Stonier Pinot Noir 2015
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
At the heart of Stonier lies a meticulous approach to viticulture and winemaking. A desire to reflect the imprint of each site, through subtle variations in flavor and texture, has earned Stonier a place amongst the best Pinot Noir and Chardonnay producers in Australia. Early vintages were made off-site until the winery in Merricks, designed by Daryl Jackson, was completed in 1991.
Today, Stonier sources Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from over 150 acres across 5 selected sub-regions: Merricks North, Balnarring, Tuerong, Red Hill and at the estate vineyards in Merricks which span over 50 acres. Grapes from each of the vineyards are vinified separately to allow ultimate flexibility when finally blending the wine to form the two distinct styles of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir in the Stonier Label and Stonier Reserve wines. An unswerving focus on style and structure ensures that the wines reflect the diverse flavors and texture of fruit sourced from across these five sub-regions without any one aroma or flavor dominating the final wine.
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.