The three home vineyards on Mornington's Ten Minutes By Tractor estate are all
ten minutes by tractor apart. Each parcel within each vineyard is picked and vinified separately, identifying the best performing blocks to construct a most compelling expression of Pinot Noir. The palate is all about immediate, delicious fruit flavours. This isn't to suggest that 10X is a fruit bomb, or somehow simplistic, rather that its complexities are subservient to its drinkability, it's charms are within easy reach, rather than being tucked behind a veneer of seriousness.
Ten Minutes By Tractor practice a non interventionist approach to enhance the wonderful flavours, complexity, elegance and length of their wines. Pinot Noir clones MV6 and 115 (21%), 777 and 114, G5V15 and Pommard are all hand picked and completely destemmed. A week of maceration precedes wild yeast fermentation with manual plunging, followed by a further maceration for a total of three weeks on skins. Following pressing and a short settling, batches are transferred to a mix of new and seasoned French oak barriques. Completing natural malolactic with the onset of warmer temperatures in spring, 10X is bottled unfined and unfiltered after eleven months in oak. Alcohol 13.0%
Bright scarlet colour. The nose is wild, ripe vegetation, morello, rhubarb and spice. Supportive nougat oak gains in prominence as the wine airs. Palate combines power and drive with a nimbleness of structure that's quite charming. Cherry fruit is slightly more prominent here, a light to medium bodied wine, favouring elegance and distinctive flavour profile over easier charms. A nice lift of blackberry jam and snapped twig leading to a soft, powdery finish.
