The Aurora Vineyard was planted in 1998 and was developed with a singular focus - to make wines of uncompromised quality which reflect the unique” terroir” of Bendigo, Central Otago.
The vast majority of the vineyard is planted in various clones of Pinot Noir. This clonal variation provides significant complexity of flavour to our Pinot Noir. The remainder of the vineyard have been planted in a combination of Riesling, Pinot Gris and Syrah. Growing Syrah in Central Otago is unusual, however Bendigo is one of the warmest areas in the Cromwell basin and we have utilised our hottest terrace for our Syrah plantings.
Our wines are crafted solely from estate grown grapes. A growing and winemaking philosophy of low crop yields, sympathetic vineyard management, hand picking and minimal intervention in the winery is reflected in the wines we produce. The Aurora Vineyard is a fully accredited member of Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand.
All of these wines were made by multi-award winning winemaker Carol Bunn from grapes grown by Tom Topping and his vineyard team.
2009 was a relatively cool year by Central Otago standards. We had 1,067 Growing Degree days (by contrast to 2007 and 2008 that were around 1,200). We also did not have the spikes in heat that characterised 2008 with a high of 34 degrees (in contrast to the 2008 high of 39 degrees). Yields were naturally low (5t/ha) and we picked 1-2 weeks later than we did in 2008.
The most remarkable thing about 2009 was that each shoot was less fruitful than any season we had experienced before or since. We normally expect 2 bunches per shoot, and in 2009 we experienced around 1.2 bunches per shoot. This was a purely natural phenomenon and was probably as a result of poor weather (read cold/wet) in the previous season when the particular buds that produced these shoots were forming. This was further helped by our fruit thinning exercise which saw us further reduce all of the fruit to 1 bunch per shoot.
2009 Bendigo Pinot Noir
The wine is dark plum in colour, and on the nose has sweet red and dark berry fruit, with hints of dried herbs and spice, together with a savoury mushroom complexity overlaying integrated oak characters. The palate has fine, well integrated tannins and good fruit persistence.
The fruit was harvested on the 15th and 16th of April 2009 at 25 brix and the wine was aged in French Oak Barriques for approximately 10 months, of which 32% was new oak. It had a light egg white fining to enhance and soften the tannins. Rigorous bunch thinning resulted in a yield of 5t per hectare.
Eighth Vintage: 550 cases produced.
750ML Contains approximately 8.2 standard drinks
Alc 13.9% VOL Contains Preservative (220)
2009 Bendigo Syrah
This wine has dense concentrated colour, with cracked black pepper and sweet dark plums on the nose, together with savoury characters. It is rich and concentrated on the palate with bold, chewy tannins and good persistence.
The fruit was harvested on the 13th of May 2009 at 25.5 brix (while it was snowing) and the wine was aged in French Oak Barriques for approximately 10 months, of which 40% was new oak. It had a light egg white fining to enhance and soften the tannins. Rigorous bunch thinning resulted in a yield of 4t per hectare.
Sixth Vintage: 210 cases produced.
750ML Contains approximately 8.2 standard drinks
Alc 13.9% VOL Contains Preservative (220)