2020 Montinore Estate Red Cap Pinot Noir

Certified sustainable by LIVE. The 2020 season at Montinore was a game of two halves: at times challenging, at others ideal. After 18 years at the estate, winemaker Stephen Webber is well placed to roll with the punches and navigated the vagaries of the vintage (dry weather, meagre yields and a warm summer) with relative ease, turning out concentrated, complex and delicious wines. The lion’s share (75%) of Montinore’s entry-level Pinot is drawn from their dry-farmed estate vines, with the balance coming from their sustainably farmed Tidalstar vineyard in the Yamhill-Carlton AVA to the south. Tidalstar, with its warmer microclimate and volcanic soils, brings juicy fruit weight to the perfumed, bright, silky Pinot from the home site. It’s a blend to enjoy from the word go. In the cellar, the fruit is destemmed and fermented in small, open-top steel vessels and matured in a mixture of stainless steel and French and Hungarian oak (20% new) for 10 months before bottling. It's a bright, fruit-forward Pinot Noir, with the signature Montinore structure and brooding depth found throughout. Bursting with flavour, structure and energy, it’s an absolute cracker when considering the price.