Spring Vale 'Melrose' Pinot Noir 2024

SPRING VALE
Spring Vale is situated at Cranbrook, north of Swansea on Tasmania’s Freycinet Coast.  The wines are grown and made entirely by the Lyne family, who have been at Spring Vale since 1875.  The vineyard began in 1986, when a small area of two acres was planted to Pinot Noir. Over the years they have increased these plantings to 6.6 hectares, although principally Pinot Noir, additional wine varieties including Chardonnay, Gewürztraminer, Pinot Gris, Sauvignon Blanc and a splash of Pinot Meunier also form part of their  vineyard.  All vineyard operations are carried out by hand - pruning, shoot positioning, leaf plucking and harvesting.

Spring Vale is a small, family owned and operated business with a passion for quality, and a dedication to delivering wines of a consistently excellent standards through this dedication Spring Vale has forged a reputation for its Pinot Noir being full-flavoured, soft and elegant with great ageing potential.

The fruit for this wine came almost entirely off the new "Melrose” vineyard. This wine has been made as a lighter Pinot Noir, with palate softness and delicate, sweet fruit the key features we were aiming for. The wine which is most similar to this, in my opinion, is a ripe Beaujolais. Fruit was destemmed only and fermented mostly in closed upright tanks, with a proportion in large open fermenters. All ferments were gently irrigated. The cap is gently wetted, but never broken. The batches were pressed straight to barrel once dry. About half of these barrels had oak inserts in them – lengths of new French oak which are the equivalent of 50% of the surface area of a barrel. In effect, this wine was stored for three months in 25% new French oak before it was racked to tank, fined with egg white and bottled.

A lighter style Pinot, similar to a medium-structured Beaujolais. A delightful drink with strawberry and raspberry aromas with subtle oak. 90% Pinot Noir; 10% Pinot Meunier. Top value.