Mt Difficulty
Mansons Farm Pinot Gris 2011 (sweet late harvest wine)

Made in a late harvest style with residual sugar of 90gL^-1, this rich & unctuous wine displays bold citrus and stone fruit aromas. These same fruits explode on the palate with unrestrained enthusiasm, continuing right through the palate. The residual sugar helps to bring richness and balance to the wine without being cloying. This wine will age well, developing some delicious oiliness over time, and is well suited to most food types.

Cellaring Potential

Mansons Farm Pinot Gris will improve for 5-8 years given optimal vintage and cellaring conditions.

Vintage 2011

Proper care at all times in the vineyard and winery was the making of vintage 2011. Conditions were difficult but the quality of fruit was very good, provided the right decisions were made.

Spring was fantastically settled, which led to excellent flowering and fruit set. Usual spring conditions actually arrived late, and unsettled weather was the norm right through January and February! Despite this, it was also pretty warm; it was almost too perfect for canopy and bunch development leading to bigger than normal berries, and higher bunch weights as a result. Finally some semblance of normality arrived in March with conditions settling. These conditions continued through autumn, other than one wet spell which highlighted how tender and thin-skinned the berries were this season. In the winery it was a season where the fruit needed empathy, and the direction of the wine was dictated by the fruit.

Vineyards

The grapes for the wines that carry the Mt Difficulty label are subject to two strict criteria: they are managed under the umbrella of the Mt Difficulty viticultural team and must be sourced from vineyards situated in a very specific area - the South side of the Kawarau River at Bannockburn. Mt Difficulty Single Vineyard wines are even more site specific, created to express the terroir from which they come, and thus Mt Difficulty Mansons Farm Pinot Gris is the essence of the vineyard itself. Mansons Farm is made up of two soil types: fine Bannockburn soil and Molyneux soils. Bannockburn soil is classified as man-made having come about as a result of hydraulic mining and sluicing in the higher ground on the south side of Felton Road. Molyneux soils are gravels formed from schist and greywacke with a thin cover of silt or sand. They are drought-prone and not fertile, but are suitable to deep-rooted crops when managed carefully.

Winemaking Considerations

We only make this wine in exceptional seasons and 2011 was one of these; the wet spell in mid March brought some botrytis, adding complexity to the ripe fruit.The fruit was harvested on the 12th April, with the picking decision being decided by fruit flavour and concentration alone. The fruit was hand harvested and processed with all care. The juice was racked clean and fermented slowly to retain varietal expression. Chilling and racking the wine stopped the ferment, leaving residual sugar to provide balance and richness to the wine.