Australia
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2018 Pinot Noir "Innocent Bystander", Yarra Valley
IB102B18
Taste Notes:
100% Pinot Noir. This Pinot Noir has beautiful fruit which shines through its velvety mouthfeel and soft, savoury tannins. Only large, old oak barriques are used to age the wine, keeping the fruit character to the fore. This Pinot Noir has aromas of boysenberries, cherry and cranberry with earthy notes of dried spices. On the palate, this wine has a velvety mouthfeel with soft savoury tannins which make a lovely finish.
Vineyard:
This wine is produced from a number of vineyards that span the Yarra Valley from Paul's Range at Dixons Creek in the north across to Bastard Hill in the very cool southern Upper Yarra. The vineyards were chosen in particular for their high diurnal temperature range, resulting in wines with high natural acidity and low pH. Yields are less than seven tonnes per hectare.
Vinification:
All grapes were hand picked and destemmed, with 10% kept as whole bunches. The must was cold soaked for four days before fermentation took place in stainless steel open fermenters with daily hand plunging. The wine was matured in a combination of French oak (10% new) and stainless steel tanks for nine months.
Producer:
This winery changed hands in May 2016, with one family company, Brown Brothers, taking it off the hands of another, its founder, Phil Sexton. So associated is Innocent Bystander with the Yarra Valley that the new owners made the intelligent decision to build a new winery in Healesville, just across the parking lot from Giant Steps. They quickly signed contracts with all the grape growers that Phil used for Innocent Bystander, so that the style of the wines remains unchanged. This regional and varietal style, reflecting the soil, climate and topography of the cool climate in the Yarra Valley is the base upon which the reputation of Innocent Bystander has been built.
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Shaw+Smith Pinot Noir
Delicate and fragrant, but deceptive power and firm tannins, this has perfumes of juicy cranberries, cinnamon and bergamot, with rhubarb over a savoury core. Site selection, miniscule yields and fastidious vineyard management are essential to its success.
Vegetarian & Vegan.
The 2019 growing season was one that challenged even the most experienced and well-equipped vignerons due to extreme temperatures and the consequent bush fires. Shaw + Smith made the most of the situation and produced small crops of very clean fruit with wonderful flavour and intensity. Despite the warm and dry summer, the 2019s retained a beautiful natural acidity.
The Adelaide Hills Pinot Noir is sourced largely from the cool and high altitude Lenswood vineyard. The Pinot Noir clones used are the 777 from Burgundy and MV6, the backbone of many of Australia's best Pinots.
Shaw + Smith began over a long lunch in 1989 when cousins Martin Shaw and Michael Hill Smith decided to realise a long-held dream to make wine together. Their vision remains to make exciting, refined wines, exclusively from the Adelaide Hills, that rank among Australia’s best. The wines are made from a number of sites throughout the Adelaide Hills. They specialise in grape varieties suited to the cooler climate, namely Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Shiraz.
