Ochota Barrels Pinot Noir A Forest 2022, Adelaide Hills, South Australia

The Ochota story began in 2000, Taras and Amber Ochota had been travelling around some of the world’s best wine and surf regions, and decided they wanted to make premium wines back home in South Australia. The initial plan was to concentrate on Grenache in Mclaren Vale and Syrah in the Barossa Valley, find exceptional old vineyard sites in each region and create juicy, small batch, single vineyard wines. They now also farm some interesting older plots in the Adelaide Hills, with old bush vines producing small berries and low yields. Grapes for this wine are grown on two sites high in the cool Adelaide Hills. One is planted with Dijon 114 and 115, and the other Dijon 777 clones, both the sites and the clones are kept separate for the initial fermentations. Soils are varied including shallow fractured clay over limestone. Viticulture is uncertified organic. Winemaking: 100% whole bunches are cold soaked and the different vineyards and clones are fermented separately with wild yeasts in a mix of old and new French oak barriques. During the first three months, the barrels are rolled occasionally and gently hand plunged. After ten months the wine is carefully gravity racked to tanks before being bottled unfined and unfiltered. Tasting notes: Spicy, sappy and alluring, this has a mix of black cherry and red fruits on the nose with a cooler foresty edge of bracken and leafy notes, gently savory and earthy too. The palate has a smooth and supple feel with a vibrant and silky core of bright red cherry flavor; fresh, pure and delicious.