We know plenty of you will be excited for this one! There will be a Pinot-coloured tinge over the shop this weekend, as we pour and reveal the beauty behind this selection of single vineyard Pinot Noir, honing in on three first-class estates from Australia, New Zealand and Burgundy respectively.
This Saturday (29th July), come on in between 12 to 2pm, and we'll have a glass waiting for you! Firstly, there are the fruit-powerful wines of Valli in Central Otago, featuring the new 2021 releases from four different sites. This team has never put a foot wrong, and always stand out as highlights whenever we've visited them on previous tastings!
Then we make a move over to Mornington Peninsula with the reds of Hurley Vineyard. The loving creation of husband and wife team Kevin Bell and Tricia Byrnes, their Pinot efforts have truly stood out in recent vintages, each of their sites offering unique power, with fruit and earthiness in harmonious balance.
Finally, there's a double feature from Burgundian legends Domaine Faiveley, ensuring not only an extravagant finish to your Pinot journey, but a fascinating look at single vineyard differences and characteristics between the three countries. Browse below for the lineup, and we can't wait to catch you all Saturday!
VALLI WINES -
2021 Bannockburn Pinot Noir - $78 on offer ; $89 RRP
"Bannockburn sits at the heart of one of the wine world's most promising Pinot locations outside Burgundy, and this dark, fragrant yet intensely fruited wine drew our judges' attention not just for the panache of its fruit but also for its intensity, drive, structure and resonance. The blackberry and plum fruits you can find on the nose are almost brooding, and a far cry from the sometimes simple appeal of the region's pioneer Pinots. On the palate it is mouth-filling and deep with high-resolution focus; the acidity is neither trivial nor shrill; the tannins are soft, but carry a useful flavour print. It's after you swallow, though, that you come to appreciate its sinew and ligament, its inner seriousness and its sheer completeness. Very fine Pinot by any measure." - 97 Points, Decanter World Wine Awards 2022 // Best in Show
2021 Bendigo Pinot Noir - $78 on offer ; $89 RRP
“Bright garnet hue with an array of savoury, dark fruit, and floral aromas including forest floor, plum, mushroom, ripe cherry, cedar, raspberry, and azalea. The palate is equally complex with layers of dark fruit, spice, and umami that are woven together by a fresh vein of acidity. The texture is rich and mouth-filling with silky, fine tannins that build in the mouth giving a long, memorable finish. Powerful yet inviting, this is another vintage of quintessential Bendigo Pinot with a tangy freshness that comes from grapes grown at elevation. This wine is captivating yet approachable in its youth, and should develop beautifully for 12+ years.” - Jen Parr, Winemaker
"Elegant, intense wine with a seamless texture and flavours suggesting cassis, blackcurrant, new leather, a whiff of wood smoke and nutty oak flavours. A core of sweet fruit is interwoven with fine, ripe tannins with delicious effect. Dangerously accessible but with good cellaring potential." - 96 Points, Bob Campbell MW, The Real Review
2021 Gibbston Pinot Noir - $78 on offer ; $89 RRP
“Bright garnet hue with aromas of plum, mulled spices, rosemary, peppercorn, and graphite. The intense perfume flows onto the palate with more baking spices, dried florals, cedar, and dark red fruit. This vintage of Gibbston Pinot Noir is harmonious and inviting with a suppleness that lends great drinkability at a young age. The extremely small harvest from this site makes the wine a real treasure! Drink now until 2030.” - Jen Parr, Winemaker
"Two thousand twenty-one was the smallest Gibbston harvest ever for Valli, but what it made is worthwhile. As always, this 2021 Pinot Noir Gibbston Vineyard is balanced and refined. Long hang time in this cool district gives finesse and aromatic details. While delicate, there’s supple flesh on the palate, giving a sense of ripeness rather than edginess." - 92 Points, Rebecca Gibb MW, Vinous
2021 Waitaki Pinot Noir - $83 on offer ; $95 RRP
"A unique, 'matte' garnet hue with aromas of wild strawberry, cassis, and mulberry laced with maple, cedar and wild thyme. The intriguing bouquet is followed on the palate with garrigue spice, cardamom, strawberry, tart cherry, and mushroom. The wine is concentrated yet bright with fine tannins and incredible persistence, finishing with distinctive salinity. Intense fragrance, unique savoury undertones, and electric energy = classic Waitaki Pinot Noir and 2021 has it in spades. Captivating at release, this wine will continue to develop for at least a decade.” - Jen Parr, Winemaker
"Light, smooth-textured wine with strawberry, cherry, raspberry, vanilla and spicy oak flavours. The pale colour is deceptive as the wine has considerable power clearly demonstrated in its surprisingly lengthy finish." - 95 Points, Bob Campbell MW, The Real Review
HURLEY WINES -
2021 Lodestone Pinot Noir - $78 on offer ; $89 RRP
