Lyme Bay Pinot Noir

From their base in Devon’s beautiful Axe Valley, Lyme Bay are on the map of England's best wine producers.

A beautiful, long, hot summer in 2020 enabled the grapes to fully ripen on the vine, resulting in intensity of flavour and body. Upon completion, the different vats were assessed for potential and characteristics, then blended together in the optimum proportions. The resulting Shoreline blend was aged for several weeks on fine lees to improve structure and mouth-feel, before being bottled at the end of March 2021 to preserve freshness.

Some notes from the winemaker:

A beautiful, long, hot summer in 2020 enabled the grapes to fully ripen on the vine, resulting in the intensity of flavour and body. Harvested between 3rd – 20th October 2020.

Small batch fermentations were undertaken with manual pigéage (punch downs) to gently maximise colour, flavour, and structure extraction. The wine was then transferred to barrel for 100% malolactic fermentation and ageing.

30% new French oak was used as well as experimental American and Eastern European oak. Aged for nine months in barrel, the batches were then blended and left to settle for two weeks before bottling.

The wine has no fining or filtration to retain the delicate nuances of the fruit and oak. It demonstrates a forward primary fruit character synonymous with young vines that will develop in intensity and potential even further with time.