Richard Kershaw The Smuggler's Boot Pinot Noir 2023

On arrival at the winery, the hand-picked grapes were sorted and selected from the whole bunch before being completely destemmed and placed as whole berries in open fermentation tanks. After three days of maceration, the berries were left to ferment spontaneously, i.e. no commercial yeasts were added to start the fermentation process. Only the yeast found wild on the fruit and in the surrounding area initiated fermentation. The berries spent a period of 10 - 16 days on the skin, and the free-flowing wine was then transferred to a combination of 50% French barriques (10% new wood) and 50% breathable plastic eggs. The remaining marc was pressed in the traditional basket press. The malolactic fermentation started, but was stopped before completion by light sulphurization and the wine was skimmed off by the yeast. The wine then matured for 11 months in French barriques and was slightly filtered before bottling.