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Winter is here and the team at Langham Wine Estate have a treat for you! A brand new Blanc de Noirs made from 100% Pinot Noir.
While a number of our wines are fermented in a mixture of old oak and stainless steel the Pinot Noir 2019, like our 2018 Pinot Meunier, was all fermented in old oak barrels. When tasting through the parcels of wine from the 2019 vintage, our winemaking team found just a handful of barrels that tasted so exceptional that they didn’t want to hide the wine away in a blend.
Zero Dosage!
Our Pinot Noir 2019 is the first Langham release to receive zero dosage. So what exactly is dosage?
At Langham our dosage is made from Concentrated Grape Must that is added to the wine. We like to think of this as the final seasoning that is added before the cork goes in. The amount of dosage added to a wine will determine whether it is classed as Extra Brut, Brut, Sec, Demi Sec etc. In order to be classed as Brut, a winemaker can add between 6 and 12 g per litre of dosage! A common thread with all of the current Langham Wines is that they have a fairly low dosage. Our Culver and Corallian having 1g/L and 1.5 g/L respectively and our Rosé having 3g/L. We don’t want the dosage to overpower anything or necessarily add sweetness, but instead we rely on it to round out the final product and bring all the existing flavours together.
Before the dosage is added the wine devlops complex flavours over time. It undergoes primary fermentation in oak and/or stainless steel. It will then go through the second fermentation in bottles to create the fizz and spend time aging on the lees, developing more secondary flavour characteristics. Finally after around 24 months on the lees (in the case of this particular wine) the dead yeast sediment will be disgorged and the dosage added. With our Pinot Noir 2019, our team did dosage trials with a range of different amounts eg. 1g per litre, 3g per litre, and 0g per litre. This wine showed exceptional fruit character and complexity, and we decided unanimously that it tasted at its best without any dosage addition.
Tasting Notes:
A deep golden colour with a steady stream of fine bubbles.
The nose has notes of vanilla, lightly caramelised peach and apricot. These aromas are backed up by a delicate wave of floral honeysuckle and orange citrus notes.
The palate is rounded with baked apple and plum flavours, alongside a subtle sweet spice.
Delicate tannin from the oak adds texture, and there is wonderful integrated acidity with a lasting crisp, clean finish.
Pre-Order Online Now
With those tasting notes, this wine is basically begging to be your Christmas Day drink of choice this year. Langham Pinot Noir 2019 will officially be released on 1st December, however you can pre-order a bottle online now by clicking the link below!
