Tolpuddle Vineyard Pinot Noir 2020

Tolpuddle Vineyard Pinot Noir 2020James Suckling Top 100 Wines of Australia 2021 Wine Enthusiast Top 100 Cellar Selections of 2022 Martin Shaw and Michael Hill Smith MW (Shaw & Smith) purchased the vineyard in 2011after a look and see jaunt to Tasmania when they became smitten by Tolpuddle's Coal Valley location and mature vines, planted only to pinot noir and chardonnay. They are fully committed to seeing Tolpuddle Vineyard recognised as one of Australia's great single vineyards.

Each year the same descriptive notes come to mind for this wine: seductive

these north-facing slopes have accumulated reasonable A horizons from the wind-blow loess that has blown down the valley from the dominant northerly winds

Amazing purity of fruit and bags of it

But it is the oak component – French (27% new) and American (8% new) – that shines because it's fully integrated

An intense and concentrated wine with rich meaty and slightly gamey flavours

Strong and rich black berry characters

Fragrant wine with a complexity of sweet oak and lifted chocolate

But when it is this seductive

Winefront Monthly – 96 points

Stellar release

named after the pioneer who first plated the vineyards back in 1891

In the Adelaide University Regiment Officers’ mess I saw some fabulous wines