Burn Cottage Vineyard Pinot Noir 2019 - An Exceptional Vintage Release
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In the wine world we spend a great deal of time looking forward and planning for the next vintage and at the same time reflecting on what we have learnt from previous years.
This is very much the case with the 2019 vintage, which has been talked about across the county as one of the most exciting vintages for New Zealand.
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When we reflect on vintage 2019 at Burn Cottage, we have memories of a season that gave us some perfectly timed precipitation during the growth cycle of the vines and delivered healthy and vibrant shoot and leaf growth. The beautiful green leaves were a sight to be seen and the vineyard had a natural vitality that had Shane and the vineyard team beaming with excitement.
On the winery front in 2019 we welcomed Rachel Bradley into our team as our new assistant winemaker and her first vintage at Burn Cottage. As with many winemakers she came to the industry in a roundabout fashion. She began her journey in the heat of the kitchen, where she originally trained as a chef. During this time her passion for wine grew and she decided to leave the pass and spend time on the restaurant floor learning about wine from some of Australian most respected Sommeliers.
She further honed her knowledge with stints in fine wine retail and then decided the next step would to be to find a job working in vineyards and wineries to further develop her career. Rachel landed in NZ after having spent a year working for Littorai in California and gaining an invaluable deep dive into the principles of biodynamic farming and winemaking. An asset that has stood her in good stead in her role at Burn Cottage.
Rachel's words on Vintage 2019
“I am beyond excited to be able to share the 2019 Burn Cottage Vineyard Pinot with you. This wine perfectly captures my first vintage here at Burn Cottage. It is full of energy and brightness, with intriguing, complex layers and an overall purity of fruit. A perfect little time capsule”.
With a wonderful long Autumn finish to the 2019 season Claire and Rachel saw lovely balance of fruit, acidity and tannins in the grapes and made the call to start the first pick on the 30th of March. Shane then had a few nail-biting moments as the prospect of a severe cold snap was forecasted for early April. Fortunately, we dodged any damage by Jack frost and all the hand-picked Pinot Noir was in the winery by the 15th of April.
Following on from the buzz of vintage 2019 we had the fun task of putting the final wine together in 2020. As you may know, each block in the Burn Cottage Vineyard is picked, sorted, fermented and barrel aged separately (essentially treating each as its own stand-alone wine). We join the wine-making team early in the new year to taste through each of these blocks and providing input towards deciding the final blend to capture the uniqueness of the vineyard and the character of the vintage. Essentially like putting a jigsaw puzzle together.
We are proud of the result and believe that the 2019 is a cellar worthy Pinot Noir that has a long and exciting life ahead. Its aroma has you thinking about a bowl full of sun ripened red cherries and redcurrants with a vibrant orange zest and black tea character adding lovely high notes. The palate has fantastic concentration and is filled with vibrant black/red fruit and mineral characters. Each mouthful is filled with lovely, rounded tannins. A true testament to the unique site that we have the pleasure of making a single vineyard Pinot Noir from.
We cannot say thank you enough for all your support of our family owned winery.
Cheers Marquis, Dianne and the Burn Cottage Crew
This is very much the case with the 2019 vintage, which has been talked about across the county as one of the most exciting vintages for New Zealand.
Buy Now
When we reflect on vintage 2019 at Burn Cottage, we have memories of a season that gave us some perfectly timed precipitation during the growth cycle of the vines and delivered healthy and vibrant shoot and leaf growth. The beautiful green leaves were a sight to be seen and the vineyard had a natural vitality that had Shane and the vineyard team beaming with excitement.
On the winery front in 2019 we welcomed Rachel Bradley into our team as our new assistant winemaker and her first vintage at Burn Cottage. As with many winemakers she came to the industry in a roundabout fashion. She began her journey in the heat of the kitchen, where she originally trained as a chef. During this time her passion for wine grew and she decided to leave the pass and spend time on the restaurant floor learning about wine from some of Australian most respected Sommeliers.
She further honed her knowledge with stints in fine wine retail and then decided the next step would to be to find a job working in vineyards and wineries to further develop her career. Rachel landed in NZ after having spent a year working for Littorai in California and gaining an invaluable deep dive into the principles of biodynamic farming and winemaking. An asset that has stood her in good stead in her role at Burn Cottage.
Rachel's words on Vintage 2019
“I am beyond excited to be able to share the 2019 Burn Cottage Vineyard Pinot with you. This wine perfectly captures my first vintage here at Burn Cottage. It is full of energy and brightness, with intriguing, complex layers and an overall purity of fruit. A perfect little time capsule”.
With a wonderful long Autumn finish to the 2019 season Claire and Rachel saw lovely balance of fruit, acidity and tannins in the grapes and made the call to start the first pick on the 30th of March. Shane then had a few nail-biting moments as the prospect of a severe cold snap was forecasted for early April. Fortunately, we dodged any damage by Jack frost and all the hand-picked Pinot Noir was in the winery by the 15th of April.
Following on from the buzz of vintage 2019 we had the fun task of putting the final wine together in 2020. As you may know, each block in the Burn Cottage Vineyard is picked, sorted, fermented and barrel aged separately (essentially treating each as its own stand-alone wine). We join the wine-making team early in the new year to taste through each of these blocks and providing input towards deciding the final blend to capture the uniqueness of the vineyard and the character of the vintage. Essentially like putting a jigsaw puzzle together.
We are proud of the result and believe that the 2019 is a cellar worthy Pinot Noir that has a long and exciting life ahead. Its aroma has you thinking about a bowl full of sun ripened red cherries and redcurrants with a vibrant orange zest and black tea character adding lovely high notes. The palate has fantastic concentration and is filled with vibrant black/red fruit and mineral characters. Each mouthful is filled with lovely, rounded tannins. A true testament to the unique site that we have the pleasure of making a single vineyard Pinot Noir from.
We cannot say thank you enough for all your support of our family owned winery.
Cheers Marquis, Dianne and the Burn Cottage Crew
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