2023 Hillier Rouge Block 140 Pinot Noir

• 100% Estate Grown Pinot Noir, vineyard planted by André Gagné in 2018
• Hand-harvested fruit, 15kg totes, late September 2021
• Unfiltered & unfined
• Made from an assemblage of 6 Pinot Noir Clones: 82, 114, 667, 777, 828, 115
• wild fermentation in steel with no nutrients, enzymes or other additions
• full malolactic fermentation, natural bacteria
• unfiltered & unfined

Tasting notes by Rick VanSickle

Last House Hillier Rouge Block 140 Pinot Noir 2023 ($42, 94 points) — This wine is the descendant of the 2021 Petit Hillier Rouge with fruit from Pinot Noir vines planted in 2018. Six different Pinot clones are used to make this wine, and Gagné calls it “atypical of County Pinot having been harvested at 23.6 brix and presenting a dark colour and a stewed plum leathery richness.” The abv clocks in at 13.5% abv. The aromas jump from the glass in a riot of fresh turned soil, black cherries and raspberries, red currants, floral notes and a soupçon of spice. The texture is silky smooth and so vibrant with a melange of strawberry-forward red berries, umami, savoury/earthy notes, chalky minerality and a lifted, highly finessed finish. So Burgundian with signature County roots. Can cellar through 2032.

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