Pinot Noir
Pinot Noir has been experiencing a huge surge in popularity in recent years and it is no wonder as it is a lighter style red wine and in the fruit forward expressions it can exhibit attractive cherry and strawberry flavours.
Its home is Burgundy where all sorts of styles are made from the very light unoaked to deeper more intense and oaky red wines. These wines all share a savoury finish and at the higher quality levels are some of the best wines in the world and some of the most expensive.
Fortunately there are good wines made all over the world, including California, New Zealand, Germany and of course Australia. This variety needs a cool climate which is why it doesn't succeed in Margaret River which is a bit too warm. Inland to Pemberton though where we get a mean January temperature of only 19 degrees, which is equivalent to Burgundy's climate, the variety does well.
Bellarmine Pinot sees minimal stalks - a technique where the grape stalks are left in the fermentation to add tannins and spicy notes to the wine. A cold soak occurs most years where the must (juice and skins) are allowed to sit after chilling them down to gently extract phenolics - tannins, flavour and colour from the skins. This process continues during fermentation with gentle plunging of the cap of skins in to the juice.
Once the ferment is finished, a portion of the wine goes into second use oak for six months with minimal racking off lees, prior to getting ready for bottling and release. The style is medium bodied and has a silky palate texture.