I asked Joch to give me his vintage report for 2020 and this is what I got verbatim and straight from the horse’s mouth; ‘Looked like a bastard of a year; hot and dry and then it rained in late January and early February and a cool change moved in, which continued through to February and March and these conditions finished everything off nicely. There were tiny yields and so in reality 2020 ended up only a bitch of a year, not a bastard.

Winemaking

The Spring Seed Aster Pinot is our version of a light luncheon wine a la Beaujolais – light and fresh with raspberry characters and gentle tannins. We hand pick about a third of the grapes and ferment them inside big plastic bags which we seal up and put in wooden apple crates. This makes the grapes ferment anaerobically, which helps soften the tannins so we don’t end up with a big heavy red wine. The wine spends about 6 months in older oak barrels and we bottle before the end of the year the wine was made in.

Tasting Note

Fresh, bright and varietal it has red fruits on the nose and palate – think fresh strawberries. On a hot day it is more than acceptable to put a bottle in the fridge to chill – make sure you bring it out about 20 minutes before you want to drink it. Have with duck pancakes.

Technical Details