Bindi Darshan Pinoit Noir

 I have never done this before, that is to start with a description from the winery website, but it works in this case. The wine is new and relatively unknown, and the description quite simple and forward.

 Darshan vineyard is a tribute to Bindi founder Bill Darshan Singh Dhillon, who passed in early 2013. The vineyard preparations began a few months afterwards with planting taking place in 2014. Darshan faces west on quartz riddled soils similar to the Original Vineyard and is planted at 11,300 vines per hectare with 20% of the vines being a Crazy section at 22,600 vines per hectare featuring four clones. Over the first seven vintages, to 2023, we have seen this site produce ethereal wine showing exquisite perfume and spice with a lacey, sinewy, flowing long palate. Darshan , like Original Vineyard, is about perfume and finesse whereas Block 8 and Block 5 share fruit depth and structure in common.

Michael Dhillon, the current winemaker, has a strong sense of family tradition and history. Hence this naming. I drank the 2017 Bindi Darshan Pinot Noir. So, the vines are three (!) years old, but what unfolds in the mouth is astonishing. The wine is not too concentrated, but the strawberry flavours and silky tannins deliver a superbly elegant and ethereal mouthfeel. It is just so beautiful. Heaven in the mouth! I can't wait for this vineyard to mature.

Score: 96/+++

Epis Pinot Noir

 Domaine Epis is a bit of a legendary winery. It was one of the first in the Macedon Ranges, and it made Pinot Noir in a Burgundian style, more savoury, while 20+ years ago many Australian Pinot Noirs were very fruit forward. It's volume was also very small. So you had the making of a cult winery. Forward 20 years, and the Pinot Noir landscape has changed a lot and the quality is much improved across the board. I have not had Epis wines for a long time, but I picked up a 2021 Epis Pinot Noir the other day.

The first impression: this is not so different and unusual any more. Black raspberry and forest floor flavours deliver a largely savoury impression in the mouth. There is also a slightly metallic touch. This is a medium-bodied wine with a somewhat linear, austere mouthfeel. The tannins are mild, and the finish medium plus. The wine opened up a bit in the glass, and will be better in a few years.

What is happening here is, many other wineries have caught up and gone ahead, whereas Epis has stood still (remember Virgin Hills?). The owner is now a remarkable 86 years old. He is getting some help from Michael Dhillon (Bindi) and others, but a more permanent solution will be required.

Score: 92/+

Bindi New Releases

 There are some wineries with exceptional wines which manage to deliver high quality at reasonable prices as well (think Penfolds Bin 28, for example, or Ata Rangi Crimson Pinot Noir). Bindi, unfortunately, is not one of them. However, there are specific reasons for this. As Bindi became better known, wines from their exceptional Estate Vineyard in Macedon sell out in an instant. It was an opportunity too good to pass up, to expand with wines from bought-in fruit. The recent release of these wines (and some estate wines) allows us to assess their quality.

Let's start with the 2023 Bindi Dhillon Macedon Ranges Chardonnay. This wine is made from fruit sourced from the Macedon Ranges. Citrus and white peach are the dominant flavours. The focussed acidity is high, giving the wine a very refreshing finish (88 points). The second wine from the current release is the 2023 Bindi Kostas Rind Chardonnay. This is the standard wine from the Estate. The immediate observation is that this wine is much more concentrated. Otherwise there are similarities to the previous wine in terms of flavour and acidity. In addition, the wine has more energy and drive (92 points).

Then we come to the red wines. The 2023 Bindi Dixon Pinot Noir is the entry level Pinot Noir from the Estate. The colour is pale, but there is a lot going on in the mouth. Strawberry and raspberry flavours reveal themselves first, savoury notes follow, balanced by fine tannins. This wine tastes very young and must be aged to experience better harmony. The Dixon is my pick from the wines reviewed here (92 points).

The second area of focus for Michael Dhillon is Heathcote. The 2023 Bindi Col Mountain Grenache comes from there. This is quite a light red, soft, with typical raspberry flavours - a basic expression of Grenache, somewhat unusual from Heathcote (88 points). The Pyrette Shiraz has been around for longer. This release is the 2022 Bindi Pyrette Shiraz. This is a lighter style, very different from the typical expression from Heathcote. Blackberry, earthy and peppery notes deliver a typical cooler climate style. The wine finishes quite tannic (90 points). 

