Winemaker Notes
This wine is true to the Tolpuddle Vineyard Pinot Noir style: intensely aromatic, medium bodied with savoury spice notes, along with purity of varietal expression, fresh acidity and ripe tannins.
Delicious alongside crispy-skin duck breast.
Professional Ratings
-
James Suckling
This is a wine we have not yet seen from Tolpuddle. It has such well-curated complexity and whole-bunch influence (40%) sits in the sweet spot. It is concentrated, yet so elegant and the vivid freshness that pervades every aspect of the nose and palate is striking. Aromas of red fruit, such as raspberry, strawberry, red cherry and red plum are framed in spice and fragrance. The palate has such impressive definition and clarity and the tannins are so detailed, fine and clear-cut. Concentrated red and darker cherries are fleshy, yet elegantly focused, and the acidity laces it all up so clearly. So drinkable now and for a decade at least.
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2020 Pinot Noir is savory and spiced on the nose; we have notes of new leather, cranberry, cherry and tapenade, alongside cocoa and brine. The middle palate is creamy, despite the savory notes, and the length of flavor through the finish reveals more spice and endurance. The freshness is its attribute. It's a lovely wine. The whole-bunch fruit (approximately, and usually 50%) contributes a savory exoticism to the wine: notes of licorice and star anise. 13% alcohol.
-
Wine Enthusiast
From Tasmania’s Coal River Valley and from nearly 35-year-old vines, Tolpuddle has become one of Australia’s most renowned single vineyards. The style is Burgundy-meets-New World, and cellaring is expected. This vintage is highly aromatic: A vine- yard floor-like reduction is tangled up with layers of brambly currants, wild blueberries and black cher- ries, dark chocolate and a wallop of savory, spiced meat and mushroom. The palate is concentrated, with polished, if somewhat, drying tannins.
Cellar Selection
-
Wine Spectator
Presents maraschino cherry, raspberry coulis and red licorice flavors that are vibrant and juicy, with aromatic details of white pepper, green tea and dried lavender. A memorable red, thanks to wonderful transparency, silky tannins and focus on the long finish. Drink now.
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.