Danbury Ridge Wine Estate Pinot Noir 2021

Ripe red fruit aromas abound, with hints of orange blossom and forest floor in the mix. Both red and black fruits interweave on the palate with silky smooth tannins and a fresh acidity that manage to both caress and invigorate the tongue on the long finish.

The fruit was handpicked and sorted in the vineyard and winery. Grapes were destemmed but no crushing took place, to maintain whole berries. Using gravity the grapes were transferred to open-top fermenters for cold soak for 3-5 days. Temperatures were allowed to increase naturally and th cap was punched down just once or twice a day. Some vats also received extended skin maceration. After fermentation, wine was transferred to barrels for malolactic fermentation, battonage and 12 months ageing. The wine was bottled unfined and unfiltered.

Danbury Ridge was founded by two generations of the Bunker family: Michael and Heather Bunker and their daughters, Janine and Sophie. The first vines were planted in 2014, with an unwavering focus on still Pinot Noir and Chardonnay clones to exploit the unique mesoclimate. After just a few seasons the vines were producing grapes of a ripeness previously unseen in the UK.

Estuarine Essex is smeared with a thick layer of London Clay, but at Danbury Ridge this tenacious deposit lies beneath a significant overburden of fluvial-glacial sand and gravel. It is this coarse aggregate, deep in some places, shallow in others, that makes Danbury Ridge so special. The Danbury Ridge mesoclimate comes into its own in late summer. Ripening does not stall with the autumn equinox. Natural woodland shelter belts, together with the light topsoils, magnify the effects of September sunlight.