Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Australian Wine Companion
A delicious Hills pinot, a new breed of unicorn. Rhubarb, fecund strawberry, orange pastille and red liquorice notes are compressed into a gentle ball of tension by well placed oak and juicy, sappy freshness. A tingle of dill attests to some whole bunches in the mix. The finish, crunchy, finessed and vibrant. Delicious drinking across the early to mid term.
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James Suckling
A delicious Hills pinot, a new breed of unicorn. Rhubarb, fecund strawberry, orange pastille and red licorice notes are compressed into a gentle ball of tension by well placed oak and juicy, sappy freshness. A touch of dill hints at some whole bunches in the mix. The finish, crunchy, finessed and vibrant. Delicious drinking across the early to mid term. Drink or hold.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2022 Pinot Noir is incredibly aromatic on the nose, with sweet strawberry and cherry, layers of red apple and spice and lashings of abundant fruit. The wine is spicy and luscious, with loads of flavor up front that gently spools out through the finish, which is spicy, with some garden mint, clove and licorice nuances laced throughout.
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Wine Spectator
Fresh huckleberry and blackberry flavors mix with notes of licorice, fennel and green tea on a firm, muscular frame. There's plenty of concentration and a wonderful feeling of freshness emphasized by this red's juicy thread of acidity. Drink now. 200 cases imported.
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.”
A narrow band of hills and valleys east of the city of Adelaide, the Adelaide Hills region is a diverse landscape featuring a variety of microclimates. In general it is moderate with high-altitude areas cooler and wetter compared to its warmer, lower areas.
Piccadilly Valley, the part of Adelaide Hills closest to the city, was first staked out by a grower named Brian Croser, in the 1970s for a cool spot to grow Chardonnay, then uncommon in Australia. Today a good amount of the Chardonnay goes to winemakers outside of the region.
Producers here experiment with other cool-climate loving aromatic varieties like Pinot Gris, Viognier and Riesling. Charming sparkling wine is also possible. On its north side, lower, west-facing slopes make full-bodied Shiraz.