Pinot Noir; our primadonna grape.. But oh my how we love her fickle personality!
In 2021 we wanted to ensure that we picked our Pinot Noir with a lower potential alcohol than the year before and with much more freshness and finesse. It's always a super tricky thing with Pinot Noir to get the perfect balance between phenolic and physical ripeness, but as our plants are getting older and we are gaining experience we are getting better at it!
We picked on August 10th and 11th this year and were careful to only bring in the perfect bunches so did a strict selection in the vineyards upon picking to avoid getting dried and raisined grapes in with the rest. This resulted in little sorting beeing needed at the sorting table and the grapes were destemmed/crushed and set to ferment on the skins with daily, but gentle pump-over and punch downs. We then pressed and ended up with 6500 liters of beautiful Pinot Noir that was transferred to a total of 9 500 liters barrels and left to rest for about a year. During this period we periodically tasted them and started forming a picture of how these different barrels would finally fit together in the yearly "Pinot Puzzle" that is Randa!
What remained clear was that each barrel had its very own personality and qualities; expect for one, namely barrel number #19 which was infested with Brett and thus kept a LONG way a part from the rest. We decided to blend all the other barrels together in one big tank in late August 2022 and started getting the wine ready for bottling, which included a very gentle fining with egg whites to round off the tannins and make the wine more velvety, like any Pinot Noir should be.
So our creative minds were working hard this year to bring you an even greater Randa than in 2020.... A Randa that is quite different, but more Pinot typical and way more beautiful in our eyes!
How to best enjoy 2021 Randa
Tasting note written by Marie pre-bottling November 2021
Sweet, fruity and earthy Pinot typical nose. Tobacco leaf and dried strawberries. Autumn forrest / dried leaves. Complex and sophisticated. Crisp and fresh on the palate with lots of energy. Red berries and spice like nutmeg and cloves. Smooth, silky tannins and a long and elegant finish.
What to serve with Randa
Quail, pheasant or a rack of lamb! Slowly cooked to preserve all the juices and served with Chucky potatoes double fried in duck fat and a simple salad with a mustardy vinaigrette. Simplicity rules!
When, where and with whom..
This is the ultimate wine for your classic French bistro food as mentioned above, but also a wine to soothe your soul on a gloomy winter afternoon. Simply pop open a bottle and put on some Human League/Simply Red/George Michael and forget the rest of the world.
The boring, but important, stuff
Blend: 100% Pinot Noir