The highest of the Bendigo Vineyards, the School House Vineyard at 400 meters gives spectacular wines – and views. Its gently sloping North face is frost resistant and lies adjacent to the original School building of the Bendigo community.

The beauty of this vineyard is the combination of finer complex glacial outwash and schist soils, and later, cooler ripening. Here Pinot Noir gains remarkable elegance, perfume and length, with fine mineral tannins.

The School House Pinot Noir has great depth of fruit, and a structure based on the combination of fine acidity and mineral tannin.

"The School House Pinot Noir embodies the extremities of Central Otago. Coming from a sloping vineyard 400 meters above sea level in Bendigo, it ripens late, with warm days and cool nights preserving colour, depth, nerve and vitality. Great tension then gets expressed in the wine, as shapely fruit, is offset by an natural acid drive, nervy structure and coating minerality. A vineyard that is staggeringly beautiful elicits a wine that exudes sheer class"

Christopher Keys, WinemakerGIB

BST

ON

VA

LLEY

SC

HO

OL

HO

USE

PIN

OT

NO

IR 2

012

THE SINGLE VINEYARD RANGEGibbston Valley’s Single Vineyard wines demonstrate the uniqueness of place brought about by growing Pinot Noir in some of the oldest and highest altitude vineyards in Central Otago. Our philosophy is to preserve the characteristics inherent to each site. The single vineyard wines are presented as expressions of place, relying on structure and elegance to convey their message.

CENTRAL OTAGO GROWING SEASON

Whilst coller than average, 2012 was warm at crucial times. A cool spring resulted in a delayed bud burst and sluggish shoot development. Flowering was even though, with December and January giving warm pleasant conditions. Berry development and bunch sizes were even. Warm days continued into through the early months of 2012, giving good early tannin ripeness. Cool and wet intervals in February and early March could have turned the vintage, but from March on it was smooth sailing. An endless succession of perfectly dry, warm, sun –filled days accompanied the harvest. Fruit was picked in excellent condition at typical times and weights.

SOIL TYPE

From a high altitude Bendigo vineyard, the soil type is fine loess and sand over glacial outwash and schist.

CLONAL/ROOTSTOCK SELECTION

This is a combination of 777 and 114 clones.

WINEMAKING DETAILS

School House's altitude pulls ripening back to the latter part of Arpul, with characteristically small berries and bunches. Mineral, structural clones are selected, with 15 - 25% whole cluster unsed in the small fermenters. After 20 - 30 days, the wines were pressed, and spent 10 months in aok, 40% new. The wine was bottles in a natural state: neither cold stabalized, fined, nor filtered.

AROMA AND PALATE

A boldly coloured Pinot Noir, dense to the rim. The nose is indicative of the immense concentration of this wine: crammed with dark fruit, multitudes of spice, and sweet soft earth aromas. Very concentrated on the palate, it has an intense weight that aligns closely to the wine’s directional structure; finishing with an array of densely mineral tannins.

CELLARING AND FOOD MATCHING

The 2012 School House Pinot Noir can be cellared between 8-12 years. Match with any grilled red meat, game and slow cooked dish.

HARVEST ANALYSIS

Harvest Date: 21 April 2012

˚BRIX: 24.5ºBrix

TITRATABLE ACIDITY: 7.7g/l (AS TARTARIC ACID)

pH: 3.20

WINE ANALYSIS

ALCOHOL: 14% v/v

RESIDUAL SUGAR: nil

TITRATABLE ACIDITY: 5.9g/l(AS TARTARIC ACID)

pH: 3.52

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

GIB

BST

ON

VA

LLEY

SC

HO

OL

HO

USE

PIN

OT

NO

IR 2

012