Bannockburn Serre Pinot Noir 2023 (1.5L)

Planted in ’84 and extended in ’86; certified organic in ’21. 100% destemmed and matured in French hogsheads (33% new). A light–medium, very bright cherry red. Just a little reduction when first poured. This soon gives way to a cornucopia of scents including alpine strawberries, freshly poached rhubarb, pressed rose petals and incense. The palate is medium bodied, tensile, silky smooth and very long. The tannins are superfine and beautifully integrated into the wine and, while it’s quite delicious now, history tells us you’ll want to still be drinking this 10-plus years from now. 97 points – Philip Rich, Halliday Wine Companion

Certified organic. Serré is Bannockburn’s most iconic and memorable Pinot Noir. The 1.2 hectares of densely planted (9,000 per hectare), low-yielding, own-rooted vines were planted exclusively to the MV6 clone in 1984 and 1986. It is likely Australia’s oldest plot of densely planted Pinot Noir—which goes some way to explaining the striking complexity and intense concentration found in this wine. The naturally low-yielding vines lie in the estate’s signature volcanic, basalt and limestone-rich soils with a north-south orientation. They give the estate’s most powerful, deeply flavoured and long-lived Pinot Noir.

As is usually the case for Matt Holmes’s Serré, the fruit was entirely destemmed before fermenting on skins for 10 days. The wine was pressed to hogsheads (33% new) and then left to mature on lees until February 2024. With head-spinning perfume and alluring savoury spice, Serré 2023 is an instant classic: a Pinot of symphonic precision, layers of fine detail and a finish akin to the rumbling clap of thunder.