Pooley Cooinda Vineyard Pinot Noir

 Time for a potentially controversial post. Pooley is a Tasmanian winery which has greatly expanded its range and tiered its offerings, including single vineyard wines. So far, so good. 

It is located in the Coal River Valley, an area in Tasmania which gets a lot of sunshine and little rain. It is therefore attractive to many producers, because the disease risk is lower than in other parts. However, a leading expert on Pinot Noir (who will remain nameless) is critical of this location. In his view, Pinot Noir needs rain and needs to struggle. I just tasted the 2021 Pooley Cooinda Vineyard Pinot Noir and am interested to find out if this thesis shows in this wine. 

The Cooinda Vale vineyard is now almost 40 years old, so the vines are quite mature. On the palate, the wine is fruit focused. Red and black cherry flavours open up immediately. There is some elegance and finesse in this medium intensity wine, but the mouthfeel is a bit shallow. The tannins are soft, and  structure is lacking. This is a pretty and quaffable wine, which to me does not hold much interest.

Maybe there is some truth in the Coal River hypothesis mentioned above.

Score: 89/0