Current Tasting Notes

Bouquet and Palate:
An intense peach and apricot kernel nose. Elegant fortified dessert wine with hints of peach, citrus and dried fruit with a smooth finish.
Winemaker’s Comments:
Late harvest Pinot Gris was fermented in stainless steel until the right amount of sugar remained and fortified (mutage) with alcohol distilled from our Pinot Noir lees and further blended to create its complex harmonious balance.
Food Matching:
Perfect as an aperitif but this wine also matches with nuts, cheeses or with desserts. Lovely served over ice as a pre dinner drink.

Alcohol: 16%
Residual sugar: 95 g/L

Port Molyneux is named for the old sailing ship port where the Clutha River (formerly the Molyneux River which flows past Aurum’s vineyard) meets the Pacific Ocean. The port was a busy drop off point for supplies and miners travelling to the gold rush in Central Otago in the 1860s. After the huge floods of 1878 the mouth of the river changed forever and Port Molyneux was abandoned.

Appearance
Clear ruby red.

Bouquet
Complex smoky, cedar wood, ripe plum and dried herbs.

Palate
Raspberry and black currant flavours with savoury and earthy tones. This wine has a solid mid-palate and lingering chocolate finish. An elegant wine, well balanced with silky tannins and good acidity.

Technical Analysis
45 degrees South
Low cropping estate grown grapes for this wine were hand harvested in April 2015 from Aurum’s Te Wairere vineyard in the Lowburn area of Central Otago, New Zealand.
A cool and early start followed by a warm summer and a slightly cooler autumn allowing an extended hang time for the fruit to reached optimum ripeness.

Soils
Wind blown sands and silts.

Vine age
15 year old vines

Trellis Style
VSP (Vertical shoot positioning)

Winemaker’s comments
Grapes for this Pinot Noir were selected by the winemakers and fermented in open top fermenters, hand plunged and with wild yeasts. The wine was matured for 12 months in French oak barrels with 15% new oak.
Will reward by cellaring 4-8 years.

Mathilde is the name of the first born daughter of winemakers, Brook and Lucie Lawrence.

Bottled : June 2016
Alcohol : 14 %
Closure: Screwcap

Appearance: Crystal clear, pale lemon.
Palate:
Freshly scented, lively and tangy, this medium bodied wine has intense lemon/lime flavours, a minerally streak and a finely poised, dry, very long finish. Full of personality.
Technical Analysis:
Location – 45 degrees South
Grapes for this wine were hand harvested in late April from the Cromwell basin area of Central Otago.
Climate:
A long warm autumn with hot dry days and cool nights allowed an extended ripening of fine clean fruit still holding good acidity.
Soils: Fluvial, glacial silts and gravels.
Vine Age: 20 year old vines
Trellis Style: VSP
Winemaker’s Comments:
The grapes were whole bunch pressed to minimise extraction of skin phenolics and cool fermented in stainless steel tanks. The ferment was stopped to maintain a small residual sugar level to balance the acidity.

Bottled: 30th August 2016
Alcohol: 12%
Acidity: 10 g/L
Residual sugar: 7 g/L
Closure: Screwcap

Appearance
Pale straw with bright clarity.

Bouquet
A beautiful bouquet of ripe white peaches with notes of grapefruit together with toasty, nutty well integrated oak.

Palate
Full bodied fruit driven wine with a rich creamy mouthfeel.

Technical Analysis

Location – 45 Degrees South
Low cropping grapes for this wine were hand harvested from our Te Wairere vineyard in Lowburn, Central Otago.

Climate
A season of hot dry days and cool nights allowed an extended ripening of very ripe clean fruit still holding good acidity.

Soils
Fluvial, glacial silts and gravels.

Vine age
6 year old vines

Trellis Style
VSP with cane pruned vines.

Winemakers comments

Grapes were whole bunch pressed, and fermented in French oak barrels (15% new oak) with wild yeasts. The wine went through malolactic fermentation in the following spring.

Bottled : May 2018
Alcohol : 13.5 %

Appearance

Bright, deep garnet.

Bouquet

Perfumed bouquet of floral notes and dried herbs with both red and black fruits.

Palate

The structure is detailed and layered. This wine shows transparency and remains delicate despite its concentration.

Location – 45 degrees South

Low cropping estate grown grapes for this wine were hand harvested in April 2015 from Te Wairere vineyard in Lowburn, Central Otago.

Climate

2016 was warm with a very long ripening period and fruit reached optimum ripeness.

Soils

Glacial/fluvial gravel and silts.

