Winemaker Notes
There are cherry and raspberry aromas with underlying spice, aromatic whole berry and bunch aromas. Additional subtle layers are evident offering creaminess and savory and earthy notes. The palate is fresh, full, rich, very smooth and flowing and finishes dry, gently grippy and long. Another four years will see this wine gain more structure as the primary fruit softens and complexity builds. Such is its balance and based on previous vintages it should drink at its peak in another five or so years.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Lots of dried strawberry and fruit tea aromas with hints of cedar. Medium body, firm and silky tannins and a light chocolate and cream undertones. Almost oily texture.
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Wine Spectator
Powerful, smooth and supple, with graceful vanilla and white chocolate accents set against raspberry coulis, cherry and wild strawberry flavors. Green tea notes come in on the finish. Drink now through 2027.
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.