September 2020 Releases: 2013 Prince Albert Geelong Pinot Noir $50 & 2016 Brown Magpie Estate Pinot Noir $42

September 2020 Releases:

This month we have selected two outstanding wines from the Geelong region of Victoria.

We visited the region in March 2019, and have been waiting patiently to release both of these wines which now have had 18 months extra time maturing in The Pinot Club cellar.
The Geelong region was one of the pioneering grape growing/wine producing regions of Australia, before Phylloxera came along in the 1870's and wiped out all the established vineyards. We really enjoyed our visit to this region and the nearby Bellarine Peninsula, and we think it is a very underrated region for Pinot Noir.
There is a great number of very fine wines being produced in this region, and we highly recommend a visit there when the borders open up again.
Cheers Patrick

2013 Prince Albert Geelong Pinot Noir $50

2013 Prince Albert Geelong Pinot Noir $48 Prince Albert Vineyard occupies 2 ha of arguably one of the best wine grape growing sites in Australia, the north facing slope of the Waurn Ponds Valley, near Geelong, Victoria.  The top soil is 0.5 metres of terra rossa on top of limestone marl. It was first used for a vineyard of the same name from 1857 to 1882, and was re-established by Bruce Hyett in 1975. The vineyard is now owned and the wine made by Dr. David Yates who purchased the vineyard in 2007. Prince Albert vineyard specializes in Pinot Noir. This wine is made from organically grown grapes, hand-picked from the old vines planted in 1975. Picking was on the 15th March, 2013. The grapes were sorted then lightly crushed and fermented in open wax-lined concrete fermenters before malolactic fermentation and maturation in super fine grained French oak barriques for thirteen months. 2013 was an excellent vintage with average rainfall after starting with saturated ground. Temperatures were average with warmer weather in February and March. The resulting wine has a brilliant garnet to ruby colour with aromas of ripe cherries and spice. The palate is a balance of red fruits and spice with good structure. As usual we recommend breathing before drinking. Drinking will be best from 2016 to at least 2021, probably much longer. Enjoy. 14.3% ALC/VOL

2016 Brown Magpie Single Vineyard Pinot Noir $42

2016 Brown Magpie Single Vineyard Pinot Noir $38 Owners Shane and Loretta Breheny started planning Brown Magpie Wines in 1998. Shane has a love of fine wine, and Loretta has a love of viticulture, and as a result the venture was born. The property they selected consists of 20 hectares on a gentle, north facing slope, with cypress trees planted on the western and southern borders, which provide a warm, sheltered site. Brown Magpie Wines is situated in Modewarre, which is just a few kilometres from Geelong, it has nine hectares of grapevines, which were planted in 2001 and 2002. The name comes from the rare brown and white magpies that live on the site. Tasting notes: Brown Magpie Single Vineyard Pinot Noir 2016 Medium deep red and purple, in clear condition A complex, multilayered bouquet of all the red fruits, spice, treacle and white truffle. At the end is a hint of violets, red rose and anise. A long soft palate of plums, blackberries and strawberries, with fine grained tannins and charry oak flavours from the Taransaud French oak barrels the wine is matured in. Winemaker: Daniel Greene