Pokolbin Vintners Pokolbin Mountain Dry Red 2023

Intensely fragrant and you can smell the coolness of the site. Lavender, raspberry, blackberry, blueberry, strawberries, compost/earthy notes, mace, licorice, iodine and leather. Such an attack of freshness and tangy fruits. Medium bodied, yet all corners of the mouth are coated with tangy red fruits, chalky tannins, incredible levels of natural acidity and puckering limestone minerality. Lovely rails, the oak playing a minor but definite structural role.

The bottle was consumed over a couple of hours, revealing more succulence, savouriness and Turkish tobacco. Compact, coiled and spring loaded, a wine that never bent nor lost its precision and power. It’s utterly classic Hunter Burgundy, yet on the other hand, I’ve never tasted such a high-toned and acid-driven wine from the region. I only wish there was some large format bottlings! Brendan thinks this will be similar to the Tyrrell’s Sacred Site reds, hitting a sweet spot in 5 years or so, but I think we will have to wait longer, 10 years or so. I haven’t added to our cellar for a while, but I’ll be adding this. Waters Wine Co