2022 Marsanne

Lost On Mars – an experimental collaboration with our friends at Blue Poles Vineyard.

Hand harvest of one tonne of Marsanne grapes from Blue Poles Vineyard. A very gentle basket press of the whole bunches was sent to three barriques for fermentation, while the soft pressings were set aside for three days further skin/juice maceration. This was then basket-pressed to a single amphora to begin a separate fermentation and then racked to a single barrique. The parcels were kept separate until bottling in November.

On the nose, this 30% skin-ferment wine is complex, to understate it. Savoury herbal notes, lifted apricot fruit, and a heady mix of ginger spice and jasmine flower; coastal heath – wild geranium, lemon myrtle – combine with umami elements of nori and edamame. Deep scents of sesame, spearmint and citrus (lemon meringue?) fight for dominance across an almost pure saline thread. Almond meal, cake-bread, muesli notes filter in and out.

The palate is rich, smooth, creamy and viscous, yet finishes with a subtly piquish acid and tannin grip. Flavours of lemon, almond, marzipan, short-bread, cashew, orange blossom. Melon and fig feature and a hint of salted caramel.

A wine equally hard to categorise and describe and yet flowing with adjectives.