Colour: Intense ruby red with a vibrant shiny glow.
Nose: Lively & aromatic redolent of sun-drenched herbs with hints of coriander & thyme.
Palate: Spicy with a slightly dry finish. A lovely intensity of herbal & fruit flavours similar to those evident on the nose. A combination of long savoury fruit tannins from well ripened fruit & well-seasoned oak.
The grapes from 2 degrees. vineyard are h&-harvested & trucked up to Wanaka where the wines are carefully hand crafted by Dan & Sarah-Kate Dineen at the Maude Winery. The fruit is generally left to cool off overnight before going through the de-stemming process. Very traditional fermentation takes place in open-topped tanks which are hand plunged. Indigenous yeasts begin the cycle & a portion of whole bunch, lignified stalks & all, is included in each fermenter to add special flavours & put the tannins to good use. The juice is left on the skins for a month to allow tannin development prior to gentle basket pressing.
Maturation takes place in French oak barriques of which 40% are new. After about 10 months & with minimal filtration & fining, the wine is bottled almost a year after harvest. The bottles have a stelven cap closure.
Two Degrees Vineyard has all the right ingredients to be special:
Elevation 264m
Gentle slope
Free-draining bony soils
Requisite grower degree days of around 1000
Large diurnal range i.e. significant variation between maximum & minimum temperature each day
- hot days cool nights
Long, warm, dry, still autumns coupled with elevation & an enduring canopy allow the fruit to hang on the vines longer than most
Low humidity & rainfall
& its outlook is like being slapped in the face with a National Geographic! Stunning! What a splendid place to work.