I was not able to taste the premium wines of this release. They were the 2017 and 2018 Darshan Pinot Noir and the 2019 Block 8 Pinot Noir. I tasted the 2017 Darshan at a visit to the winery last year (see previous blog post), as well as the 2021 Block 8. These wines come from new high density plantings on the Estate. They are exciting wines of small volume, the scarcity matched by high prices. 

 

Place of Changing Winds 'Clos de la Connerie'

 The man behind Place of Changing Winds is Robert Walters, who for decades has imported fine wine from around the world (Bibendum, International Fine Wines), in particular Burgundy. Building on this experience and many discussions with international growers and winemakers, he finally decided to get into winemaking himself. More than anybody else in Australia, he combines experience with science in finding the right site and implementing a methodical winemaking approach. He settled on a vineyard site in Macedon, I believe pointed out to him by Michael Dhillon of Bindi, and he has a similar portfolio with Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from Macedon, and Shiraz from Heathcote. For those interested, I recommend the winery's website, which gives away some of the story and Robert's meticulous approach.

The star of the portfolio is clearly Pinot Noir. As volumes of this high density planted vineyard are very small, the company has adopted a direct selling approach which is understandable, yet annoying. Basically, there is a mailing list and you have to buy some of the more standard wines (Grower Series) to get access to the super premium wines (Estate Series). However, some of these trickle into the market and there can be bought separately.

Yesterday, I tasted my first wine from this estate, the 2019 Place of Changing Winds 'Clos de la Connerie' Pinot Noir. Robert advised me to not drink this wine too early, but this is as long as I could wait. This wine comes from the original high density plot at 12500 vines per ha, planted in 2012 (yes, the vines are young). 

I pour the wine and wow! The colour is a deep ruby. Clearly, this is a concentrated wine. Aromas of forest berries rise from the glass. On the palate, black cherry, licorice and spice deliver a more savoury sensation, with an incredible depth of flavour and richness. This is a serious wine. Despite the intensity, the wine is elegant in the mouth (12.5% alc.). The tannins are fine and don't quite match the flavours. While the wine is quite long, it runs out of steam a bit on the finish.

Clearly, this intense profile is achieved by the dense planting (and no doubt a lot of care). It calls into question the mantra of old vines being a prerequisite of great wine. This wine delivers a new profile of Australian Pinot Noir. It drinks well now, but will develop even more complexity in the next 5-10 years. Robert Walters has other labels with even double this planting density. I am encouraged to track some down in the future.

Score: 96/+++     

  

Joshua Cooper Doug's Vineyard Pinot Noir

 Doug's vineyard is at the outskirts of the little town Ramsey, in Macedon. I previously reviewed Cooper's other Macedon Pinot Noir from the Ray-Monde vineyard, and waxed lyrically about it. I will not do it quite so much about this wine, the 2019 Joshua Cooper Doug's Vineyard Pinot Noir. The wine spent one year in oak, before transferred to stainless steel for four months, still on lees. No fining nor filtration, and low alcohol at 12%, similar to its brother. 

Red and black cherry fruit with good intensity feature on the palate. Savoury and herbal notes are there as well and deliver a pleasant and elegant mouthfeel. This wine is quite soft and lacks some bite. I found it a little plump against the backdrop of light tannins. The medium finish does not reveal anything new. 

This style might suit some, but the wine could have been more.

Score: 91/+ 

Joshua Cooper Ray-Monde Vineyard Pinot Noir

 I am not a big fan of new wineries putting out wines at big prices without a history of success. However, at this winery, success is coming quickly. Just recently, Joshua Cooper has been named best new winery in the Halliday guide for 2024. But it is not exactly without history. Joshua Cooper is the son of Alan Cooper of Cobaw Ridge, the established winery in the Macedon Ranges. It has to be said, though, that while Joshua gained experience in this region, father and son do not necessarily see eye to eye, when it comes to winemaking. Anyway, today I am tasting the 2019 Joshua Cooper Ray-Monde Vineyard Pinot Noir.

Ray-Monde is a grower vineyard at 400m elevation between Sunbury and Macedon. The soil is poor, with bluestone rock prominent. Gravelly ironstone and basaltic clay form the soil.

