How Pinot Noir Finds Its Texture
Updated: Oct 18
A bottle of Clos Ostler EOS Pinot Noir 2022 beside a glass of red wine.
The perfume of EOS 2022 opens with raspberry, wild strawberry and rose, followed by lemon thyme and pepper. Its texture is silky, though beneath that ease there is plenty of structure. The flavour stays with you after the sip. Much of the work behind that impression began while the wine was still on its skins.
For the 2022, we used restrained extraction and minimal pigeage, the plunging of the grape skins into the fermenting wine. The separate components then spent ten months in French oak before blending. Texture took shape throughout those months, as the lots developed individually before becoming EOS.
What pigeage means
During red-wine fermentation, grape skins gather at the surface in a cap. Pigeage is the plunging of that cap back into the liquid. It renews contact between the skins and the fermenting wine, contributing to the extraction of colour and tannin. How often it is done is one part of a wider set of conditions, including temperature and the duration of skin contact.
It is tempting to imagine a direct scale from vigorous work to powerful wine. Research gives a more complicated picture. In a New Zealand trial published in 2020, researchers at the Eastern Institute of Technology compared traditional plunging with two alternatives. The Pinot Noir treatment combining cold maceration with no plunging produced higher extraction and more stable colour than the other treatments examined.
The trial explored a particular combination of conditions, rather than a recipe for every cellar. Temperature, time and the condition of the fruit all influence extraction, alongside the way the cap is handled. In practice, the decision rests on how the wine tastes and feels as it develops.
The particular aim of EOS
EOS 2022 was selected principally from clones 667 and 777, with a smaller contribution from Abel. Harvesting and vinifying them separately allowed their differences to remain clear through the cellar. Each lot had time to develop before we decided how they would come together.
After ten months in barrel, the perfume could be judged alongside the depth of fruit and the feel of the tannins. A particularly compelling lot on its own might contribute differently in a blend. We were looking for the combination that would give EOS both its aromatic lift and its lasting presence.
Fine tannin and lasting flavour
In the finished 2022, dried raspberry, wild strawberry and rose carry through a silky palate, with fine tannins and vibrant acidity. Lemon thyme and black pepper lend a savoury edge. The fragrance remains delicate even as the wine reveals its depth.
After the first impression of fruit, fine tannin can leave a light, even grip while fragrance and flavour continue. That combination gives a long finish its appeal, with texture carrying the wine’s detail beyond its initial richness.
That is part of the pleasure of EOS. It has the power to hold your attention, with a silky texture that invites another sip. As the glass opens, the floral and herbal notes give you further reasons to return.
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