Stats
- Grapes: 100% Pinot Noir
- Vineyard: Doug's Vineyard
- Vine Age: 23-years-old
- Soil Type: Red, rocky basalt
- Viticulture: Lutte Raisonée / Sustainable – dry-farmed
- Fermentation: Native – open-top stainless steel fermenters (100% whole cluster)
- Skin Contact: 21 days
- Aging: 12 months in thick staved French 228l piece barrels (20% new), then 4 months on fine lees in stainless steel
- Alcohol: 12%
- pH: 3.85
- Total Acidity: 5.5
- Total SO2: 50 ppm
- Total Production: 300 cases
Tasting Note
Deep ruby. Classical and very typical of Doug’s Vineyard, but slightly deeper and more brooding than previous releases. Aromatically filled with the typical exotic spice, rose, clod earth and sweet herbs and concentrated sour cherry and raspberry fruit. Long, fine and deep, with a firm silky tannic brace and cleansing, sappy acidity. As a young wine it will greatly reward time in the glass or decanter.
Press & Reviews
James Suckling
96
"Very fresh and also rich , this pinot offers blueberries and dark cherries, as well as complex violet-like florals and spicy notes. The palate offers crunchy and lightly granular tannin with red-cherry and tangy plum flavors. Acidity is a highlight. Best from 2024."
The Wine Front
93
"A tough year for Macedon in 2020 but a silver lining for Joshua Cooper and family was getting their own piece of dirt to which they will close-plant vines. The site is half way between Daylesford and Kyneton some 600 metres above sea level and looking over Virgin Hills estate, a winery that I know forms part of Josh’s inspiration for wines and winemaking. Anyway, this is pinot from Doug’s place.
A curious wine in that it’s 12% alcohol and feels more like 14% or there abouts, Quite thick set, broad shouldered, dense and dark. The perfume shows ripe plum, pickled cherries, old spice cupboard, smoked paprika aromas and some mulchy green herb in the mix. Flavours are richer and dark fruited, shows with malt-extract notes and thick tannin layers on palate and tongue. Acidity is cool in this, the wine deeply savoury and brooding in fruit character. That dark fruit rolls long and the finish is complete with smoked paprika and a light mocha note that turns a little sooty. Most of the elements mesh here, the wine a feast for the senses, with seasonal character on show." - Mike Bennie
A curious wine in that it’s 12% alcohol and feels more like 14% or there abouts, Quite thick set, broad shouldered, dense and dark. The perfume shows ripe plum, pickled cherries, old spice cupboard, smoked paprika aromas and some mulchy green herb in the mix. Flavours are richer and dark fruited, shows with malt-extract notes and thick tannin layers on palate and tongue. Acidity is cool in this, the wine deeply savoury and brooding in fruit character. That dark fruit rolls long and the finish is complete with smoked paprika and a light mocha note that turns a little sooty. Most of the elements mesh here, the wine a feast for the senses, with seasonal character on show." - Mike Bennie