The Colleen’s Paddock Pinot Noir hails from a marginal site, manifest as a wine of a fine-boned chiffon-like texture, ethereal mouthfeel and crunchy red berry accents, offset of ample whole-bunch derived camphor, clove and Asian spice tones.
’...the most ambitious wine project in the history of Australia. Period’
- Ned Goodwin MW
Deepish red with traces of purple and brick in the colour. The bouquet is foresty and humus-like, with lots of whole-bunchy complexities and savouriness. There is dark-cherry flavour aplenty deep in the middle-palate and the wine has full body and generous concentration. Long, long follow-through. Abundant tannins to finish. This is a serious pinot with gravitas and weight and structure. It dips its lid strongly in the direction of Burgundy.
97 points, Huon Hooke, therealreview.com, 15 Feb 2020.
A "pinosity" tour de force. Suggestions of sour cherry, berry shortcake, classy oak, game and undergrowthy notes merge perfectly. It's superbly concentrated, complex, full bodied and multi-layered, ripe in tannins, lingering and aromatic.
96 points, GoodFood (June 2020)
Deepish red with traces of purple and brick in the colour. The bouquet is foresty and humus-like, with lots of whole-bunchy complexities and savouriness. There is dark-cherry flavour aplenty deep in the middle-palate and the wine has full body and generous concentration. Long, long follow-through. Abundant tannins to finish. This is a serious pinot with gravitas and weight and structure. It dips its lid strongly in the direction of Burgundy.
97 points, The Real Review (February 2020)
Medium to full red colour with the faintest tint of purple. The bouquet is rich and complex, strongly marked by whole-bunch stalks and by oak, which combine to give a very savoury firmness. There is good concentration and richness, delivered with a solid tannin grip. The tannins are ripe and supple. The wine is still very young and the stems give it a certain bitterness, which needs time or/and food to mellow it out. This is a big, strong pinot which makes an emphatic statement.
93 points, The Real Review (May 2020)
Yarra Valley
The Yarra Valley was first planted by the Ryrie brothers who explored a way through the Snowy Mountains to the Yarra Valley, planting grapes in 1838 just three years after the foundation of Melbourne. A wine industry (developed by Swiss Settlers particularly Hubert de Castella and Baron Guillaume de Pury in the 1850s) thrived during the gold rush era and heyday of the 19th century. However, the end of the gold rush brought the wine industry into decline and it was not until the 1970’s that the modern wine industry started up again. The region is probably Australia’s best-known cool-climate area, yet it is really a patchwork of meso-climates. This varied topography creates an incredible set of variables. Vineyards are planted on elevations of 50 to 400m on varying aspects and management programmes. The more exposed sites are subject to severe spring frosts and winds. Overall, the area experiences a relatively high rainfall pattern and is known for its temperature extremes during ripening. Site selection is crucial, with the best vineyards often located where the original vines were once planted, generally on sandy clay loams and gravels. The Yarra Valley is well known for high quality Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Cabernet Blends with Shiraz increasingly garnering attention. Sparkling wine production is also extremely important, with many of Australia’s finest examples produced in the region.
