wine

Another great season where Marlborough basked under blue skies throughout summer with wonderful warm weather. The long ripening season culminated in a beautiful Indian summer, perfect for our mighty Montepulciano where no cost and time is spared to bring out the essence of this famous, late ripening Italian grape variety.  We normally pick the Monte around Hans’ birthday on the 9th April. Yields are kept extremely low at tiny 500g per vine to achieve perfect physiological ripeness for natural concentration, complexity and an impressive flavour profile

Perfectly healthy, destemmed grapes allowed for a long cold soak to extract the superb flavours and beneficial antioxidants of the skins. The must progressed through a long cool wild yeast fermentation and extended post maceration. After gentle pressing, I transferred the young wine into French Barriques and Puncheons (20% new) for it’s natural malolactic fermentation. The minimal oxygen exchange over a long 30 months of maturation on the fine lees softened and smoothed tannin and acidity without too much wood tannin extraction. The wine and wood married together to form a richer, more complex and textured wine, able to age for many years in the bottle. No fining. No filtration. Minimum effective SO2. Natural goodness.

Tasting Notes

A vibrant nose displaying brooding aromas of blackberries and blackcurrants developing even further to a rich dark chocolate aftertaste. With each sip you get a tantalising feeling of the vivacious acidity and smooth tannin structure which gives the wine life and length. Youthful concentration and one which is made for the ages!

All our wines are dry and never over extracted. Sommeliers love them for their ability to easily match with many different foods. Such a powerful wine loves of course hearty dishes but is as lovely to sip and relax at the end of the day - working wonders as a natural sleeping pill...