Big Sky Autumn 2012 News
 
What’s Good
The 2009 Big Sky Pinot Noir is drinking really well. We think it is our best yet, and is only going to get better over the next few years. Dark plums, cherries, and strawberry flavours, with liquorice and spice and a hint of aniseed on the finish. Silky tannins add structure and mouthfeel. Good weight and length on mid and back palate. This is a great food wine, especially with lean gamey meats such as venison, or wild pork. You can buy it online for $30 per bottle.

The 2011 Big Sky Sauvignon Blanc is also a great food wine. Partially barrel aged, this savvy has a richly textured palate showing ripe tropical fruit and stone fruit characters, and good minerality. Delicious! You can buy it online for $20 a bottle.
 
And of course, Stellar – our pinot-driven, off-dry bubbles – perfect as an aperitif, with light food, or even dessert. Classy and delicious. You can buy it online for $25 per bottle.


Fine
We are getting ready to bottle our 2011 Big Sky Pinot Noir. It’s been about 12 months since it was harvested, and about ten months since it was barrelled. The last steps before bottling are fining and filtering -- polishing the wine up, to allow its character to really show through. It’s about judgement, and making a good wine great.
 
 
Cool
No doubt about it, it’s been a cool season. Some people have griped “where’s the summer?”, but we like to think of it as just a really long autumn. At Big Sky, we are about making the most of what our vineyard has to offer – wines that express the character of the place. And that terroir has to mean the climate and season as well as the soil.
 
The season has meant a bit of extra care in the vineyard -- thinning fruit to about one tonne to the acre to make sure the vine can ripen it all, and paying extra attention to the canopy to help get exposure and air, to make sure the fruit stays sound through a longer than usual season. And with the run of clear days and cool nights we are seeing, we are looking forward to a late harvest – perhaps three or four weeks later than usual – and some really stylish and elegant wines.