Weather is obviously a large part of the equation.  My cryptic notes indicate that the 2 consecutive days we got in late February 2017 of 25 degrees largely made up our 2017 summer.  Hence the delayed vintage on 25 April.  The fruit was nice and clean with a small quantity of botrytis.  Average brix level came in at an admirable 22.8.  Our “small is beautiful” motto was adhered to -  a small crop averaging 1.7 tonnes/acre.
The wine itself was fermented in stainless over a period of 10 days at an average temperature of 19 degrees.
Piccolo is dry with a perfumed floral nose and notes of white peach, mango and musk.  Mouthfeel is rich and velvety.  An ideal wine for spicy food and risqué repartee.
Piccolo can be sharply separated from what guru Jancis Robinson describes as “the sea of reasonably undistinguished Italian Pinot Grigios” and is much closer to the Alsace version of the variety (which is a mutation of Pinot Noir).
The most unusual application of our Piccolo was reported last Valentines Day – an enthusiastic punter took a bottle to the Wellington Zoo that night and sipped it to the mellifluous sound of the animals mating!