Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Produced using 100% whole bunch, the 2015 Applejack Vineyard Pinot Noir has a pale ruby-purple color and quite a stemmy nose, with red currants and Bing cherries at the core, plus touches of loam and raspberry leaves. Medium-bodied with generous red berry and earth flavors, the stems are more balanced on the palate and should marry well with 2-3 years in bottle.
Rating: 91+ -
Wine Spectator
Distinctive, featuring dusty, dried violet details set against a robust core of cranberry and cola flavors, with black tea notes lingering on the taut finish. Gains momentum toward the end, where the spicy sarsaparilla elements go on and on. 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.”
As the most important area of wine production in Victoria today, the Yarra Valley is most popular for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, which account for over half of vineyard acreage. A gentle, rolling and rural region alongside the Margaret River, the Yarra Valley has a cool maritime climate with a lengthy growing season, perfect for these cool-climate varieties.
Two styles of Pinot Noir are possible here. The warmer Lower Yarra Valley with sandy, loam soils, produces plush and fruity Pinot Noir while the cooler, higher-elevation Upper Yarra Valley with soils of young red basalt, produces more angular and mineral-driven Pinot Noir.
Yarra Valley Chardonnay is among the best in Australia. To preserve the floral aromatics and fresh citrus flavors for which this area’s Chardonnay is so appreciated, time in barrel is restrained (though barrel fermentation is common). The best Yarra Valley Chardonnays display brilliant acidity, leesy characteristics, citrus, stone fruit and flavors of ginger and spice.
Shiraz and Cabernet find success in parts of this region as well.