Winemaker Notes
Delicious alongside crispy-skin duck breast.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Quite a tarry, meaty and savory edge to this nose, really bold and assertive; it is nicely wound together and has bright red cherry and pink grapefruit aromas as well as a smoky, flinty note. The palate's supple, bright, lithe and fresh with red and dark cherry fruit flavor, red plums too. Plenty of acid crunch, clear whole bunch influence on both palate and nose, and web-like, deep, fine tannins; detailed, light and shade. Needs time.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2014 Pinot Noir is a distinct wine. The nose and palate are perfectly aligned with oxalis, jasmine tea, pepper-rolled pastrami, saffron, sandalwood and arnica. Mountain herbs lead the charge here; the cool season and the bunch-to-fruit ratio make for a very precise flavor. I have the feeling this will live a very long time; the bunches seem to be protecting the fruit somehow. Best After 2022
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Wine Spectator
Elegant, with pretty strawberry and cranberry flavors that are creamy and elegant, showing plenty of spice, fresh earth and black tea accents. Gains momentum on the finish. Drink now through 2026.
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.