Pinot Noir
Situated in the Waihopai Valley of Marlborough, New Zealand, Leefield Station is a magical place where the drive, tenacity and vision of its owners, past and present have created a remarkable working farm. Owned by the Marris family, Leefield Station is also home to an evolving vineyard, which harmoniously respects the land and its origins – bringing together the toil of generations and continuing the true legacy now into the future.
Tasting Notes
This wine is an elegant expression of our terroir at Leefield Station Vineyard. The nose is pronounced with wild red berries accompanied by a subtle touch of mocha and chocolate. The palate is defined by natural fruit sweetness, soft acidity and silky delicate tannins.
Vintage Notes
A warm and wet winter spurred an early start to the growing season with fully charged soil moistures and warm ambient temperatures in early spring. The few frosts through September and October did little to disrupt the healthy development of strong, lush canopies. Flowering began with cooler temperatures and periodic bouts of rain in the early summer, with the weather improving as we headed towards Christmas; typical with respect to warmth, sunshine hours and rainfall. Late summer warmth in late February and March along with careful canopy management, delivered slowly ripened, disease free, incredibly clean fruit. Harvest commenced in mid-March. Due to the long, cool ripening season, fruit was harvested significantly later than usual but retained all of its vibrancy of flavor and crisp, ripe acids. The team are excited by the bright flavor expressions and huge diversity of character coming through in the wines of the 2023 vintage.
Winemaking
Lovingly hand-picked fruit was predominately de-stemmed without crushing into small open-top fermentation tanks. Some whole clusters were included in select batches to add complexity and length to the final assemblage. The grapes were cold soaked for 5-7 days before a rapid, warm fermentation. The ferments were hand-plunged 3 to 4 times each day to keep the skins in intimate contact with the fermenting juice. They were then left to macerate for an additional week post-ferment to ensure optimum flavor development and integrated tannin extraction. The young wines were drained and pressed before being aged in French oak puncheons for 9 months, during which time they underwent full malolactic fermentation. This wine was blended and filtered in late summer before bottling. Vegan Certified.
Technical Information
- Vintage:
- 2023
- Alcohol:
- 13.5%
- Region:
- Waihopai Valley, Marlborough
- RS:
- 0.3G/L
- Varietals:
- 100% Pinot Noir
- PH:
- 3.7
- TA:
- 5.4G/L
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