SHEILD Pinot Meunier Rosé 2023

Reviews and Accolades

No review currently available for vintage 2023. SHEILD Pinot Meunier Rosé 2022 received:

Sam Kim, Wine Orbit: 93/100. Delightfully composed and expressed, the wine shows raspberry, nectarine, crunchy apple and floral aromas on the nose, followed by a finely flowing palate that's juicy and elegantly flavoursome. At its best: now to 2024.

Cameron Douglas MS: 92/100.  Fresh, bright and fruity bouquet with aromas of fresh strawberry and rose, there’s a delicate tropical fruits and peach suggestion. Youthful, exuberant, fleshy and fruity on the palate. Dry with plenty of acidity and fruit flavours to mirror the bouquet. Balanced, well made and ready to drink from 2022 through end of summer 2024.

MUNDUS VINI Spring Tasting 2023: Silver. 

Tasting note

Pale Provençal Pink, this light to medium bodied Rose is teeming with floral, red berry and melon aromas. A discreet lick of residual sugar accentuates the fruit flavours which are teased out through the wine by the juicy citrusy acidity. A mineral/saline note makes a nod to the coastal proximity and stretches the wine out to a long dry finish.

Varietal: 100% Pinot Meunier

Aromas and flavours:

Additional information

Food match: a delightful complement to a lot of BBQ dishes and summer salads. Or simply enjoy as a refreshing aperitif.

Vineyard: Wai-iti Vineyard, Nelson, New Zealand. Flat alluvial soils, gravel with a layer of silt loam Vine age 10 years.

Vintage 2023: Winter 2022 was not especially cold as local sea temperatures remained warmish and influenced the land. Precipitation on the other hand was frequent, and sometimes heavy. Budburst was again early as we have become accustomed to with the La Nina dominant weather umbrella. Spring growth was also vigorous with water at field capacity in the soils, and warmer temperatures. The energetic spring conditions proved challenging for flowering and fruitset resulting in variability within varieties and across regional sites. Periodic rain events continued through summer and the vineyard vigor continued as well. Temperatures remained warm so fruit development was not retarded. Fingers were crossed from verasion and with a large amount of luck the rain held off and fruit was allowed to ripen and be harvested. Picking started early March with the Rose and was completed in a relatively short four week period. Grapes were once again clean and ripe. BG The resulting flush of vegetative growth was cause for concern as the increase in humidity under the bird netting also increased disease risk. Summer held its nerve and grapes were harvested largely in good balance and condition between late March and mid April 2023.

Regional climate: Nelson’s sheltered topography gives protection from strong winds; combined with its proximity to the sea this gives milder temperatures than other South Island regions, mitigating frost risk. Regularly New Zealand’s sunniest region and with good diurnal variation this helps emphasise varietal character. High sunlight hours and a long growing season give wonderful fruit purity.

Winemaking: Made from 100% Pinot Meunier, from a lovely vineyard sight that is wedged at the confluence of the Waimea And Wai-iti rivers, with the Richmond ranges as a backdrop. The fruit for this wine is always harvested in the cool of early morning. Machine picked on the 15/3/2020 the must made the hour or so trip to the winery – contributing to the skin contact element in this wine. Once at the winery the berries were promptly crushed and transferred to the press. No additional skin contact was employed the juice being pressed off directly. This juice was left to cold settle for several days before the well clarified juice was racked to tank for ferment. It was inoculated with a favourite Rose yeast chosen for the fermentation aromatics it liberates. The ferment was kept cool to maintain a civilized pace and preserve the pronounced aromatics. Although we are not fixated on numbers, this wine came into balance with a residual sugar of 6.5g/L a tad higher that recent vintages but still finishing clean and dry. The ferment was chilled to arrest. From here it was simply and briskly moved through the finishing steps to bottling – capturing the wine’s youthful finesse.

Alcohol: 11.5% vol

Residual sugar: 7 g/l

Total acidity: 7.5 g/l

Bottle size: 0.75l

Notice: contains sulphites

Cellaring potential: 2025

Closure: Screwcap

Produced and bottled by: Drinks Cabinet Limited, Atawhai, Nelson 7010, New Zealand