Rock Ferry Trig Hill Central Otago Pinot Noir 2022 $45 
Tom and Fiona Hutchison are the talented twosome behind the certified organic, biodynamically-farmed Rock Ferry vineyard in Bendigo, Central Otago, and their wine director, Allan McWilliams, has been making wine for Tom Hutchinson and Fiona Harvey at Rock Ferry since they began in the mid-2000s. He only makes a ‘Trig’ when the fruit is absolutely perfect. Which 2022 pretty much was. Scented with wild thyme, baked rhubarb, scorched cherries, redcurrant and exotic baking spices, this is a soothing, juicy, elastic-textured Pinot to sip. Bottled without fining or filtration, it’s deliciously earthy and complete. Design-nerds will also love that Rock Ferry’s label is based on the Fibonacci Sequence, a mathematical equation reflecting nature’s patterns in plants and animals. Sip with mushroom and caramelised onion pizza.
Extra for the interested: Winemaking Notes: The fruit was hand-harvested from the upper slopes of the vineyard. 90% of the fruit was de-stemmed into French oak cuves, and the rest was added as whole bunch. The cuves were naturally fermented with gentle hand plunging. Post-ferment maceration was 21 days. This was then pressed and racked off into a mixture of seasoned and new (30 %, 30% 1 year old & 40% 2 years old) French barriques, where it underwent malolactic fermentation and was left to mature for 16 months. As we age this wine in barrel for 16 months, we use very tight-grained French oak that has been air-dried for 3 years. It was then racked off lees and bottled. Clones: 75% 115, 20% Abel, 5% 777.
