Winemaker Notes
Deep crimson with a scarlet hue. Sour cherry, dried mushroom and charcuterie are mingled with lifted notes of rose petals, cinnamon and roasted nuts. Velvety red fruits, dried roses, savory undergrowth characters and a smorgasbord of spices are wound into a fresh finish.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
From one of Australia's most treasured historic estates, located in the cool, remote Grampians region of western Victoria, this light, bright Pinot is the color of raspberry juice. Gorgeously perfumed, and seemingly fermented with a fair amount of whole-bunch fruit, it's like squeezing the juice from a fistful of wild, freshly picked strawberries and raspberries; stalks, stems, cinnamon and minerals along for the stroll. The palate is equally vibrant, like biting into those same fresh berries; the texture silky, strung with beads of stalky, spicy tannins.
Editors Choice -
James Suckling
Attractive purity of wild raspberries, sliced strawberries and red cherries on the nose, leading to a succulent, silky palate. Pinot works well at Best’s.
Thin-skinned, finicky and temperamental, Pinot Noir is also one of the most rewarding grapes to grow and remains a labor of love for some of the greatest vignerons in Burgundy. Fairly adaptable but highly reflective of the environment in which it is grown, Pinot Noir prefers a cool climate and requires low yields to achieve high quality. Outside of France, outstanding examples come from in Oregon, California and throughout specific locations in wine-producing world. Somm Secret—André Tchelistcheff, California’s most influential post-Prohibition winemaker decidedly stayed away from the grape, claiming “God made Cabernet. The Devil made Pinot Noir.”
Nestled into the tip of its southeastern coastline, Victoria is Australia’s smallest mainland state, second most populous and third largest wine producer. Victoria includes the cool regions of Yarra Valley, Mornington Peninsula and Geelong, made famous mainly by impressive Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.
The more inland Heathcote and Bendigo lead the way for complex and textured, full-bodied reds. Rutherglen’s fortified wines compete among the best on the planet.