Bannockburn 2023 Pinot Noir (6 Bottles) Geelong, Victoria

by Fine Wine Cellars

$390.00 GST Included

AUSTRALIA WIDE SHIPPING INCLUDED

This excellent release is an amalgamation of Bannockburn’s entire spectrum of vineyards. The 2023 includes fruit from Olive Tree Hill, planted in 1976, 10 Rows (1991), Stuart Block (1997) and Anns Block (2004). As with the Chardonnay, 2023’s paltry yields meant the team could not make De La Terre Pinot Noir, so fruit from that close-planted block was included in this blend.

All the sites lie in volcanic loam and dark clay over a limestone base and are planted to various clones—mainly MV6 with a smattering of the Dijon (or Bernard) clones. The blocks fermented separately with approximately 20% bunches included and a small portion of carbonic maceration. After 7 to 10 days, the wine was pressed to hogsheads and puncheons (20% new) for 10 months’ maturation.

The dramatically reduced crop (down 50% on the already low-yielding 2022 vintage), coupled with the top quality in the glass, means this wine will be sold out in no time. It’s open for business from the word go, pure-fruited and pretty, with Bannockburn’s signature savouriness throughout. Just singing.

“This is excellent. Fine, tight, intricate, wild and precise at once. Not exactly sure how they do that but here it is, they have. Cherries, meat, soy, strawberries, twiggy spice, some volatility, a fine web of tannin, some beet characters, some undergrowth. So much going on within an overall impression of control. Mightily impressed.” 95 points, Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front

“A rather forward developed colour, and the nose is likewise, with savoury developed complexities of dried herbs and dry stems overlying mellow fruit and oak-derived nuances. It’s very savoury and utterly delicious, with foresty/sousbois characters dominant. A very distinctive and idiosyncratic style that is a delight to drink.” 95 points, Huon Hooke, The Real Review

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About Bannockburn

Red 5 Star Rated Winery – By James Halliday’s Australian Wine Companion 2020

“Bannockburn has been a giant of the Geelong region for roughly four decades, but over the past few years it has got its house back in the best of order and has put out a stunning array of wines. It’s full steam ahead at Bannockburn again.” Campbell Mattinson, Wine Companion Top 100 Wineries 2023

At Bannockburn terroir is taken very seriously with a site specific and Burgundian/Rhône like approach to vineyard management but without discounting quality for the sake of personality. Winemaker Matt Holmes has taken on the principles of making wines with great diligence and passion; orchestrating organic practice, a belief in dry grown viticulture, vine age and close planting. In the winery they favour wild ferment, use of whole bunches, extended maceration times, extended lees contact and fastidious barrel selection processes to make wines that are exciting, unique and clearly identifiable as ‘Bannockburn’.

Bannockburn Vineyards established by Stuart Hooper in 1974, is situated outside the township of Bannockburn, Victoria. Over the past 4 decades Bannockburn has achieved a reputation for handcrafting wines that are individual, complex and elegant. Wines which genuinely reflect the flavours of highly regarded vineyards; wines which are produced with a purist, uncompromising approach to winemaking.

All Bannockburn wines are made from fruit grown on our long-established estate in the Geelong wine region. The meticulously tended vineyards and the “hands-off” approach by winemaker Matt Holmes result in wines that are exciting, complex and uniquely Bannockburn.

Matt Holmes commenced making the wines at Bannockburn Vineyards in 2015. He sees his role as a servant to the vineyard, growing season and fruit to produce wines representative of our style and site. Above all, gentle inputs and minimal additions are his goal. In his words, “Well-nourished vines grown in a suitable spot, picked on the right day, transcribed as wine.”

Previously, Matt had been making wine in the Okanagan wine region of British Columbia, Canada. During these 10 years he also gained a broad range of experience working additional vintages in the U.S., France, Italy, New Zealand as well as Australia.

Fine Wine Cellars

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