Description
Ageing: 12 months in French oak barrels and 24 months in bottles
Porters Reserve – Terroir & Winemaking
The Pinot Noir vines on our 1.6ha House Block reside on stony loam based soils and as they have matured and are more self -sustaining, irrigation has slowly been reduced. We use the Abel clone as its expression in Martinborough displays complex fruit concentration as well as fine, structural tannins that develop during the period of extended late summer/early autumn ripening.
After hand-harvesting between the 2nd and 17th of April, we destemmed without crushing to open top fermenters adding back 10% stalks to gain greater tannin structure. Natural fermentation with regular plunging and pump overs started three days later, continuing for the next twenty until completion. The resultant wine was drained and pressed to a mix of French medium toast oak barrels that were topped and lightly sulphured after malolactic fermentation. This wine was blended from selected barrels worthy of reserve status then bottled when we felt the wine was ready.
Porters History
The original Porters vineyard on Kitchener Street, the main road into Martinborough, was five acres of bare and stony paddock until we planted Pinot Noir and a little Pinot Gris in 1992, with the first vintage off the block in 1995.
In 2006 another five acres of Pinot Noir vineyard was purchased next door to the homestead at 47 Kitchener Street. To the rear, a one hundred year old barn and stables was converted to a winery, being pressed into service just in time for the vintage in 2000.
The original vines are now more than twenty five years old and the richness and texture displayed in our wines that can only come from older vines is very much in evidence.
For us to have been able to create all this from a bare stony paddock and to raise our children on this land is reward in itself.
We hope you enjoy our wines as much as we have enjoyed producing them.
Annabel and John Porter
