GROWING SEASON
An unsettled growing season with rain during December flowering and blasts of wintery conditions through January and February. The cool season continued during picking which assisted in slowing sugar ripening and allowed for harvest based on optimal flavour and acid balance. Smaller than usual bunches and berries produced great flavour concentration, with moderate alcohol and balanced acidity.

VINEYARD
The vines for RKV are grown on a north and south facing Rocky Knoll within Amisfield Estate, where the Lochar soils are gravelly with a very thin layer of loose sandy loam, that naturally produces smaller berries and lower yields.

 WINEMAKING
Hand harvested and fermented naturally with a portion of whole cluster. Some parcels of fruit fermented within the vines from which they grew. Total time on skins is between 25 and 30 days after which the wine was pressed off and matured in 30% new French oak for spontaneous malolactic fermentation. The wine was racked and returned once before being bottled unfined and unfiltered at our winery in November 2017.

TASTING NOTES
This wine has generous layers of complexity with a defined savoury character of coffee and liquorice, this is balanced by Black Doris Plums and liquored cherries. The tannins are fine grained with a soft palate from the lower acidity of this harvest.