“MACUSHLA“ - a Pinot Noir Noble Late Harvest.

Having researched the potential of producing this style wine for the last few years, James and Stuart Downes along with the rest of the team at Shannon Vineyards realised that the Elgin Valley has some of the best growing conditions for Pinot Noir Noble Late Harvest wines.

This wine was launched St Patrick's Day 2010, at the "Elgin Valley Wine Tasting" at the Sun Square Montecasino Johannesburg. On the same day It was also being enjoyed alongside the rest of the wines from Shannon Vineyards by the SA Irish Embassy with 120 of their guests at their annual St Patrick's Day celebration at the Irish Embassy residence in Cape Town.

Pronounced: Ma cu shla. An Anglo-Irish term of address expressing affection i.e. darling or sweetheart (a special loved one) as in "my darling" or "my dear". In Gaelic it's written as "mo chuisle" and means "my pulse" It's from a longer phrase: A chuisle mo chroí," which means "pulse of my heart." Also nicknamed the “Pink Sticky” in the cellar.

The grapes were harvested during the first week of April with an average sugar level of 38.2ºB. The grapes were originally reserved for Cap Classic and therefore were never sprayed to combat botrytis. James indicates that “we did not select the very heavily infested botrytised bunches as we were concerned that this may influence the salmon pink colour of the wine that we were aiming for.” After harvesting the grapes in 12kg picking crates they are chilled over a period of 12 hours in a refrigerated room at 3ºC. The grapes are transferred by hand into a pneumatic press and whole bunch pressed over a period of 3 hours. The juice is then allowed to settle for 48-72 hours and then racked into 225L french oak barriques. Fermentation occurs naturally and absolutely no other addition was made to the wine except for the necessary sulphur dioxide. The fermentation stopped spontaneously after approximately 6 weeks. The wine was matured in barrel for 10 months. Only 2 barrels (1077 x 375ml bottles) was produced.

Winemakers Gordon and Nadia are hugely excited by this discovery in the vineyard as this dessert wine is the result of 3 years of research. This is a botrytised Pinot Noir dessert wine of delicate salmon pink hue, beguiling fragrance and temptingly moreish 7.1 TA fruity acids - it re-defines the style. Sugar and acid in very good balance, fresh red berry fruit in keeping with Pinot Noir character along with dried fruit/candied flavours. This distinctive wine style should compliment any dessert which has a red berry component. Maybe it is the first ever Noble Late to be made from Pinot Noir in South Africa – and even the world?

“an entirely delicious botrytised pinot noir dessert wine of delicate pink hue, beguiling fragrance and temptingly moreish fruity acids - it re-defines the style. I'm not going to reveal the analysis but I urge you to buy a bottle when it's released - if there's any left from the two miserly barrels from which our samples were drawn, it's that addictive - I'm willing to bet you'll be as mesmerised as we all were.” ”
Macushla. Angela Lloyd on 24 November, 2009

Drinking beautifully now and for another 10 years plus.

TASTING NOTES:

Macushla 2009 pdf (278Kb)