The wine is very fragrant on the nose. Black cherry, kirsch, licorice, and earthy flavours combine in an ethereal texture. The wine is more linear than voluptuous, with excellent drive and energy. Fine tannins round out the sophisticated composition of this medium-bodied wine (12.5% alcohol) before it finishes medium plus. Macedon has delivered again.

Score: 95/+++

 

Shadowfax Straws Lane Pinot Noir

 When discussing wines from the Geelong region, the wineries which foremost come to mind are Bannockburn and By Farr. But there are others. Shadowfax is particularly interesting though, because it has ventured out to other regions. A special vineyard is Straws Lane in the Macedon Ranges, a very well suited region for premium Pinot Noir. It is a 40 year old vineyard, closely planted, on granite soil. My first exposure to it is the 2019 Shadowfax Straws Lane Pinot Noir.

This is an energetic wine with pretty blackberry flavours and lively acidity. The wine has an attractive saline character. It comes a bit at the expense  of a rounded mouthfeel, but the wine is serious and pleasant at the same time.

Score: 93/++

Macedon Ranges, Part 3: Cobaw Ridge

 The third stop of this short tour was at Cobaw Ridge. Although this winery has been around for over 30 years, I have not known it until now. They make natural wine, if you take organic farming, no fining and filtration and very limited sulphur at bottling as the definition.

The flagship wines are the Chardonnays. The 2021 Chardonnay is a refreshing wine, with grapefruit flavours, quite pithy. The wine goes through 100% malolactic fermentation, which Alan Cooper, the winemaker, says is a must to maintain stability in the wine, if no filtration is applied. This is a balanced wine, full of character (95 points). The 2018 Chardonnay, from a warmer year with higher yield, is a fuller wine, showing some development, but still with a good structure (92 points).

The 2021 Il Pinko is a Rosé made from 100% Shiraz. It was only kept three hours on skins. As a result, the colour is quite light, but this is deceiving. This is an energetic and powerful Rosé (92 points). The 2021 L'Altra is another Rosé with 15% Pinot Noir added. This is an easy drinking wine, not very distinctive, but quite delicious in the mouth, with fine acidity (90 points).

Finally, I was tasting Lagrein, a Northern Italian variety. I have only come across this once, at Tertini, where I tasted a much younger wine. The first one here was the 2006 Lagrein. The flavours are an attractive blend of mulberry, cherry liquor, and licorice. It is quite an acidic wine with medium dry tannins (92 points). The real highlight was the 2000 Lagrein, a more mellow and softer wine, it felt wise and balanced with some eucalypt and herbal flavours adding to the palate. It was drinking beautifully (95 points).

So, who says wines made in this style cannot age? I think the difference to, say, a number of natural wine makers in the Adelaide Hills is, that a bit of sulphur is applied and 100% malolactic fermentation. This clearly increases ageability. 

Macedon Ranges, Part 2: Curly Flat

 Curly Flat was probably the first winery which put Macedon on the wine map for a wider audience. The style of the wines could not have been more different to Bindi. The vines are grown on rich volcanic soil. The wines used to be generous, sometimes quite broad, but delivered great drinkability. I have not been in touch for a number of years, so I was looking forward to this tasting.

The focus was on Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, tasting quite a number of years.

The first wine was the 2005 Chardonnay. Australian Chardonnay does not always age well, but this one certainly did. It still had some energy left. This is a rich and powerful wine. Toasty and nutty characters now dominate the palate. The structure is still good (92 points). A big jump to the 2016 Chardonnay. This wine was big and oaky. I found it quite fat (89 points).

A new winemaker took over, maybe four years ago. He is supposedly trying to turn down the richness in the wines, and the new oak components. The example I tasted first was the 2020 Chardonnay. I still found the fruit component very big in this wine, and the shape wide rather than long. There was more acidity in this wine, which made it more lively (92 points). Then I tasted the 2018 and 2019 Chardonnays. The 2018 in particular felt quite flabby. 

Curly Flat is in some financial stress because of the divorce/payout from the previous owner. I feel these Chardonnays come from increased yields to boost production to improve cash-flow.

