Mosquito Hill Wines

Mosquito Hill Blanc des Blancs Sparkling 2016 (RRP $36 WM $29.90)

$29.90

Colour
Light, watery golden appearance with greenish tints.

Aroma
Lightly aromatic nose of white fruits.

Palate
Typical of early picked chardonnay with extremely elegant white fruit flavours, wonderful small bead and leaving a clean acidic taste in the mouth.

Cellaring
The low pH and wonderful balance of the wine means it will last for 10 – 20 years, gaining in complexity as it ages.

Vintage
Vintages continued to get earlier and we picked the chardonnay in mid-February – our earliest start so far. The weather was excellent and the fruit was sound.

Vinification
The base wine was whole bunch pressed and after 48 hours cold settling it was racked to a stainless-steel tank where it underwent its primary and malo-lactic fermentations. After protein (Bentonite) and cold stabilization, the base wine was transferred to the Lodestone winery, where Michael Sykes undertook the traditional champagne approach of a secondary fermentation in each bottle. At disgorgement 7.5 g/L of sugar was added.

General Comments

As of November 2018 this wine has had three separate disgorgements, the last in February 2018. It is an excellent aperitif and as some commentators think small bubbles a sign of quality, this is a very high-quality champagne style of wine, indeed as the bubbles are tiny. In blind tastings, it compares very favourably with non-aldehydic styles of champagne, such as Pol Roger.

View full product details »

Mosquito Hill Pinot Noir 2016 (RRP $31 WM $28.90)

$28.90

Colour
Light red – not deep.

Aroma
Mainly in the red fruits spectrum.

Palate
This is quite a light bodied pinot noir although the flavour profile is strong. The whole bunch character is much more muted than the 2015 pinot even though at 45% the proportion was the same.

Cellaring
The wine has drunk well from the time of bottling and will continue like this for another five to seven years when I think it will be at its best.

Vintage
Each successive vintage proves our earliest ever in the twenty year history of our vintages and 2016 was again our earliest with picking of the pinot taking place in the first days of March. Yields were above our long-term average 38HL/ha (2t/acre) and nudged 57HL/ha (3t/acre).

Vinification
After pressing the wine went into French oak barriques and hogsheads of which 20% was new oak. Malolactic fermentation occurred naturally in the barrels.

General Comments
Although a lighter coloured wine this is still an intensely flavoured pinot noir and certainly fulfils our mantra of ‘power without weight’. Because we had more than usual we have bottled half of it using diam corks and half under screw cap. It will be an interesting exercise to watch the development of the wine under the differing closure.

View full product details »

Mosquito Hill Museum Release Pinot Noir 2011 (RRP $31 WM $22.90)

$22.90

Growing and Ripening Season
The longest (because the coolest) growing season in the twenty years since the vineyard was established.

Harvest
Hand picking took place in two tranches; the first being at the beginning of May and the second in mid May. Yield was 53Hl /Ha (2.8 tonnes / acre).

Crush
70% of the fruit was destemmed into open fermentation bins and 30% went into open bins for whole bunch fermentation.

Fermentation
The crushed fruit was inoculated and wild fermentation commenced in the whole bunch bins after five days pre-fermentation maceration. Once fermentation was established these bins were inoculated also.

Maturation
After completion of fermentation the skins were air bag pressed and the wine run into French oak barriques of which 25% were new. Malolactic fermentation occurred with natural yeast and the wine was then sulphured and left on its lees for twelve months.

Assemblage
All 37 barrels were assessed, and a separate cuvee was made using 7 of the barrels and the remaining barrels were blended in a stainless steel tank.

Bottling
Bottling was undertaken without fining or filtration.

Finished Wine
This wines has a strong red cherry aroma and is moderately light in colour. It has abundant tannin producing a pleasing structure. It’s flavour is in the red cherry end of the spectrum. The alcohol content is 13.2%. Because of its excellent balance we think it will be a very long lived wine.