"Lodestone is the warmest of the single vineyards, and is always harvested first. Accordingly, the wine can be powerful and concentrated, but not coarse or extracted. Its four clones enhance its natural complexity. Lodestone is earthy to the nose and sweet to the palate. It is usually moreish and satisfying. The fruit is darker in character than Hommage and Garamond, and the tannins more evident, reflecting the heavier, rockier, clayey soil. There is often a hint of dried sage." - Winemaker Notes
"Medium-light riuy/brick-red colour; the bouquet is very foresty, savoury, underbrush and humus, leaf litter and flake tobacco. Ethereal faded flowers. In the mouth, it's fine and firm, light to medium bdied and yet has good intensity and focus in the middle palate, the fnish cleansed by balanced, drying tannins. Lovely flavour in a more savoury style of Pinot." - 92 Points, Huon Hooke, The Real Review
2021 Hommage Pinot Noir - $78 on offer ; $89 RRP
"Hommage is in-between Lodestone and Garamond in almost every way. It is harvested second. Typically, it smells distinctly of ripe plums and the forest floor. It can have the subtle fragrance of flowers. Invariably it tastes of wine gums and jubes. You can always see soft, squishy berries, like mulberries, and firmer ones, like blueberries. The fermenting vats actually smell and taste that way! Hommage tastes more of fruit than earth. It is full and supple in the palate, but not loose. Our emphasis now is more on the freshness of the fruit - the point where the sweetness is balanced by velvety tannins. It is often described as ‘Burgundian’." - Winemaker Notes
"Medium-full depth of colour with a purple tint; the bouquet vanilla and chocolate flecked with eucalyptus-mint, but also dark cherry to plum and savoury underbrush nuances, while the palate is full and intense, quite powerful and firmly structured with a long carry and abundant tannins. This should reward cellaring. Impressive power and concentration" - 94 Points, Huon Hooke, The Real Review
2021 Garamond Pinot Noir - $95 on offer ; $109 RRP
"Garamond exudes effortless style. It ripens evenly and is always harvested last. It is classical. In this wine, the fragrance of Hurley Vineyard is the perfume of the boudoir. It is a step up in complexity and intensity. In the palate, there is usually an array of soft, red fruits, plus meat, mushrooms and cake spice. It is succulent, creamy and sweet, but balanced by lively acidity. The wine usually tastes of red minerals and has fine, silky tannins. There is often toffee. The palate is typically tight and firm in its youth, opening up as time goes on. Garamond is complete, ends fresh and lives long." - Winemaker Notes
"Medium-full colour with a trace of purple in the rim, the bouquet leads with mineral/ironstone nuances, savoury underbrush/forest-floor and earthy notes beneath; hints of fivespice and smoke. The palate is full and deep, concentrated and sapid, with rich but savoury fruit that is anything but simplistic/fruity. A very serious pinot noir indeed. Very long, firm finish; lots of cellaring potential." - 96 Points, Huon Hooke, The Real Review
FAIVELEY WINES -
2020 Mercurey 'La Framboisiere' - $79 on offer ; $92 RRP
"The exceptionally dry 2020 Burgundy vintage has produced the most intense and concentrated edition we've ever seen for the Faiveley Mercurey Framboisiere. With its layers of dark fruits, generous, sturdy structure and outstanding freshness, this is a potent young Burgundy that promises to improve in the bottle for another decade at least. A head-turning wine that represents terrific value for money." - Our Notes
"Vinified with some 20% whole bunch this year, Faiveley's 2020 Mercurey La Framboisière offers up inviting aromas of sweet berries, plums, rose petals and rich soil tones. Medium to full-bodied, velvety and seamless, it's rich but lively, standing out as one of the more supple, ethereal wines in this year's range. It exemplifies the great value still to be found in contemporary Burgundy." - William Kelley, Wine Advocate
2020 Volnay 'Santenots' 1er Cru - $192 on offer ; $220 RRP
"The grapes are harvested and sorted by hand. The proportion of de-stemmed grapes and whole clusters varies depending on the vintage. The wines are punched down daily in order to extract colour, tannins and aromas from the skin of the grapes. After a 19 day vatting period, the alcoholic fermentation is complete. The free-run wine is run off using a gravity system whilst the marc is pressed slowly and gently in order to extract an exceptionally pure press wine. The wines are aged for 14 months in French oak barrels (a third of which are new oak) which have been selected for their fine grain and moderate toast. The wines are left to age in our cellars at consistent, natural hygrometry and temperature. A beautiful intense red colour. We can savour aromas of red fruits and a few woody notes on the nose. The wine then reveals itself on the palate: spicy and fruity, with delicate smoky and toasty tastes which give it complexity. This is a well-structured wine, which has fine volume accompanied by a certain roundness." - Winemaker Notes
If you wish to purchase any of these wines, please use the links above! Alternatively, email us at sales@thewineemporium.com.au, or contact us on (07)32521117 if you have any questions // Prices valid until Thursday the 3rd of August