Carrick Organic Bannockburn Pinot Blanc 2024 $42 
So here are a couple of cool things to know about Pinot Blanc from the good folks at Wikipedia (whom you should donate to btw). It’s also known as Pinot Bianco in Italy, Beli Pinot in Slovenia), Rulandské Biele in Slovakia and Weisser Burgunder in Germany and Austria and it’s what’s known as a point genetic mutation of Pinot Noir. Pinot Noir is genetically unstable; occasionally, a vine might bear all black fruit except for one cane that produces white fruit, hence Pinot ‘Blanc’. You could also call it a ‘cousin’ of Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir if that’s easier. Carrick’s version comes from young, 9yo grapes grown in a small, 0.4 ha block on their lower Cairnmuir Terrace Vineyard, where it’s handpicked and 100% barrel fermented with indigenous yeasts and kept for 6 months in barrel (one of which was an old Hungarian oak cask) before being bottled on December 3rd 2024. Generously dry and scented with summer flowers and sake with a hint of green olive and lemon pith, it’s a textural, complex style with crushed shell minerality and a hint of toast to finish.
