How the Whisson Lake Wines are grown

Every one of the Pinot Noir wines in the Whisson Lake portfolio - from the early release "Pinot Nouveau" through to the Amarone-style "Pinot Nero" - is deliberately grown in the vineyard. 

This means that Mark Whisson and his vineyard team must pursue a specific strategy for the growing of grapes that correspond to the requirements for each one of the Whisson Lake wines. Here then is a broad brush sketch of what work is done in the vines to make each wine...

   Whisson Lake "Pinot Nouveau." The raison d'etre of this wine is to show in a pure and uncomplicated way the uplifted perfume of young Pinot Noir fruit. While the bolder red wines in our portfolio come from vines that give concentration and tannic structure, Pinot Nouveau is derived from higher cropping vines in warmer parts of the vineyard with richer soils. A simplified and low-extraction winemaking process is then followed to translate this fruit into wine.

Whisson Lake "Black Label". With this wine we are looking for a fruit-forward, early-drinking style that can be drunk by the first Christmas following harvest. This means that the grapes need to be generally lower in concentration (colour, flavour, tannin, acidity..). First of all this means working with vines from warmer parts of the vineyard with richer soil as these are vines that have a natural tendency to give Black Label style fruit (especially with regards to grapes that are lower in harder tannin and acidity). When these vines are pruned, more buds are left so that the crop which results is slightly heavier than normal. A heavier crop means slower ripening and less concentration in the wine. Because the Whisson Lake vineyard can very easily give wine of gargantuan weight, for the making of this our lighter - village-style - wine, we have to show restraint so that we don't end up with a wine that can't be drunk until Christmas 2020! It is a wine that embodies the precept "less is more"!

  Whisson Lake "White Label". The White Label is the signature wine of our vineyard because it comes from fruit that has natural acid/tannin structure not yet found in other Australian Pinot Noirs grown in warmer locations. We prefer to use fruit from the long rows to the right of the house (as you look at the hill) for this wine. There is very little north in the aspect here and the vines rise to over 600m altitude and it is this, coupled with extremely low yields, that gives the intensity and power we seek. These same characteristics give this wine exceptional cellaring potential of 15+ years.