Paritua 2006 Dinah, Hawkes Bay

Ethereal, enticing, rich and gastronomic are some of the words to describe this glorious dessert wine. Handpicked botrytised Semillon grapes and great winemaking have produced an outstanding example of what happens when Mother Nature comes to the party. Luscious flavours of orange, honey, marmalade, apricot and lemon are present in harmonious abundance. Fantastic with cheese, tarte Tatin, lemon meringue pie, poached pears or just sipped on its own. Served chilled, but not ice cold. This wine will age gracefully for many years.

Tasting Notes

• Tasting Notes

Semillon vines produce large clusters of fruit and require careful bunch thinning and separating to allow for good airflow around the grapes. Meticulous management of the Semillon is crucial to ensure full ripeness whilst also allowing only the noble rot of botrytis to affect the clusters. Moderately warm conditions with humidity are required for this result, which is often not achievable every vintage. Harvest takes place early to late May with different picks to select only fully botrytised fruit. The 2006 ‘Dinah’ was harvested at 44 Brix.

Winemaking Notes

Botrytised grapes are handled with extreme care to avoid spoilage. After a long pressing and settling process, the juice was transferred to oak barriques for fermentation. After several months, the fermentation completed at 10% alcohol with a residual sugar of 227 grams/litre, and the resulting wine received a light fining and was sterile-filtered to bottle. The aim is to create a wine with high residual sugar and a smooth, long finish. The 2006 ‘Dinah’ was bottled in October of the same year and a total of 88 cases were produced (12 x 375ml bottles).

Technical Notes:

Harvest: 2006
Cases made: 88
Alcohol: 10% by vol
Residual Sugar: 227 grams/litre
TA: 10.5 grams/litre
pH: 3.61

Current Releases (click to view)

• Paritua 2007 Chardonnay, Hawkes Bay
• Paritua Grace 2007, Hawkes Bay
• Paritua Pinot Noir 2006, Central Otago
• Paritua Riesling 2007, Central Otago