Tasting Notes for Battle of Bosworth Expat Pinot Noir 2023 from the Winery

Expat is a light and bright red wine, a classic Pinot colour. The nose is bright and pretty, with light red fruits, and these characters translate directly onto the palate. Our Pinots always seem to have a delicious perfume to them, a result of both nature and nurture. The wine finishes nice and tight, with a lovely length. The gentle silky tannins in Expat can more than handle 30 minutes in the fridge if the weather is warm. This wine goes very well with cheeses, chicken dishes and charcuterie.

WINEMAKING

We have had Pinot Noir planted in our vineyards since 1987 when the young Joch Bosworth was press-ganged into helping plant the vines. Battle of Bosworth has always been a family business! There was a decent amount of Pinot Noir in McLaren Vale in the 80's and 90's, but there are only a couple of vineyards left now. Joch's parents sold the grapes to various winemakers over the years.

We made our first Pinot Noir under the Battle of Bosworth in 2011, an auspicious year in many ways - it was a pretty wet vintage. The aim is always to make a lighter style of Pinot Noir and to make this happen, we throw in a small amount of whole bunches into the ferment (all the other grapes are crushed after being picked), which adds perfume and texture. The Pinot is picked quite early and after fermentation goes into older oak before bottling early.

VINTAGE

We had a very wet winter (between June and September) and a cool wet spring, which tested the mettle of our in-house viticulturist/ vigneron, AKA Joch. As a result of these trying conditions, vintage started later than in previous years (we picked Chardonnay on the 15th February in #v2023) and we had much smaller volumes than in 2022 or 2021. We had a few warm days in January and February and picked the whites quite quickly, then about 10mm of rain in early March which settled the dust and stopped picking for a little while. Despite the smaller vintage, the quality of grapes was excellent across both red and white varieties.

Battle of Bosworth Wines

The wines take their name from the original Battle of Bosworth, fought on Bosworth Field, Leicestershire, England in 1485. Here the last of the Plantagenet Kings, Richard the III, was slain by Henry Tudor, becoming the last king of England to die in battle. His death ended the War of the Roses. The roots of the Bosworth family’s battle were planted in the early 1840’s with their first vineyard in McLaren Vale. The modern day Battle of Bosworth saw the conversion of ‘Edgehill’ vineyard to organic viticulture by Joch Bosworth in 1995. This McLaren Vale ‘Battle of Bosworth’ is symbolised on the label by the yellow Soursob (Oxalis pes caprae) which is used in the vineyard to combat other weeds.

Organic Viticulture

Organic farming is based on minimising the use of external inputs, and as such our certified organic grapes are grown and processed without the use of synthetic chemicals or fertilisers. Our system of organic viticulture at Battle of Bosworth works with nature rather than against it, and by keeping harmful chemicals out of the land, water and air, creates a healthy environment rich in flora, fauna and nutrients; the perfect environment for growing the very best quality wine grapes.
Battle of Bosworth grows Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot, Chardonnay, Viognier, Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Grigio, Pinot Noir and Mourvèdre (and a little Graciano and Touriga Nacional) which are fully certified organic by Australian Certified Organic (ACO), a process that takes four years. The vines are all now 20 years and older.

(SKU: BB_PN_CV)