Packspur - Our Varieties & Styles

Our vines are close-planted and cropped low to ensure intense fruit and tannins in the wine. The grapes are cold-soaked for several days, fermented in open fermenters and hand-plunged 2-4 times a day. The wine matures in French oak barriques[25% new oak] for 12 -14 months The style we aim for in the Packspur Pinot Noir has up-front fruit characters of plum and cherries with spicy, gutsy tannins that give the wine a cellaring potential of 2-6 years and reflect our individual clonal mix and the Lowburn terroir.

Packspur Sauvignon Blanc

We have chosen to make a style that is more akin to a French Sancerre than a “Marlborough” style. After crushing and pressing the juice goes straight to oak barrels [French, new - 7yr old] for fermentation. The wine undergoes malolactic fermentation and aging on lees for 10- 14 months depending on the acid balance and taste. Some years we may blend in a portion of tank fermented wine to enhance the fruit characters.

This barrel-fermented style gives a creamy complexity to the wine and a cellaring potential of 1-5 years.

Packspur Riesling

The grapes are the last to be harvested, usually in early May and are allowed to ferment and remain on light lees for several months over winter to add weight and complexity to the palate. We retain some grape sugars, usually 10 -16 grams / litre to provide good sugar/acid balance. This results in a smooth wine with good fruit weight and palate length. Like most Rieslings ours is made to keep and will reward you with a beautiful wine if you can cellar it for 4-6 years.

Packspur Pinot Gris

Our Pinot Gris is fermented to dry in stainless steel tanks, then a percentage is given three to four months in older French oak. This style adds the richness of barrel influence to the lovely fruit flavours without the oak dominating. The Pinot Gris is ready to enjoy now but 3-5 years cellaring will really bring out the best of this varietial.

Packspur Chardonnay

Packspur Chardonnay is barrel fermented using a very small percentage of new oak so that the oak does not dominate the fruit. Approximately one third of this wine is excluded from Malo lactic fermentation so that the chardonnay fruit flavours are enhanced.