Single Vineyard 'Summit' Pinot Noir 2021

Winemaker: Erinn Klein

Grape(s): Pinot Noir

GI: Adelaide Hills (Mount Lofty Ranges, South Australia)

Site(s): Summit Vineyard - Winner 2023 'Vineyard of the Year', Young Gun of Wines

Vintage notes: The wines of 2021 have come together beautifully, after a near perfect growing season and vintage conditions. For the first time in a few years we had reasonable winter rains going into the spring of 2020 and also some good follow-up rains right into early summer.

There was no late season frost, no hail, and amazing weather conditions during flowering. We also had a much milder than average summer in 2021 with no severe heat spikes. This resulted in a perfectly long ripening season and optimal ripening conditions.

It’s rare that amazing quality, concentration of flavour and finesse comes together with such generous quantity. Truly an outstanding vintage.

Vineyard notes: The Pinot Noir grapes for this wine are from our east-facing Summit Vineyard which collects more of the morning sunlight and less of the intense, direct afternoon heat. Vineyard altitude ranges between 330m and 360m above sea level. Soils consist of sandy loam over red-orange clay, sandstone and ironstone. Grapes for our Single Vineyard Pinot Noir come from a small section in the middle of the vineyard where the balance of topsoil over the subsoil is optimal for vine balance, fruit flavour concentration and structure. The entire farm is certified Biodynamic and is farmed with the rhythms of nature, tending towards a self-sustaining system without the use of synthetic chemical inputs.

Winemaking: The Pinot Noir is gently hand harvested into small 15kg crates and mostly destemmed into small batch fermenters, 10% whole bunch placed in the bottom of each fermenter. The grapes are plunged by hand or feet, up to twice a daily for a gentle and long extraction over two to three weeks. The pinot was pressed into new (30%) French oak barriques (228L) and left in barrel to mature for 11 months.  A small dose of sulfur was added at blending prior to bottling. No Added yeast No enzymes, no fining.

Tasting note: This Pinot Noir has plenty of bright red forest berry fruit, blood-plum, forest undergrowth notes and fine herb aromas like shiso and oregano. On the palate, the wine is complex, approachable with subtle tannins, spice and well-integrated oak.

Closure: High quality composite cork that is cork-taint free guaranteed.

ABV: 13.0%

Label Design: Ngeringa bases its branding and imagery on its relationship with the land: The logo makes the shape of Mount Barker Summit and the icon, in a circle, makes reference to the full moon and to the biodynamic practice of working with the rhythms of nature. The sheoak sits inside the circle, reflecting the name, Ngeringa, the place of sheoak. Each bottle has a neck tag with the individual bottle numbers.

Production size: 179 dozen