The first red wine I tasted was the 2015 Pinot Noir. It showed an interesting blend of strawberry and dark cherry fruit, as well as savoury notes, but the structure was not great (90 points). The 2019 Pinot Noir was similar, a bit more savoury, and a little green, which I thought benefited the wine in this case (91 points). The best wine was the 2020 Pinot Noir. It had a silky, more sophisticated mouthfeel (93 points).

Overall, it has to be said, this tasting did not deliver what I was hoping for. My sense is, for economic reasons, the winery is moving into a more commercial space.   

Macedon Ranges, Part 1: Bindi

 It was high time to catch up with Bindi again, the high quality producer of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Like in many parts of the country, the rainfall this year has been significant. As a result, the grass growth has been substantial, as can be seen on the photo of the famous Block 5 Pinot Noir vineyard.

These days, Bindi is much more than Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, but we started with the two well known Chardonnays from barrel. 

The 2022 Kosta Rind Chardonnay is grown on volcanic soil, which gives the wine some generosity. Lime and citrus flavours are balanced with earthy notes. There is a saline quality to the attractive palate, balanced by fine acidity (94 points). The 2022 Quartz Chardonnay is a sensational wine. As the name suggests, the soil is quartz mixed with clay. This delivers a more structured wine. There is a lot of complexity on the palate of this bigger, yet dynamic wine. The mouthfeel is quite dry, with the acidity more prominent. This wine will need time to unfold. It is very persistent in the mouth, with chalky tannins and a long finish (97 points).

Then we started to taste from bottle.

The first wine was a surprise in more ways than one. The 2022 Riesling, from an outside vineyard, is Michael Dhillon's first foray into Riesling - and what a cracker this is. The grapes were grown on granite soil, quite common in Macedon. There are some floral notes here, but the main impact on the palate is lime and citrus. This wine has a wonderful texture. It is not broad. The wine has good drive, without being dominated by acidity. I liked this a lot (95 points). We tasted a 2022 Rosé, which showed an interesting blend of redcurrant, some herbal notes and white pepper. However, the slightly sweet finish overtook the positive palate impression for me (88 points).

We then went to some Pinot Noirs from new high density planted vineyards. The Darshan vineyard, named after Michael's grandfather, was planted in 2014. We tasted the 2017 Darshan Pinot Noir, the first wine from this vineyard. With 3(!) year old vines, it showed amazing promise. Dark cherry fruit blends in with mushroom and forest floor characteristics. The purity of the fruit stands out. This is a classic Pinot, quite delicate, with a silky feel: a beautiful wine (94 points). Then came the 2020 Block 8 Pinot Noir from a densely planted vineyard in 2017. So this is another wine from vines three years old. Again, it is delicate, with dark complexity and grippy tannins (93 points). This was followed by the 2021 Block 8 Pinot Noir. This showed vintage variation. The wine had higher acidity and showed good length. I found it delicious (95 points).  

The final Pinot Noir was the 2021 Kaye Pinot Noir, named after Michael's Mother. This wine is a bit more forward and approachable, with dark cherry the dominant flavour. Having said this, the structure of the wine does stand up (93 points). I found the 2021 Pyrette, the Shiraz from Heathcote, a bit perplexing. This is meant as an early and easy drinking wine. It is quite dark and peppery, with a mix of cherry and earthy notes, and a quite pronounced beetroot flavour. I did not think it gelled together all that well (90 points).

I spent two hours with Michael Dhillon on this visit. His commentary, as always, was full of insight. He has now managed this site for over 25 years, and the wines benefit from this experience. The Pinot Noirs from the new plantings are already amazingly good. It is clear he is not done yet. More great wines will come from here.   

Joshua Cooper Doug's Vineyard Pinot Noir

 As new releases of Joshua Cooper make the rounds, I felt like looking at one of his Pinot Noirs a few years old. The Macedon Ranges are perhaps the sweet spot of Pinot Noir making in Australia. The climate is marginal and there is a fair bit of rain, which Pinot Noir tends to like. A number of new and talented winemakers now try to follow in the footsteps of outstanding Bindi Wines.

