Vinification details

The grapes are picked by hand and fermentation takes place in small open vats with manual pigeage, to help extract colour and tannins. Pressing is also done by hand, using small basket presses which are gentle and do not extract too much bitterness or astringency. Maturation takes place in small 300 litre French and American oak barrels and large (foudre and demi-muid sized) oak casks for 18 months. There is only a small percentage of new oak used (about 5-10%) normally just for maturing the Shiraz portion of the wine. Very little else is added or taken away by modern winemaking methods. Noon prefer to take a minimalist approach, believing that this will deliver a wine which genuinely reflects the grapes and the site. Eclipse is grown, made and bottled on the estate.

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Vintage conditions

The 2017 growing season suited Noon’s old vines well. They benefitted from the abundant moisture of a cool, wet spring followed by the welcome arrival of warm dry weather in March, just in time to ripen the smallish crop to perfection. Healthy grapes led to healthy ferments so the work in the cellar was easy.

Vinification details

The grapes are picked by hand and fermentation takes place in small open vats with manual pigeage, to help extract colour and tannins. Pressing is also done by hand, using small basket presses which are gentle and do not extract too much bitterness or astringency. Maturation takes place in small 300 litre French and American oak barrels and large (foudre and demi-muid sized) oak casks for 18 months. There is only a small percentage of new oak used (about 5-10%) normally just for maturing the Shiraz portion of the wine. Very little else is added or taken away by modern winemaking methods. Noon prefer to take a minimalist approach, believing that this will deliver a wine which genuinely reflects the grapes and the site. Eclipse is grown, made and bottled on the estate.

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Vintage conditions

The growing season was very dry and warm, producing an early harvest – but with cooler weather during the final stages of ripening distinguishing it from the preceding vintage and lending a degree of elegance to the wines. Winter and spring rainfall was well below average, with June, July, September and October unusually dry. Suddenly in October (the middle month of spring and a period of rapid growth for the vines) it turned very warm. December was also well above average in temperature, with 10 days through the month over 36°C. Temperatures eased after New Year and then significant rain (58mm at McLaren Vale) at the end of January and early February heralded a change in the season. Fortunately there was no further rain, which could have caused problems. Conditions were then close to ideal for the final stages of ripening in February and March, with mild sunny days and cool nights, maintaining a lovely freshness in the wines of this vintage.

Vinification details

The grapes are picked by hand and fermentation takes place in small open vats with manual pigeage, to help extract colour and tannins. Pressing is also done by hand, using small basket presses which are gentle and do not extract too much bitterness or astringency. Maturation takes place in small 300 litre French and American oak barrels and large (foudre and demi-muid sized) oak casks for 18 months. There is only a small percentage of new oak used (about 5-10%) normally just for maturing the Shiraz portion of the wine. Very little else is added or taken away by modern winemaking methods. Noon prefer to take a minimalist approach, believing that this will deliver a wine which genuinely reflects the grapes and the site. Eclipse is grown, made and bottled on the estate.

Vintage conditions

A dry winter and especially dry spring combined with well above average temperatures to have the vines growing very rapidly and advanced in their maturity at all stages following budburst. Even so, the speed of the final stages of ripening caught everyone by surprise. The temperature dropped for the first month of summer and everything slowed down, then a very hot first week of January (reaching 42°C on January 2nd) was followed by an unusually cool and cloudy one, along with 46mm of rainfall! This gave the vines a much needed drink, so when the weather turned hot again in February, the grapes ripened very rapidly.

Vinification details

The grapes are picked by hand and fermented in small open vats with manual pigeage, to help extract colour and tannins. Pressing is also done by hand, using small basket presses which are gentle and do not extract too much bitterness or astringency. Noon Eclipse is matured in small 300 litre French and American oak barrels and large (foudre and demi-muid sized) oak casks for 18 months. There is only a small percentage of new oak used (about 5-10%) normally just for maturing the Shiraz portion of the wine. The wine is then bottled on the estate without fining or filtration.