Blank Canvas Una Volta Pinot Noir 2018

‘Una Volta’ means ‘One Time’ in Italian.

In 2018  Queensberry sub-region’s Archangel vineyard fruits had been selected to use for this wine. The location is halfway between Wanaka and Cromwell in Central Otago.

The vintage of the vineyard offered its pristine fruit. The nature of this fruit, being from a warm and vibrantly fruity year, presented anexceptional situation where we decided to use only the free-run portion, such was the power and densityof the wine following fermentation.

It is gloriously immense, with black fruit compote, warm baking spice notes and a rich velvety texture. Maintaining the minimalist philosophy of Blank Canvas, the wines are bottled without filtration, which means nothing is taken away though a natural deposit will occur over time. This particular vintage yields small berries, which ensured high skin to juice ratio which translated into intensity of fruit tannin and flavour in the wine.

When the fruits arrived in the winery, 50% of wholeclusters fruits are placed in the single open-top fermenter. Wild fermentation occurred after about 5 days of cold soak. Due to the ripeness and warmth of the year, only the free-run portion of the wine had been used for the wine. (must had not been pressed for more extraction) This makes for a very distinct and unique Pinot Noir.

Subsequently the wine spent 12 months maturing in French oak barriques, of which 35% are new. The wines are racked to remove the inpurity, without filtration. Then another 13 months of bottle cellaring prior to release. The result is a very dense, fragrant and velvety Pinot Noir expression.