All information is on the back label

The 2019 Joshua Cooper Doug's Vineyard Pinot Noir tastes of red and black cherry. There are notes of forest floor. This wine shows an excellent balance between fruit and savoury, earthy notes. At only 12% alcohol, it delivers a full mouthfeel. If I had a gripe, the wine could be more detailed and precise, but the overall impression is attractive. Fine tannins lead to a medium to long finish.

Score: 93/++

 

Bindi Dixon Pinot Noir

Initially I was planning to bring a Bindi Pinot Noir to the tasting reported in my last post. However, I could only put my hands on a Dixon (Level 3 in the Bindi hierarchy), which I thought may not quite measure up. This was probably the right decision, although this is a good wine.

The 2014 Bindi Dixon Pinot Noir has a light to medium purple colour. This translated into a medium weight wine with predominantly black cherry and  black olive flavours. The wine has a good structure. This is an elegant wine, based on smooth silky tannins. The finish could have been a bit longer.

Score: 92/++

Bindi Dixon Pinot Noir

Bindi is currently releasing its new 'entry level' wines, so I thought it would be good to see how one of them has developed over time.

The Dixon used to be the Composition Vineyard Pinot Noir. How is the 2014 Bindi Dixon Pinot Noir drinking now? In short, extremely well.

The colour of the wine is still red, with medium depth. A beautiful aroma of forest fruits lifts out of the glass. This is sophisticated!

Dark cherry fruit flavours kick off the tasting experience, but then savoury and mushroom notes take over. This is a medium-bodied wine, still quite delicate and very elegant. The fruit profile is not too complex, but the texture is very balanced and subtle. There is enough intensity in this wine, and the finish is smooth.

This wine is clearly better now than on release, and has many good years in front of it.

Score: 94/+++ 

Bindi Original Vineyard Pinot Noir

The label of the Bindi wines has changed some time ago to a more modern version, but the winemaking principles remain. This 2014 Bindi Original Vineyard Pinot Noir is a medium-bodied wine. Forest floor flavours engulf the red and black forest fruit to create an overall savoury taste. This is an elegant wine with a silky texture, well made, as it moves to a soothing finish. Just a bit more cut-through would have been nice.

Score: 93/+++ 

International Chardonnay Tasting

In the recent international Cabernet tasting, the French wines were the clear winners. In this Chardonnay tasting, organised by a different group, the Australian top wines held their ground.

The top wines were
-  2007 Domaine des Comtes Lapon, Meursault-Perrières, tasting of green apple, with great length and beautifully integrated acidity (96/+++)
- 2014 Leeuwin Art Series Chardonnay, white flower, apricot, weight and power (95/+++)
- 1998 Leeuwin Art Series Chardonnay, earthy with truffles, still some acidity, but a bit tired (95/++)
- 2014 Benjamin Leroux Meursault 'Les Vireuils', great village wine on the high slopes. Very elegant, linear, but mouthfilling as well (94/+++)
-2015 Savaterre Chardonnay, citrus, stone fruit, orange peel, minerality, good line and length with lingering finish (94/+++)

The next group was good, too
-  2015 Chavy Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Folatieres, quite intense, a bit broad and oaky, good acidity (93/+)
- 2014 Felton Road Chardonnay, natural fermentation, grapefruit, marzipan, quite tight (92/++)
- 2015 Curly Flat Williams Crossing Chardonnay, lime, honey, stone fruit, quite rich, but lively acidity, great value for money (91/++)
- 2014 Jean-Marc Brocard Chablis 1er Cru 'Vau de Vey', from an almost unknown site, not as refined as other 1er cru Chablis, but typical character, lime and minerality, finish a bit short (91/+)
- 2014 Giaconda Chardonnay, very golden, citrus up front, almond, caramelized, powerful (91/0)

Still quite good, but not in the same league
- 2016 Montalto Pennon Hill Chardonnay, citrus, fairly light, easy drinking (88/0)
- 2016 Woodlands Wilyabrup Chardonnay, citrus and white peach, a bit tight, but will open (89/+)
- 2015 Jean-Marc Brocard Petit Chablis, grean melon, salty, lean, minerality (88/0)
- 2014 Bruno Colin Bourgogne, flavours a bit plump, nutty, good mouthfeel (89/+) 

Bindi Kaye Pinot Noir

The Bindi Kaye Pinot Noir is a relatively recent addition to the Bindi Pinot Noirs. All their wines come from the estate vineyard. This block K was singled out because it has the highest elevation and special soil including quartz and volcanic rock.