General Comments
This wine and its sister wine, the 7 Barrels were made in our new onsite winery at Mosquito Hill, by Mike Waller who is the winemaker at one of the most prestigious Pinot Noir wineries in the United States, Calera. The owner of Calera is Josh Jensen about whom a book was written (‘The Heartbreak Grape’) concerning his quest to find the perfect site for growing Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. Mike introduced whole bunch fermentation to the winemaking process at Mosquito Hill. At Calera 100% whole bunch is used, as at Romaneé Conti, among other prestigious wineries. So far we haven’t quite embraced it to that degree; although the proportions of whole bunch we use is increasing and currently stands at about 30%. Both of the 2011 Pinots exhibit what we are aiming for, ie power without weight.

View full product details »

Mosquito Hill Pinot Blanc 2015 (RRP $22 WM $19.90)

$19.90

Colour
Yellow with light gold tints.

Aroma
Wild field flowers, hazelnut and slight baked green apple aroma with lots of minerals.

Palate
Similar to the aroma with the wine being full bodied and quite dry. Long flavoured, having a certain unctuosity in the mouth.

Cellaring
5-10 years

Vintage
2015 was an early vintage although the pinot blanc is a late ripening variety for a white grape. It cropped at about 49 HL/ha (2.75 tonnes/acre) and was picked at a beaumé of 12.8

Vinification
The grapes were treated oxidatively so no sulphur was used until after the primary fermentation. The grapes were bag pressed and the juice went to a stainlesssteel tank for 48 hours of settling at 10c. The juice was then racked to old French oak barriques for a mixture of wild and inoculated yeast fermentation. The wine stayed on lees for 9 months with monthly stirring. It was bottled in October 2015 under stelvin closure.

Comments
This is perhaps the most elegant of the pinot blanc’s we have made and so saying is less full flavoured than some. We expect it to last exceptionally well.

View full product details »

Mosquito Hill Chardonnay Museum Release 2009 (RRP $31 WM $19.90)

$19.90

Harvest
Grapes were handpicked early at B° 11.0, at a tonnage of 19Ha/Ha (1 tonne/acre).

Crush and Pressing
Immediate bag press with addition of sulphur.

Fermentation
The juice was cold settled for 48 hours and then transfered to French oak barriques, 15% of which were new. The juice was inoculated to start fermentation.

Maturation
The wine was left on lees in the barrels and underwent fortnightly topping up and batonnage. The wine remained in barrel for 11 months and then moved to stainless steel tank.

Assemblage
All barrels were assessed and all used in the final blend.

Bottling
Pre bottling sterile filtration undertaken

Finished Wine
The wine is relatively low in alcohol, (11.5%), due to the early picking. It is a citric acid tasting style with fairly subdued fruit character. It has developed very slowly as it has aged and as of August 2014 it remains extremely fresh and belies its 5 years of bottle age.

Comments
After the incredibly rich and high alcohol (15.5%) 2008 Chardonnay we went to the other extreme with the 2009 – producing a Chablis style wine. It is not a strong fruited wine but is very fresh tasting and is a perfect complement to all types of seafood and majority of Asian styled dishes.

View full product details »

Mosquito Hill Chardonnay 2015 (RRP $31 WM $28.90)

$28.90

Colour
Bright and clear with hints of gold.

Aroma
White fruits and hints of melon.

Palate
Not very full flavoured but the typical Mosquito Hill honey dew melon in evidence. No noticeable wood flavours, so quite an elegant style.

Cellaring
As with all our chardonnay’s this will easily improve in the bottle for seven or so years and then maintain excellent drinking for 5-7 years more.

Vintage
An early vintage with the fruit picked late in February at beaume of around 12.5. The crop produced about 27HL/ha (1.5 tonnes/acre).

Vinification
The wine was made oxidatively, so no sulphur was added until the end of the alcoholic fermentation. The grapes were pressed and the juice was cooled in tank for 48 hours and then racked to French oak barrels, with about 20% being new barrels.

Comments
This is typical of the slightly lighter (lower in alcohol) style we are now making, with much less overt oak influence.

View full product details »