Vine age

16 year old vines

Winemaker’s comments

Aurum’s philosophy is to work as closely as possible with nature. Our vineyard and winery are managed using certified organic practices and we thrive to produce wines that speak truthfully of their origins. Organics is the defining philosophy of our vineyard management and part of an overall goal to achieve continuous improvements in vineyard sustainability and to make better wines.

This Pinot Noir was processed by foot trampling 100% whole bunch grapes in open fermenter with wild yeasts and aged in French oak barrels for 12 months.

Will reward by cellaring 8-10 years.

Madeleine is the name of the second born daughter of our winemakers, Brook and Lucie Lawrence.

Alcohol : 13%

Bottled : July 17

Appearance

Deep garnet red

Tasting notes

Mouthfilling, juicy and supple, it has concentrated, small red fruits, perfumes and spice flavours, with finely integrated oak adding complexity, and obvious cellaring potential; open 2019+

Technical Analysis

Location – Estate grown grapes from Aurum’s organic Te Wairere vineyard in Lowburn, near Cromwell, Central Otago. Low cropping grapes for this wine were hand harvested in April 2017 after long slow ripening.

Climate

A season of hot dry days and cool nights allowed an extended ripening of ripe clean fruit still holding good acidity.

Soils

Windblown sands and silts.

Viticulture

17 year old vines on VSP trellis.

Winemaker’s comments

The grapes were mostly destemmed, cold soaked for 5 days and fermented in open vats with wild yeasts. The wine was matured in French oak barrels for 12 months. Unfined and unfiltered.

Alcohol: 13.5%
Bottled: June 2018

Appearance: Delicate pink color
Tasting Note: This wine is mouthwatering, vivacious and captures the fragrances of strawberry and cream.
Technical Analysis:
Location – 45 Degrees South
Low cropping estate grown grapes for this wine were hand harvested in April from Aurum’s Te Wairere vineyard in the Lowburn area of Central Otago.
Climate:
A long warm autumn with hot dry days and cool nights allowed an extended ripening of fruit still holding good acidity.
Soils: Fluvial, glacial silts and gravels.
Vine Age: 13 – 17 year old vines
Trellis Style: VSP
Winemaker’s Comments:
Macerated to extract the delicate color of the Pinot Gris skins and vinified in stainless steel at low temperature. Perfect as an aperitif or with a light lunch.

Residual Sugar: 2 g/.L
Alcohol: 14% alc by vol

Appearance: Crystal clear – very pale lemon
Bouquet: Intense perfume of honeysuckle, quince, mandarin peel and melon.
Palate: This wine is supple and ripe with intense pear, quince and mandarin flavours. The fruit and spice notes are underlined by a rich and creamy mouthfeel with a good acidity providing a mineral backbone and a long lingering aftertaste to this off-dry style wine.
Technical Analysis:
Location – 45 degrees South
Low cropping estate grown grapes for this wine were hand harvested in April from Aurum’s Te Wairere vineyard in the Lowburn area of Central Otago.
Climate:
A long warm autumn with hot dry days and cool nights allowed an extended ripening of fruit still holding good acidity.
Soils: Fluvial, glacial silts and gravels.
Vine Age: 17-year-old vines
Trellis Style: VSP Vertical Shoot Positioning
Winemaker’s Comments:
The grapes were whole bunch pressed to minimise extraction of skin phenolics and cool fermented in stainless steel tanks with extensive lees stirring to increase the mouthfeel.

Alcohol: 13.5%
Residual sugar: 5 g/L

Appearance
Clear amber/orange colour.

Bouquet
Spiced honey, dried nectarines and pears.

Palate
Bone dry, rippled with minerality and tannins. This wine is at the cross roads of a red wine for its tannins and texture, a cool climate white wine for its intense minerality and a barrel fermented white wine for its charming oxidative notes.

Analysis

Location – 45 degrees South
Low cropping estate grown grapes for this wine were hand harvested in April from Aurum’s Te Wairere vineyard in the Lowburn area of Central Otago.

Climate
A long warm autumn with hot dry days and cool nights allowed an extended ripening of fruit still holding good acidity.

Soils
Fluvial, glacial silts and gravels.

Vine age
12 –17 year old vines

Trellis Style
VSP

Winemakers comments
This wine is made using ancient techniques. The grapes underwent fermentation with their skins. After an extensive post maceration of 4 months, the wine was drained through muslin cloth and aged for 12 months. The wine was then hand bottled, unfined and unfiltered.
Preservative free, 100% grapes.

Alcohol : 13.5%