Moorooduc Estate Pinot Noir 2023

Five clones (MV6, 777, 667, Pommard and Abel), hand-picked, 18% whole bunches, wild yeast open-fermented, 19-21 days on skins, natural malolactic, matured in French oak (25% new). Bottled unfined and unfiltered.

‘Ruby red with strawberry, raspberry and red and black cherry fruit. Also hints of star anise, cloves and soy. On the palate the wine shows complex savoury fruit and spice and is long, textural and juicy. Bright, young fruit now will match well with crispy duck breast or a piece of wagyu beef with a wild mushroom sauce. Or cellar for five to eight years to achieve softness and savoury notes and extra complexity.’ Kate McIntyre MW.

Established in 1982 by Richard and Jill McIntyre, Moorooduc Estate was one of the early pioneers of the Mornington Peninsula.From the very beginning the focus has been on high quality production, with a hands-on approach and minimal use of chemicals in the vineyards, and minimum intervention in the winery. The varietal focus has always been on Pinot Noir and Chardonnay and interpreted with a Burgundian sensibility.

From a small 20 tonne winery established in 1987, Moorooduc now crushes over 75 tonnes in its rammed earth winery and draws fruit from not only the home McIntyre Vineyard but also the Robinson, Garden and Osborn Vineyards nearby. Individual vineyard wines are produced from the first three of these, with the key objective being to elucidate the influence of each site’s particular terroir.

From his early endeavours, Richard McIntyre became one of the pioneers of wild-yeast fermentation in Australia and it has been de-rigueur at Moorooduc for many years. Sulphur use is carefully controlled, new oak is used sensitively and the white wines receive only minimal fining and filtration. The red wines are all bottled completely unfined and unfiltered.

For many years now, wines from Moorooduc Estate have been routinely included in James Halliday’s selection of the best varietal examples, not only of the Mornington Peninsula, but of all of Australia. With Jill and Richard’s daughter Kate McIntyre MW now engaged full-time at Moorooduc, the journey continues with a skins-ferment Pinot Gris and some whole-bunch fermentation of Pinot Noir lighting the path.