Ochota Barrels A Forest Pinot Noir 2017
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James
Suckling
Product Details
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Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Spicy sappy and alluring this has a mix of black cherry and redder suits on the nose with a cooler foresty edge of bracken and leafy notes, gently savory and earthy too. The palate has a smooth and supple feel with a vibrant and silky core of bright red cherry flavor; fresh, pure and delicious. The best A Forest to date.
Where the rest of the Ochota Barrels’ wines are single vineyard wines, this is composed of two sites and two clones high in the Hills. Dijon 777 comes from the Ashton sub-district at 1,800 feet and 115 & 114 from Carey Gully at 2,000 feet. The clones were entirely whole bunch fermented separately without the use of any additives. The barrels were sporadically rolled and stirred up for the first three months and after ten months total the wine was carefully basket pressed and gravity racked to tank, then bottle. It was bottled unfined and unfiltered.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A very light and lacy edition from the cool 2017 vintage with aromas of fresh wild raspberries and strawberries. Lots of floral perfume and an edge of kirsch, too. Sappy and lightly spiced. The palate's silky and crunchy with fine even-paced tannins, carrying tangy strawberries and wild cherries. Mouthwatering.
Other Vintages
2022-
Wine
Enthusiast
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James
Suckling
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James
Suckling
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James
Suckling
The ochota barrels tale began on a surf trip, late 2000 along the Mexican west coast in a Volkswagen campervan. A final destination after traveling some of the world’s most amazing wine and surf regions, Taras and Amber Ochota conceived the idea to make beautiful holistic wines back home in South Australia.
After a mis-spent youth playing a rickenbakker bass in various punk bands, Taras became an Oenology graduate from Adelaide University, developing his craft in numerous vineyards and cellars around the world to then settle with Amber on 9.6 steep gorgeous acres tucked away, deep in the Basket Range of the beautiful Adelaide Hills.
Before this Taras worked as the European Flying Winemaker Consultant, concentrating on the Italian regions, Puglia, Abruzzo Sicily and further, for the Swedish wine importing company Oenoforos.
California was also a regular vintage destination, making wines with producers such as Kunin, Bonnacorsi, Arcadian, Schrader, Outpost and the famous Hitching Post’s label, Hartley-Ostini, from the movie ‘Sideways’.
Amber’s wine experience ranges from vintages in Italy, vineyard development and cellar door sales in the Adelaide Hills and coordinating production and wine analysis for Nordic Sea Winery in southern Sweden.
Thin-skinned, finicky and temperamental, Pinot Noir is also one of the most rewarding grapes to grow and remains a labor of love for some of the greatest vignerons in Burgundy. Fairly adaptable but highly reflective of the environment in which it is grown, Pinot Noir prefers a cool climate and requires low yields to achieve high quality. Outside of France, outstanding examples come from in Oregon, California and throughout specific locations in wine-producing world. Somm Secret—André Tchelistcheff, California’s most influential post-Prohibition winemaker decidedly stayed away from the grape, claiming “God made Cabernet. The Devil made Pinot Noir.”
A narrow band of hills and valleys east of the city of Adelaide, the Adelaide Hills region is a diverse landscape featuring a variety of microclimates. In general it is moderate with high-altitude areas cooler and wetter compared to its warmer, lower areas.
Piccadilly Valley, the part of Adelaide Hills closest to the city, was first staked out by a grower named Brian Croser, in the 1970s for a cool spot to grow Chardonnay, then uncommon in Australia. Today a good amount of the Chardonnay goes to winemakers outside of the region.
Producers here experiment with other cool-climate loving aromatic varieties like Pinot Gris, Viognier and Riesling. Charming sparkling wine is also possible. On its north side, lower, west-facing slopes make full-bodied Shiraz.