1998 MadFish Pinot Noir Tasting Notes

The 1998 MadFish Pinot Noir shows the benefit of the early dry and warm conditions of late February and early March during the 1998 vintage. The fruit had good colour and flavour development resulting in a wine of unusual concentration for this variety. The fruit was de-stemmed and passed through the open rollers of the crusher to allow into fermentation a high percentage of whole berries. Fermentation was conducted in small static fermenters with twice daily pump over of juice over the skin cap to aid in the extraction of colour and flavour from the skins. The wine was matured in French oak barriques for about 12 months. No fining was required and only coarse filtration performed.

The colour is deep and vibrant, a signal light for things to come. The nose shows ripe fruit characters, rich cherries and Black Forest Cake with subtle French oak aromas holding it all together. The palate is soft and inviting like a comfortable chair with rich fleshy fruit flavours structured by classy oak and some fine tannins. It is a big wine as Pinot Noir goes but has the subtlety and complexity to allow the delicate fruit characters typical of the variety to show.

The 1998 MadFish Pinot Noir will take on secondary complexing characters with age over the next 5 to 8 years.