Louise and I privately buy from only two Australian wine producers, Wendouree and Serrat. Owning a wine business enables us to source most of what we want for ourselves, but it’s nice to purchase wine purely for the enjoyment of it, without our hats of business on. Serrat’s wines are incomparable. A national benchmark of shiraz/viognier blends, chardonnay, pinot noir and grenache. They also have tiny plantings of nebbiolo and grenache blanc. The nebbiolo I have not yet tasted, it’s so bloody rare, and the grenache blanc is not the most fashionable variety going these days, but happens to be one of our favourite house whites.
Nadege and Tom Carson are the wife and husband team behind Serrat, Nadege, originally from France’s south, and Tom, renowned as one of Australia’s finest winemakers. Serrat being the Catalan word for close planted has translated into a vine density of 6600 vines per hectare. Everything is small here, the largest planting is of pinot noir with 1.4 hectares and the smallest of grenache blanc at 0.12 hectares.
The wines are especially rare, each year attracting some of the best reviews in Australia, and with low cropping from such a finite resource and the demand so great, we feel lucky to get anything at all. Indeed, as I write this, in the year 2025, we have been offered our first allocation after years of pestering. And yet despite all this, the wines remain remarkably affordable. The upswing of prices for the Yarra Valley’s iconic wines and vineyards has been so dramatic and grotesquely extreme as to put them out of reach of most people, that they have now become irrelevant. But who cares when you can buy the likes of Serrat?
The Serrat wines are classically made and built, particularly from estate fruit. There are three wines, two from the Yarra and a Tasmanian pinot noir made from sourced fruit, and it is here that there is a little more experimentation. I still feel, however, that they are strictly made and still fall under the ‘classic’ banner. Brightness, clarity and vivid purity is how I would describe the wines. Small vineyards pose some difficulties for the winemaker, the most important being in regards to quality. With such a small production, you have to get everything right and hope that the fruit you have is of the highest quality and potentially good enough to display a degree of complexity to make not only really good wine, but great wine.
Serrat Grenache Blanc 2024
Only a single 500L old French oak barrel’s worth of wine, and as far as I’m aware the only grenache blanc from the Yarra Valley. Beautifully composed with citrus blossom, savoury spice, Victoria plum, matchstick, green melon and citrus marmalade. Plump, pure, fleshy and a lovely tension between savoury and fruitiness. Rich in flavour, but not in weight, the acid line gentle and precise. A touch phenolic, as it just holds the palate, juxtaposed by a mineral finish. One of our house whites and truly delicious.
Serrat Chardonnay 2024
Aged and fermented on full solids in 500 and 600 litre French oak barrels. Intense from sniff to finish. Citrus blossom, jasmine, oak spice, cashew, grapefruit, lime, flinty reduction and yellow peach. Always textural, a signature of Serrat’s chardonnay, and in 2024 it’s quite marked, and giving the wine a structural empathsis. A wine of terrific clarity, all the elements, distinct and highlighted. The favourite Serrat chardonnay yet tasted, with just a little more of a fleshy mid palate. Serrat wines are always good to go, from the moment they are released, but there is so much more to come in the following decades.
Mendoza clone, whole-bunch pressed, natural-yeast fermented and matured in two seasoned 600L French oak barrels and two 500L barrels (one new). Bright green gold. There’s a lot going on here from the very first whiff. Aromas of ripe stone fruits, orange blossom, oyster shell and praline lead onto an intense, structured and beautifully balanced palate. No problems drinking this now, but it’s worth noting that this will age very well, too. 97 Points, Halliday Wine Companion
Serrat ‘Other Terrior’ Chardonnay Yarra Valley 2024
From vines planted at Nenagh Park in 1989. The site is cool, and so’s the wine, but there is an uncommon succulence, no doubt from the wonderful Penfolds 58 clone. Aromas of citrus blossom, savoury spice, a sort of cardamon reduction, lime zest, grapefruit and white peach. Intense, coiled and focused, the most “contemporary” of Tom Carson’s chardonnays that I have seen in a while. Taught and long, with a lovely mineral acid line.
From the Nenagh Park vineyard planted in ’89 in Yarra Glen on a cool, southeast-facing site. Bright green gold. With its aromas of pure white peach and flowers, together with some light saline scents, this is quite different to the Serrat Home Block Chardonnay. The palate is nicely concentrated and structured, finishing flinty and long. A lovely and very even wine to enjoy now and over the medium term. 96 Points Halliday Wine Companion
Serrat ‘Other Terrior’ Pinot Noir Yarra Valley 2024
MV6 clone from the cool Nenagh vineyard, fermented with 25% whole bunches. An absolute classic rendition of Yarra Valley pinot noir with baking spices, autumn leaves, strawberry, raspberry, redcurrant and violets. Intense and linear, yet the mid palate is sweeling against the fine lace of tannins. Exquisitely intense and detailed, and fantastically complex. Medium bodied, but with a very long future ahead of it.
The comes fruit from the Nenagh Park vineyard, established on an east-facing block west of Yarra Glen by viticulturist Stephen Sadlier in ’89. 25% whole bunches. A light, bright garnet. An autumnal, perfumed bouquet featuring wild strawberry and pomegranate together with potpourri and sous bois scents. Delicate and structured on the nicely persistent palate. It’s a touch closed at present, but will unfurl gracefully over the next one to two years and will continue to become more complex over the journey. 95 Points, Halliday Wine Companion
Serrat ‘Other Terrior’ Pinot Noir Tasmania 2024
From Coal River Valley fruit, mostly destemmed and aged in 500L French oak. Only the second release of this wine and my first time tasting it. Phenomenally complex, a real compote of hedge, black and red fruits, with baking spices, fresh compost and lavender. The most powerful and full bodied of Serrat’s pinots, fleshy, oozing fruit, Serano, spice, herbs and flowers. Textural and structured, at once coiled and silky. Stunning stuff!
From a vineyard in the Coal River and made in collaboration with Jim Chatto. 100% destemmed. A bright crimson purple. Unsurprisingly, darker fruited than Serrat’s Yarra pinots. Aromas of dark cherries, wild blackberries, warm spices and light floral notes lead onto the plushly fruited, well-structured palate. There’s good freshness and energy here and this will provide plenty of enjoyment now and over the next few years. 96 dozen made. 95 Points, Halliday Wine Companion
