Rippon Pinot Noir “Emma’s Block” Mature Vine 2016

Fruit Handling: Picked by hand into small, 10kg cases allowing the fruit to arrive at the winery’s sorting table undamaged and intact. Picked and fermented separately in 3, 2- tonne stainless-steel fermenters. 27% whole cluster component.

Fermentation: Each parcel is fermented and matured apart before blending. The winery’s resident yeast population (non-inoculated) started fermenting on day 4 to day 9 of cuvaison. The ferments reached maximum temperatures of 14 – 29°Celsius.

Total time of skin contact: 20 – 27 days

Barrel management: 10 months of new (26%) to 4 year old French oak barrels. The malolactic fermentation went through unaided (non-inoculated) in springtime; it was then racked back into barrel and allowed a second winter in neutral barrels before being run directly into bottle without filtering or fining.

Total time in barrel: 17 months
Bottling date:  November 2017

pH: 3.68 , T.A.: 7.5g/l , Alc.: 13.8% ,R.S.: < 2 g/l

“A unique parcel within Rippon, Emma’s Block faces eastward on the lakefront where ancient clay reefs run laterally through fine schist gravels. Emma’s Block is named after the great-great-great grandmother of the current generation of the Mills family, through whom the name entered into the family. *This shows a very spicy and attractively complex style on the nose with a wealth of dark stones and violets, as well as dark cherries. The palate has a succulent, vibrant and almost crisp feel to the tannins. There’s attractive firmness,but plenty of flesh below. From biodynamically grown grapes. Try from 2022”– 94 Points, James Suckling (Nick Stock)

“Not the cheeriest of songs from soul band Hot Chocolate, but ‘Emma’ sure is a toe-tapper. Here it’s a block of vines that contribute to this wine.This took a while to come around but it sure is gorgeous once it finds its groove. There’s a fair bit of mocha-peanut shell seasoning through the fruit but there’s distinct, dark, brooding fruit character that comes through with authority. This is as big and bold as I’ve seen Rippon wines (across the 2016 fancy releases). Tannins ripple silty and charry, the wine finishes long and with pucker and cool acidity flowing. It’s a feature length kind of deal here. Perhaps a side step for Rippon but a complex wine of presence emerges.” – 94 Points, Mike Bennie, Winefront