Forager Waiau Pinot Noir 2020 (wild-ferment)

The vineyard that yields Pinot fruit to make Forager wines is a single vineyard that situates on the farm of the Black family, North Canterbury of New Zealand. Their farm, ‘Isolated Hill’, is uniquely situated on a limestone formation, 40 minutes scenic drive from the Waipara grape growing region. Andy and Jill Black first planted their renown vines back in 2000. Altogether, 0.7 hectares of Pinot Noir to Abel and 667 clones. Vine density is 5000 per hectare, encouraging roots to dive deep into the limestone fissures.

The location itself is north-west facing, vines are tended by hand through frosty mornings to baking in mid-summer afternoons. Overlooking the Waiau River, this is beyond doubt a beautiful place to enjoy a glass of the finest wine.

The fruits are entirely hand-picked. Once pressed, juice on skin are left entirely to ferment in the vineyard. Without the use of temperature control the young wine will be open to the seasonal weather influence, sometimes fermenting warmer, and sometimes cooler depending on the year.  After resting on skins in the vineyard for up to a month, the wine is pressed to fine grained French oak barrels for 15 months of carefully monitored aging before the bottling. Our own considered approach to making site-driven wine confidently speaks of its place.

The winemaker, Dom Maxwell has been making wine in North Canterbury since 2005, and resides most of his time working as winemaker for the renowned Greystone Wines in the Waipara Valley, where the owners have let him follow his dreams of having his own small quality driven wine company.

Dom’s philosophy on winemaking was further moulded through working international harvests in Burgundy, Oregon and Rheingau.

The unique design of Forager label illustrates a ‘beastly-looking man’, can be interpreted as the work of half man, half nature. As how natural fermentation works. Forager Pinot’s production is very limited due to vineyard size, usually no more than three thousand bottles per vintage. Each bottle has its unique number identifier at top left corner of the label.