2022 Airlie Bank Pinot Noir

As elsewhere in 2022, we had small yields of Airlie Bank Pinot Noir, mostly due to rampant millerandage. Particularly affected were 777 and 115 clones (the early ones). This can present a problem because the two berry sizes don’t ripen at the same pace, and this year the ‘chickens’ started to shrivel before the larger berries were ripe. Tannins in general were later to ripen this year. After the inclement spring it was dry and warm for much of January and all of February. I chose to stretch out ripening, pushing our pick back a week to 10 days longer than usual, to allow the tannins to catch up with sugar. We also emphasised cold soaks over leaving the wines on skins. For Airlie Bank we pressed at 1-2 Baumé. This year marked the first appearance in the blend for our Pommard clone.
The proportion of whole clusters is as high as ever, with bunches being riper than in 2021. The wine has riper fruit character but not the structure of the ’21. There’s more mid-palate flesh and length though due to the small crops. It was bottled with SO2 at about 40ppm only. No finings, coarse filtration. – Tim Shand, Punt Road