Shaw + Smith Pinot Noir

Pinot Noir bottle image

Wine Description

Pinot Noir is the most temperamental of varieties and remains the ultimate challenge for many winemakers – Shaw + Smith has joined the quest albeit in a ‘small batch’ way. Testament to the quest is their purchase of the Lenswood vineyard in 2012, which offers mature vines with elevation and aspect. Site selection, the right clonal mix, miniscule yields and fastidious vineyard management are essential to success. The fruit for this wine is hand picked to avoid damage. A combination of whole berry and whole bunch fermentation is complemented by extended time on skins pre and post ferment to allow gentle extraction.

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Acclaim
“A pretty, light wine with dried cherry and cranberry character. Easy to drink.”
— Wine Searcher, Jan 2021
“A lighter, more pure and elegant expression from Shaw + Smith in 2015, this has bright cherry compote and fresh cherry, spiced strawberries, pastry-like and biscuity savory notes, gently meaty and peppery too, this has plenty of complexity and yet shows the purity of fruit very clearly, nicely delivered. Blue fruits as well as rose-like perfume, very subtle oak here. The palate has supple and fleshy fruit, tannins are fine and even, really sweet spices that are worked into the heart of the fruit, red cherry stone finish, very even, long and fired along by crystaline, vibrant acidity. This is their best pinot to date.”
— James Suckling, Jun 2016
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Vineyard & Production Info
Vineyard name
Ballhannah and Lenswood
Vineyard size
30 acres
Soil composition
Brown Loam over Clay
Training method
Double-Guyot VSP
Elevation:
1,320 - 1,650 feet
Vines/acre:
740 - 1,110
Yield/acre:
2.4 tons
Year vineyard planted:
1999, 2000
Harvest time:
February - March
First vintage of this wine:
2007
Bottles produced of this wine:
24,000
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Winemaking & Aging
Maceration length:
20-30
Varietal composition:
100% Pinot Noir
Fermentation container:
Open Stainless Steel Vats
Length of alcoholic fermentation:
10 days
Fermentation temperature:
up to 90 °F
Maceration technique:
Cold Soak Maceration and Punchdown
Malolactic fermentation:
Yes
Type of aging container:
Barriques and Barrels
Size of aging container:
228L - 500L
Length of aging before bottling:
11 months
Age of Aging Container:
New to 3 years
Length of bottle aging:
8 months
Total SO2
85
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Analytical Data
pH level:
3.7
Acidity:
6 g/L
Alcohol:
12.6 %
Total SO2
85
Residual sugar:
0.2 g/L