The 2010 Bindi Kaye Pinot Noir is simply a lovely Pinot Noir. It is not big, not super complex, but very pure. It tastes of dark cherry and Asian spices. The tannins are light and the wine is very clean on the finish. There is just enough interest in the wine to make it very enjoyable to drink.

Score: 93/+++ 

34 Pinot Noirs

This annual Pinot Noir tasting in Sydney tends to give a good overview of the state of the nation as far as Pinot Noir is concerned. Unfortunately, this year, a number of the big names were missing. Still, when you have the option to taste 150 wines in a couple of hours, I tend to drift to the better known wines, where I can expect good results. I should do it differently next time and seek out the unknowns who's bottles don't even get opened - sad.

There was one wine which stood head and shoulders above the others. This was the 2014 By Farr Farrside Pinot Noir. This is a very complete wine, with dark fruit, very silky, with soft notes, but a firm finish. This is now the best By Farr wine (96 points).

In the bracket of outstanding wines (93/94 points) were
- 2014 By Farr Sangreal ( quite powerful, with overt cherry flavours, silky tannins)
- 2014 Lerida 'Josephine' (relatively light, strawberry and earth, long finish)
- 2012 Glaetzer-Dixon 'Reveur' (good intensity, mushroom notes, lively)
- 2012 Bannockburn 'Serre' (black cherry, silky, good length)
- 2015 Soumah 'Equilibrio' (strawberry flavours, quite ripe and silky)

In the next bracket (90-92 points) were a number of well known wines. They were good wines, but either had no feature that stood out (like the Curly Flat), or some detracting aspect (like the Paringa Estate). I put in this group the 2013 Curly Flat, 2014 Lerida Estate 'Cullerin', 2013 Stonier Reserve, 2014 Oakridge 864, 2015 Marchand & Burch 'Mt Barrow', 2012 Paringa Estate, 2013 Bannockburn Estate, 2015 Garagiste 'Balnarring',  2012 Savaterre (could have gone in the group above), 2015 Farr Rising, 2013 Brokenwood 'Indigo Vineyard', 2015 Holm Oak (outstanding fresh fruit), 2014 Shaw & Smith.

I rated the following wines a bit below this group (89 points): 2011 Curly Flat, 2013 Yering Station Estate, 2014 Scorpo, 2013 Picardy, 2013 Gembrook Hill, 2013 Moorooduc Estate 'Garden Vineyard', 2013 Yeringberg (disappointing!).

The disappointing wines (85-88 points), given their reputation, were
- 2014 Ashton Hills Reserve (lacking structure)
- 2015 William Downie Gippsland (juice, fault in winemaking or bottle?)
- 2014 Freycinet Estate (fruity)
- 2013 Kooyong Estate 'Haven' (drowning in sulphur)
- 2014 Holyman (unbalanced and thin)
- 2013 Moss Wood (why do they stick with it in Margaret River?)
- 2014 Pooley 'Butchers Hill' (too sweet)

A caveat to these rankings: the tasting was in a crowded room, the glasses were small and there was not much time.

With a couple of exceptions, there were no lolly water Pinot Noirs. These times are thankfully over. Given the line-up, I had expected a few more examples of truly outstanding wines with great personality. Usually, in large tastings like this, I do a taste-off with my three or four favorites. I was not inspired to do that this time. Power in the Pinots has been scaled back, which is a good thing, but now that many winemakers have mastered the art, they seem to go for 'safety first'.    
      

Swimming Against The Mainstream

When a tasting of Cullen, Bindi, and Ata Rangi wines is announced, you can't be anything but excited. I certainly was, given I have wines of  these producers in my cellar. But it is interesting to note what happens when three things come together
- High expectations set you up for a fall
- The setting of the tasting, including glasses is poor
- Some of the wines are not outstanding

I was aware of the influence of the first two factors and tried to be objective (from my point of view), as much as I could. This is what I thought:

