DOMAINE MICHELE & PATRICE RION Vielles Vignes, Chambolle-Musigny

Long Gully Pinot Noir is handcrafted in very limited quantities and only released in outstanding vintages. Crisp blackberry and Bing cherry interplay with baronial floral notes alongside an assemblage of sweet brown spices. These same lifted dark cherry and berry notes dominate the entry onto the palate; theres a classic Long Gully dense mid-palate with flow and texture. The wine finishes strongly with a lovely tension present right through the fine-grained tannins and spicy dark berry fruit. Mt Difficulty Long Gully Pinot Noir will improve for 10 15 years given optimal cellaring conditions.

This 20ha vineyard was planted on red clay loam soil at Woori Yallock in 2001 by Lou Primavera, with whom Giant Steps has a long-standing grape-supply relationship. Pinot Noir (114, MV6 and G8V3 clones) grown here on the north and north east facing slopes at 230m is noted for its complex structure and pronounced perfume. The 114 and MV6 are fermented as whole bunches in open vats, while the G8V3 is destemmed, given a long cold-soak and fermented separately to enhance its aromatic contribution. All ferments use indigenous yeasts and the whole-bunch components are periodically foot-stomped to release additional juice. The wines are pressed to 228 litre, French barriques (about 8% new) for 11 months before blending and bottling without fining or filtration.

https://s3-ap-northeast-1.amazonaws.com/orchestracms/eosportal/pdf/tasting-notes/mt-difficulty-pipeclay-terrace-single-vineyard-pinot-noir-2018.pdf

The Yarra Yering Pinot Noir is produced from what are amongst the oldest Pinot Noir vines in the Yarra Valley. Always aristocratic, fragrant with intense aromas of sweet strawberry and ripe plums, the Yarra Yering Pinot rounds out with mouthfilling notes of the same with a length hard to ignore.