Exhibition of Victorian Winemakers 2006 – Pinot Tutorial
February 6th, 2006
Eight Pinot Noirs tasted as part of the recent Victorian Winemakers Exhibition tutorials in order of preference.
Paringa Estate “Estate” Pinot Noir 2004 – (Mornington Peninsula): Quite an unyielding nose – cherry and some well blended oak. Nice textured mouthfeel – length is great. Just needs some time to develop some complexity and open up. 89/100
Yering Station Pinot Noir 2003 – (Yarra Valley): Nose is pretty good with some gamey elements, spice, plum and cherry – but the palate lacks the structure to really excel. At its price ($20) it is not bad at all. 87/100
Paradigm Hill “The Oracle” Pinot Noir 2003 – (Mornington Peninsula): A rather bold wine – Ripe nose with sour cherries and beetroot predominant. Palate shows balance and the length is alright. 86/100
Willow Creek “Benedictus” Pinot Noir 2004 – (Mornington Peninsula): Intense Cherry Ripe chocolate bar nose. Full bodied pinot which finishes somewhat short. 86/100
Eldridge Estate “Clone 777″ Pinot Noir 2004 – (Mornington Peninsula): Some Volatile Acidity on the nose as well as cherry, plum, stalks and some funky earthiness. Palate exhibits some elegance but lacks texture or something of much interest. 85/100
Austin’s Barrabool Pinot Noir 2004 – (Geelong): Stalky, mushroomy and earthy nose but the palate isn’t as good – light and acidic. 84/100
Carlei Estate Pinot Noir 2002 – (Yarra Valley): Harsh alcohol on nose and palate. Hazelnut and smoke on the nose – palate is short and bitter. 80/100
Lethbridge Wines Pinot Noir 2003 - (Geelong): Freshly burnt rubber, struck match and butterscotch on the nose and a not much better palate. The winemaker said that it may be suffering from reduction that he thought would blow off with time (reduction is where you may find sulphur like aromas in the wine due to some chemical reactions). I can only rate what was in the glass, but would like a chance to retaste this at another time. 75/100
Some alright wines, but some serious disappointments at the price points that some of these wines are aiming at. For an alternate view on these wines, Murray at Winetastic has a writeup of the same Pinot tutorial.
February 7th, 2006 at 8:21 am
Re: The Lethbridge Pinot, I recall the winemaker mentioned that only some of the glasses poured were suffering from reduction, I suspect my glass was one of the better ones, thus I ranked it #1.
February 7th, 2006 at 10:12 am
Fair enough Murray, I am sure that if I tasted the same wine as you, or vice versa – we may have come to less diverse conclusions.
One would think that the people pouring the samples would/should have checked the bottles for faults before the tutorial.
February 9th, 2006 at 4:57 pm
Bummer. Nothing over 90. My 90+ friend Ben with a place on the peninsula won’t be drinking much this year. Did you get to taste the T’Gallant 2004 pinot? they reckon it was their best year ever. I haven’ t yet managed to track it down – it may not be releaed yet though.
February 9th, 2006 at 5:20 pm
Hi Ed,
Couple of 90+ deserving Pinot coming up in the next report! Don’t think T’Gallant were there sorry.