Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
Planted in 1988, the Tolpuddle Vineyard is situated in Tasmania's Coal River Valley, and is composed of 20ha of north east facing Chardonnay and Pinot Noir vines. The vineyard was purchased by Martin Shaw and Michael Hill Smith MW in 2011, having identified the potential to produce exceptional cool-climate single vineyard wines. Hand picked grapes are fermented as a combination of whole bunches and whole berries in open fermenters, with gentle plunging. The wine spends nine months in around 30% new French oak.
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James Suckling
This is a very driven and complex red with dried-strawberry, tea, coffee and mahogany aromas and flavors. Full-bodied yet integrated and compact, giving the wine a refined and very structured impression. This is one to watch. Better after 2022, but already delicious. Screw cap.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
If 2017 is the in-breath/out-breath pulsing wine, then the 2018 Pinot Noir is the glossy, succulent, polished wine. It has grace and flow and an ease about it. Black cherries, pomegranate and red licorice mingle with Szechuan peppercorns, star anise and praline, plus rose petals and minerals. The fruit has enveloped the structure a little better than some of its peers. I love this wine. Best After 2022
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Vinous
Glistening ruby-red. Expansive red fruit preserve and vanilla aromas show fine definition, complemented by succulent floral, exotic spice and smoky mineral notes that build with air. Sappy, appealingly sweet and energetic in style, offering Chambord, cherry cola, candied rose and five-spice powder flavors braced by a spine of juicy acidity. The floral note repeats emphatically on the impressively persistent finish, which features polished tannins and reverberating floral and spice notes. One-third new French oak.
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Wine Enthusiast
This remarkable single vineyard in Tasmania’s Coal River Valley was lovingly restored nearly a decade ago by respected Adelaide Hills duo Shaw and Smith. The 2018 marks Tolpuddle vineyard’s 30th year in the ground and the maturity shows. This is quiet at first but with time and air unfurls like a genie from a bottle: cherry, red currant, stony minerality, dried florals, spices and a distinctive umami note. There’s a lovely play between acidity and tannins on the silky, medium-weight palate. This is an elegant, terroir-driven wine that’s beautiful now but it has a gorgeous life ahead of it. Drink now–2032.
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.