Bests Great Western Pinot Noir

Description

Bests Great Western Pinot Noir is made from 100% Pinot Noir sourced from Pinot Noir plantings made between 1980 and 1987 in the Concongella vineyards, at Best’s Great Western.

Bests Wines has been producing wine in the Great Western wine region of Victoria, in the sub region of Grampians, for over 140 years. Only 2 families have owned Best’s since it was founded – wines were first made by the Best family in 1866 and the estate was bought by the Thomson family in 1920. For the past 50 vintages fourth generation vintner Viv Thompson has been in charge of crafting Best’s wines, taking the “best” of modern innovation and blending it with tradition to arrive at wonderfully balanced and distinct Aussie wines. Best’s is now run by Viv’s son, Ben Thomson, the fifth generation of the Thomson family.

Pinot Noir was first planted in the Nursery Block at Bests in the 1860s. It is believed that the origin of these vines goes back to the James Busby collection, Australia’s first vines, of which the Pinot Noir was sourced from the finest vineyards in Burgundy. The original Best’s Wines plantings are now thought to be the oldest Pinot Noir vines in the world, and one of these clones is thought to exist nowhere else in the world.

The vineyards in Great Western have a ‘continental’ climate, relatively unique in Australia, which is defined by cold nights and warm afternoons and means that the fruit grown here develops flavours slowly through the day, building intense and varietal aromas and characters. The unique factors of soil and climate (the terroir) in the Great Western area have been key contributors to the success of Best’s Wines. The land along the Concongella creek is flat with powdery loam overlaying a deep clay sub-soil while newer plantings are sited on frost free hills.

Bests Great Western Pinot Noir is fermented in open top vats and then aged in large oak barrels