Brand New Nikau Releases !

This pack contains ..

2 × 2025 Nikau Home Block Pinot Noir, 1 x Nikau ‘Tolone’ White

2025 Pinot Noir -

As usual the fruit was hand sorted and hand destemmed and then cold soaked for 48 hours so as to start fermentation very slowly. It spent 10 days in that state where it began ferment and received one light pump-over per day. It was then pressed to a small stainless steel tank to finish ferment as juice. This is where it sat un-disturbed for the next 9 months until bottling. It was bottled by hand and received an s02 addition of 10ppm at this time to protect from oxygen exposure.

 This years wine is an absolute beauty. It’s very well structured, has great energy and has all of the usual brambly Nikau Pinot Noir complexity coupled with exceptional balance.

 We could not be happier with this wine. I’d go as far as saying this is the best Pinot to be produced from the Nikau site to date and we are very excited to share it !

590 bottles produced

2025 Nikau ‘Tolone’ White -

The Vineyard

The “Tolone’ block is the other small vineyard on our farm (pictured above) and is planted mainly to Riesling. It has some Chardonnay interplanted within it and these plants are only evident later in the season when the slightly different shape of the leaves is recognisable to the trained eye. The vines are an average age of 27 years old. As with the other vineyard on the property it is farmed organically and has been since it was planted. This is clearly evident in the abundance of life both in and above the ground.

 The soils here are much the same as the Pinot block being mostly comprised of a sedimentary sandstone base with a high silica content and with a friable loam layer over the top. The loam layer is thinner here than in the pinot block, most likely due to the steepness of the slope. It is also much faster draining for the same reason.

 The biggest difference with this block though is the aspect. It is facing predominately west and It is the highest hill on the property and indeed the area as a whole. This makes it extremely exposed to southerly weather systems coming in from the Bass strait.

The Wine

 As with the Nikau Pinot the aim here is to do as little as possible and let the fruit be what it wants to be. There were 24 hours of skin contact with a very light maceration.The reason for this is that I believe the skins of any fruit hold some of the information and story of the place, the soils, and the weather that it is exposed to. By emitting the skins totally I feel that you are losing some of the story and terrior.

As for the winemaking, after the cold soak as whole bunches it was pressed directly to a small stainless tank for a long cool ferment (it is usually mid April by this time) There it sat for 8 months on full solids without being disturbed at all.It was then bottled by hand directly from that tank (without racking or moving the tank).

It has spent a further 18 months in bottle since composing itself.

The wine seems very refined. It is a dainty 10.9% alcohol but you wouldn’t know it, It has incredible structure and presence.

It is an elegant and haunting thing of beauty (I don’t say such things about my own wines lightly). It has so much vitality and freshness and is a very individual wine in it’s on right.

 290 bottles Produced