Philip Shaw The Wire Walker Pinot Noir, Orange, NSW

Description

Philip Shaw The Wire Walker Pinot Noir is part of the Character Series of wines from Philip Shaw who has vineyard located in the Orange wine growing region of New South Wales. The grapes are sourced from Shaw’s 47 hectare Koomooloo vineyard. Philip Shaw acquired the Koomooloo vineyard site in 1988. It is in close proximity to the region’s highest peak, Mt Canobolas (an extinct volcano), Koomooloo vineyard rises to an altitude of 900m with red loam soils over limestone. With less than 1% of Australian vineyards above 600M, Koomooloo is one of the highest vineyards in Australia. Although it’s not unusual to see snowfalls during winter and into spring, the altitude provides cooler conditions throughout the growing season.

The Koomooloo Vineyard parcels of Pinot Noir were planted in 1990 and 1995 with southerly aspect. The Pinot Noir parcels contain 5 different clones of Pinot Noir. Grapes are hand-harvested and had-sorted. The majority of the grapes are de-stemmed, but about 25% was left as whole fruit. This was placed in the bottom of the fermenters and then had the destemmed fruit placed on top. It then usually takes about 3-6 days for the ferments to get going. Only wild yeast are used and it takes a while for the culture to develop. The wine stays on skins for around 3 weeks before being pressed directly to barrel. Philip Shaw The Wire Walker Pinot Noir is then aged mainly in older oak, some in tank for around 6 to 10 months prior to bottling.