2013 Storm - Pinot Noir Vrede
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Tasting notes
2013 saw a cold winter and a cold wet spring. Bud break was later than usual, and so was harvest. The yields were higher than 2012: 0.66 kg/vine v 0.48 kg/vine. 11 months in tight-grain, 228-litre French oak, 30% new. TA 6 g/l, pH 3.5, RS 2.9 g/l. The nose is a little more muted than the 2012, tasted just before, but it shows really lovely, delicate rose-hip fruit and gentle sous bois. Gathering soft savoury notes, like the crumbling of a log in the forest. Beautiful texture in these tannins, as they concertina around the fruit. Sea-anemone-like, in the dreamy underwater way a sea anemone moves. More sweetness than the 2012, more vibrant: the acidity thrums through the wine and hums in the tannins. (TC)
Critic scores
Jancis Robinson MW
Jancis Robinson MW
More reviews and scores
A bit muted, and still very young in both fruit and tannin. Bold and powerful but restrained in flavour range compared with the 2016. (RH)
(14% alcohol): Moderately saturated medium red. Red cherry and spice aromas are wound tight on the nose. Brisk acidity frames and intensifies the fresh cherry, tart red berry, earth and cinnamon flavors. Finishes slightly warm, but with fine-grained tannins and subtle spicy persistence. This very fresh Pinot Noir actually need a couple more years in bottle to reveal itself.
The 2013 Pinot Noir Vrede was cropped at three tons per hectare and matured in 30% new oak for 11 months (80% François Frère and 20% Mercurey). It has a "quiet" nose at first, quite earthy with black fruit that unfolds in the glass, just a touch of Lapsong Souchang developing with aeration. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin, very good acidity and tightly coiled (perhaps more so than the debut 2012), with good structured on the stony, sour cherry-tinged finish. Give it another 12 months to flesh out in bottle. Just 350 cases were produced.