Winemaker Notes
Deep garnet in color with a dark rose and violet perfume to the nose, followed by dark cherry fruit with hints of mushroom, forest floor and wild herbs. Similarly dark fruited and luscious on the palate with a touch of tangy pomegranate fruit and Moroccan spice. Velvety tannins, savory earthy notes and firm acid structure.
A wine that will match well to robust flavors – boeuf bourguignon or a similar slow cooked beef dish would be terrific. For the vegetarians, a beetroot and potato puree with grilled mushrooms would be a lovely match.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This has aromas of cherries, wild mushrooms, dried oranges and spices. Bright, juicy and flavorful, with a medium body and ripe tannins. Hints of mocha at the end.
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Wine Spectator
Bright and juicy, featuring cranberry, pomegranate and raspberry puree at the core, with details of cumin, white pepper and mint. Reveals a lingering note of clove on the supple finish. Drink now. 900 cases made, 150 cases imported.
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Wine Enthusiast
This vintage, from an always-top Mornington producer, is drinking nicely now, but don’t leave it lying around for too much longer. A perfume of cherry and raspberry jelly is lifted by a touch of volatility that gives the herb and spice characters an amaro-like quality. Tannins are spicy and chalky textured. Lifted acidity gives freshness to the gentle fruit that still remains.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2019 Pinot Noir is packed with red berry/cherry flavor and shaped by finely chalky, almost grippy tannins in the mouth. This is pleasurable and satisfying, with concentration that coasts and curls its way across the palate and through to the finish.
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.”
Extending into the sea from just south of the city of Melbourne to form Port Philip Bay in the southern state of Victoria, the Mornington Peninsula grape growing region naturally has a cool, maritime climate. A wide range of soils and topographic variations support a large diversity of wine styles within the small headland.