"Could you ever need me,
And would you know how?"
Christie McVie (1979)
And there begins Tusk, Fleetwood Mac's epic follow up to their epic album Rumours. After that album blew up the entire planet with its undeniable and enduring awesomeness, only a band of intergalactic genius would kick off the follow up with an introspective ballad like Over & Over.
What a track and what a false dawn, as the next track The Ledge blows the collective Fleetwood Mac fan hive band into smithereens with its overt weirdness and foreshadows the fact that nothing about 'the Mac' will ever be the same again. What an important moment in music history, the band that helped create the sound of smooth LA cool announces its end, with Roxy Music's Avalon to come as a fitting epitaph in 1982.
For this reason, Over & Over signifies the ability to break with the past, transcend expectation and convention, to redefine yourself, and to be thoroughly awesome all at the same time.
Over & Over Pinot Noir celebrates a very special ultra high elevation site, the Eminence VIneyard on the Whitlands Plateau (830m). Grown by the wonderful Burder family and the ecology focused Peter Allen, this Pinot shows the proper plasticity that a single vineyard in an extreme clime should. Muscular in moderate years, ephemeral in the cooler ones... and 2023 was definitely the latter.
Production notes: Internally one of our greatest achievements for 2023. Another cool year up on the hill had us worried, baumes were lower than the 2022 but we thought flavor development was definitely further ahead and we were right! Patience in the cellar also proved a winning move, creating what we think is the best release of this wine to date. Picked on the 26th of April with wet weather fast approaching at 10.9 baume. Destemmed without crushing and soaked at 4C for 4 days with two pump overs daily. Left to undergo natural ferment for 3 weeks at which point it was pressed off just before it was dry. Left to complete fermentation, settled racked and then transferred to 90% old french oak and 5% new Hungarian hogshead and 5% new Transylvanian hogshead. 11 months resting in oak and then the blend was put together at which point it was racked once more prior to bottling. Unfined, unfiltered with a small addition of sulphur.
Tasting notes: Darker fruit profile as is usually the case from this vineyard with cherries dominating. These bright fruit notes working beautifully with layers of spice and earthy undertones. Very pretty and delicate but with more structure than the 22 which is a welcome addition. Best served with well spiced duck bresaola and fresh ripe figs.
