Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
An almost peppery, briary and brambly nose that has a distinctly floral, sappy edge to it; crushed roses and violets with some ruby grapefruit zest as well as plenty of cassis and brambly cherry fruit. The palate has essence-like dark cherry and cassis fruit concentration; the tannins are assertive and even, great depth. Drink now.
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Wine & Spirits
Rebecca Duffy had been making wines at Capel Vale in Western Australia before she moved with her agronomist husband, Tim Duffy, to the Tamar Valley on Tasmania’s north coast. He grows the grapes; she makes the wine, like this exuberant, dark-fruited beauty from 2014. It’s almost chewy, with the grape-skin tannins of crunchy, cold-climate pinot noir. Tart in its black raspberry flavor, rich in texture, this should come into its own with a year or two in bottle.
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.”
Directly south of the city of Melbourne and the Mornington Peninsula wine region, the cool-climate island of Tasmania has earned an honorable reputation as the country’s finest producer of Sparkling Wine. Naturally the region also excels in top quality still wines from Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Riesling, all distinguished because of a high natural acidity. Most of the Tasmania vineyards cluster around the eastern side of the island from north to south.