Previous Vintages

All of our wines are estate grown at Bell Hill and go back to our first four vintages of Old Weka Pass Road Pinot Noir from 1999 to 2002 before our inaugural Bell Hill Pinot Noir 2003 vintage and Bell Hill Chardonnay 2004 vintage.

 

 

2007 VINTAGE

The 2007 season started with a changeable spring with very windy north-westerly's and southerlies. It followed the coldest June since 1972 and the windiest spring since 1975. We had four frosts including the last one on the 1st of December – all of which were successfully kept at bay with our frost protection system of overhead sprinklers – a December frost was a new event for us and has not been repeated since. It did not really warm up in early December at an average temperature of 4 degrees below normal until a heat spike arrived from the 17th. Weather during flowering was mixed – at times cool and moist, with a hail shower or two for interest. The result was poor flowering over an elongated period, a lot of work was done in the vineyard with green harvesting to ensure the fruit left to ripen was even in its maturation. We had a saving grace though – March and April – very warm stable weather only broken by the occasional coastal and southerly weather pattern. What initially looked like a two-week delay in harvest actually resulted in most fruit coming in within our historic picking dates (the exception being the Limeworks Chardonnay). Yields were down although not to the extent of the 2005 vintage. Seven barrels of Pinot Noir were made and one barrel of Chardonnay.

The Shelf Pinot Noir was picked on Easter Monday the 9th of April (24.5 Brix, 3.54pH, 5.06g/l TA) and the Shelf Chardonnay was picked on the 12th of April (22.5 Brix, 3.22pH, 9.75g/L TA). The upper part of the Quarry Pinot Noir 10/5 block was harvested on the 23rd of April (23.8 Brix, 3.52pH, 6.75g/L TA) and the lower part on the 25th (23 Brix, 3.42pH, 7.43g/L TA). Both the Limeworks (21.6 Brix, 3.51pH, 5.63 TA) and Quarry Rootlings (21.6 Brix, 3.52pH, 5.85g/L TA) Pinot Noirs came in on the 30th of April and the Limeworks Chardonnay was harvested late on the 7th of May (22.2 – 22.8 Brix, 3.02pH, 10.2g/L TA).

BELL HILL 
PINOT NOIR 2007

The 2007 Bell Hill Pinot Noir is a 4 barrel selection, each of the blocks above were harvested, fermented and aged in barrel separately. All of the Pinot Noir was de-stemmed and the wines stayed on skins for 28 days with approximately a week of cold maceration before ferment and a warm post-ferment maceration afterwards. The final blend comes from one barrel each of the Shelf and Quarry 10/5 upper portion of the block and two barrels of the Limeworks block, all of which were new French oak. This wine has an analysis of 13.4% alcohol, 5.3g/L TA and 3.68pH. Approximately 1,200 bottles were produced.

The wine is concentrated with rich spice aroma and a deep, dark red fruit core with hints of blueberry, dark cherry and plum and lifted complexity. The palate has lovely elegance and young fresh fruit which belies its concentration. A structured wine that has savoury, spicy fruit presence with mineral salinity, it has a long finish displaying at this early stage an even fruit depth and tannin that will preserve the wine in the years to come.


BELL HILL
CHARDONNAY 2007

This Chardonnay is from a blend of the Shelf and Limeworks blocks and was fermented in one year old oak (giving us about 300 bottles) and aged in wood for twelve months. The analysis shows 12.9 % alcohol, 7.1g/L TA and 3.35 pH.

The wine has lovely, tight mineral and oyster shell aromas complemented by white flowers, citrus and a hint of lees complexity. It has a generous fruit palate held together in structure with mineral acidity that gives a focus and length to the back palate with a saline, tactile finish.


OLD WEKA PASS ROAD
PINOT NOIR 2007

This wine is a three barrel blend from the Quarry block, including Dijon clones and 10/5. The winemaking was as per the Bell Hill Pinot Noir but the oak regime had two thirds new French oak. The wine has an analysis of 13.3% alcohol, 5.6g/L TA and 3.62 pH. Approximately 860 bottles were produced.

The wine has rich red fruit characters in the aroma with spicy, earthy notes yet still shows an underlying presence of floral characters. There are cherry, spice and wild fruit notes on the palate with a full fruit volume. The finish is of silky, talcum-like tannins giving a lengthy palate finish.