The Bindi wines tasted are new labels and  in part from new blocks of the home vineyard.
- The 2015 Kostas Rind Chardonnay (formerly Composition Chardonnay) was very floral and a bit broad (88 points)
- The 2015 Dixon Pinot Noir ( formerly Composition Pinot Noir), which includes fruit ftom a new block K), tasted of kirsch and was very young and fruity (89 points)
These wines are too expensive for what they offer

In some quarters, the 2014 Ata Rangi Pinot Noir has been described as even better than the sensational 2013. I tasted
- The 2014 Crimson Pinot Noir. This is not a bad wine for a second label. It is savoury, with mushroom and licorice flavours on the palate. The wine is a little light (91 points)
- The 2014 Pinot Noir. The bouquet smells of roses, quite intense and unusual. On the palate, the mouthfeel is balanced, but not huge. The wine is savoury with good length and dry tannins leading to an expanding finish. This wine will increase complexity over time (94 points)

With Cullen, I have a mixed relationship. I simply do not 'get' the Kevin John Chardonnay, and while I appreciate the increased delicacy of the Cabernet, I wonder if some depth has come out of the wine.
- The 2014 Kevin John Chardonnay shows peach flavours and good lashings of (high quality) oak. I find the wine a bit broad (92 points)
- I was impressed with the 2014 Diana Madeline Cabernet. It has good depth of blackberry and blueberry fruit. The flavours penetrate without being heavy. It is a very harmonious wine with firm dry tannins on the finish (95 points)   

12 Bindi Pinot Noirs

Bindi has been on a steep path to excellence for quite some time now, but as a small producer is not as widely experienced by consumers as it deserves. This tasting went across the different Pinot Noir bottlings as well as across young and older vintages. Thus it allowed a good overall assessment of their Pinot Noirs, which is Bindi's main grape. They also do Chardonnay.

My conclusion is that all wines have a common signature, which is site- as well as winemaking specific. The wines from this cool, isolated location, at 500m altitude in the Macedon Ranges, are not classified organic, but the soil treatment follows those principles. There is no addition of yeast, enzymes or acid in the winery. What all 12 wines have in common is line length, a very elegant texture and fine silky tannins.

After that, vintage variation and vineyard play their part. From 2014, I tried the Dixon (former Composition) Pinot Noir, the Original Vineyard and the Block 5. The yield was very low, and as a result, the fruit is quite intense and dark. These wines need time to develop the typical savoury character of Bindi wines. The Block 5 is the richest of the three, but retains its elegance (92,93,94 points respectively). The general conclusion was that these wines will develop exceptionally well.

This contrasted strongly with the wines from 2011, a cool vintage. The colour of these wines was much lighter, almost with an orange rim. Strawberry and orange peel characters showed. The Kayne Pinot Noir, a new addition from the highest altitude and rocky vinyard, delivered the minerality of the site, but was a little short (91 points). The Original Vineyard was better placed in that year, as the vines are now over 25 years old. The flavours were similar, but the wine had more depth (93 points).  

 The older wines showed really well. The 2005 Composition Pinot Noir was still quite vibrant, with red and black cherry flavours, as well as forest floor, and a long, soft finish (93 points). The 2004 Original Vineyard Pinot Noir was my wine of the night, with dark fruit and a creamy texture. This is a very elegant and silky wine (95 points). The 2008 Block 5 Pinot Noir comes from a very warm year. It is quite open and opulent, and has a slight alcoholic finish (93 points).

Another remarkable wine was the 2010 Kaye Pinot Noir. It is bigger than the 2011, with an excellent frame and structure. It almost had a Barolo profile, with tar and roses flavours - very savoury. The silky texture gave it away as a Bindi (93 points).

There was no disappointing wine in this line-up. Quite an achievement for a small producer with one site, in a marginal climate.

Bindi Composition Chardonnay

The Composition wines are the entry level wines of Bindi, but they are far more than the usual entry levels. The Chardonnay comes from the lower and middle part of the Macedon vineyard. This part is a little more fertile, but the conditions remain challenging at this cold high altitude site.

The 2012 Bindi Composition Chardonnay shows a pale straw green colour. The flavours are citrus and green apple, very well balanced by a good dose of acidity. The wine is perhaps not very complex, but the fruit is clean and quite focussed. One could say this is a Chablis style Chardonnay, but it has a bit more fruit intensity and less minerality than those French wines.

Score: 93/++