Technical Notes
2008 Marchand and Burch Gibraltar Rock Pinot Noir

Fruit Sourcing
The 2008 Mount Barrow Pinot Noir is sourced from a single vineyard in the Porongorup sub-region of the Great Southern in WA. This site has been managed biodynamically and identified as producing Pinot Noir grapes of a quality potential to earn single estate status at Marchand and Burch.

Fruit and Must Handling
Individual parcels of fruit according to soil types from each vineyard were hand picked and transported by refrigerated trailer to the Denmark winery. The chilled bunches were hand sorted to remove damage, disease and leaf then gently destemmed to open fermenters. Pre fermentation cold soaking for 3 to 7 days was used to extract maximum colour and optimise fruit flavour.

Fermentation
Spontaneous fermentation was used as this allows the natural yeast population to dominate the yeast population making for a more complex base wine. The ferment size was 1 or 4T and all were handplunged and pumped over from 2-4 times/day. This cap management varies according to the individual ferment needs.

Post fermentation skin maceration for up to 3 weeks was used to build structure in the wine allowing the wine to extract the supple wine tannins from the grape skins.

Maturation
The separate parcels were matured in French barriques with around 40% new oak component. Maturation was carried out for 8 months with a spontaneous malolactic fermentation being allowed to occur during this period.

Finishing
The final blend was carefully put together and received minimal fining and filtration before being put to bottle. The wine was then given eight months bottle maturation before being released.

Wine Notes
The 2008 vintage was a great vintage across all the varieties. The Gibraltar Rock Pinot Noir has benefited from complete ripening in the moderate and benign conditions to produce a wine of great structure and personality.

The hue of this wine is an opaque deep crimson with purple hues showing beautiful intensity. The nose is lifted with black fruit, spice and plum characters with some smoky oak nuances.

The palate has rich glossy black cherries and raspberries with some underlying herbal, mushroom and meaty complexity. The Gibraltar Rock has sweeter fruit that the Mt Barrow and a more masculine tannin structure to match, which give a powerful mouthfilling middle palate. Red fruits continue through the finish with complex smoky oak and forest floor hints balanced by the clean acid and fine silky tannin.

Technical Notes
Harvest Date 13th March 2008
Alcohol 12.6%
pH 3.51
TA 5.7g/L as tartaric acid titrated to pH 8.2
Oak Maturation: 8 months in 40% new and 60% seasoned French barriques from Francois Frere and Ermitage.