Winemaker Notes
The Bindi Dixon Pinot Noir is based upon declassified grapes from the Original Vineyard planted in 1988 and grapes from the new Block K, planted in 2001. The ideal of this wine is to produce a delicious, perfumed, spicy harmonious, textured wine that is not as intense, complex nor age worthy as their individual vineyard wines. Even when the outstanding Block K vines are older they will continue to declassify sections or barrels from each vineyard and produce this wine.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A blend of de-classified Original Vineyard and Block K pinot noir, aimed at a more direct, youthful style. The nose has super clear red cherries, dark cherries and raspberries with a very complex, spicy edge that is so deeply wrapped into the fruit. Some rose-like florals, too. Wow. The palate has an elegantly juicy feel with a smooth, pastry-like tannin texture. Layered and succulent. Such pristine red to dark-cherry flavors.
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Wine Enthusiast
This wine is the perfect intro to the Bindi style, unfurling its charms one layer at a time. First come plump, brambly blueberries and currants, then violets and rose petals, then warm spices, coffee beans, mocha and a flicker of smoky bacon. It's silky and woven with ultrafine, textural tannins.
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.