Description
Wine Details
Alex Craighead Invierno is a blend of Pinots, with Noir making up 75% and Gris the remainder. The fruit, which was whole-bunch fermented, stems from his organic estate vineyards, pun very much intended.
This is spicier, stalkier and more full-bodied than other Kindelis yet it is still light-hearted rather than serious, and it is of course free of any added preservatives.
Alcohol Grade: 13%
Aging/ Vinification: Whole bunch Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris co fermented for 4 days, pressed and fermented in stainless. The wines are all blended together and age in amphora for several months before being bottled, unfined, unfiltered, and without sulphur.
Best to have it: 10-12ºC. Uncork an hour or two before enjoying to let this wine open up so you can get the most out of it. Serve chilled.
Size: 750ml
The Winery: Kindeli Wines
Based in Upper Moutere, on the north west of the South Island of New Zealand, Alex Craighead has a small cellar where we craft zero additive wines from 10 different varieties. They currently farm 11 hectares of grapes across 4 vineyards (a combination of owned and leased), with soil types ranging from clay, to gravel and silt.
In the winery Alex is a stickler for cleanliness. He won’t even allow you to bring wine glasses from their house into the winery for fear that a rogue malicious microorganism like brettanomyces will infest the place.
Alex makes wines with winemaking partner Josefina Ventrino, under two different labels; Don (Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris made with low intervention and minimal additions) and Kindeli (blended wines made from organic fruit and zero added sulphur).
The finished wines are bottled exclusively by gravity (using a wickedly archaic contraption) and are corked by hand. In 2017 he converted to Noma Corks which are made from recycled bits of sugarcane. They are carbon neutral and can’t be infected with TCA or other spoilage aromas. He doesn’t add any SO2 to the wines and they are not fined nor filtered.
