Yarra Valley 13.2% Screwcap $22.50 Source: Retail
I bought the last two bottles of this at Cru, although you might find some floating about somewhere. Who knows?
It’s only light to medium bodied. Ethereal but utterly convincing. Anthony D’Anna of Boccacio Cellars kindly gave me a bit of advice on decanting time, and indeed it did benefit enormously from 4-5 hours in a flat bottomed vessel.
Red cherries and raspberries (maybe even some cranberry), appealing whole bunch stemmy characters, forest floor & mushrooms and some adorable spice on a terrific finish. Cinnamon and nutmeg came to mind.
It’s true, different people want different things from Pinot. Most of the time I want this.
ps- I’m sipping on it again right now and its lost nothing of its appeal. A complex and beguiling wine for sure.
Winery Website- http://www.hoddlescreekestate.com.au/
Wonderful drop, and the 2008 chardonnay also. I can't help but feel that the pinot could be priced a bit more aspirationally. The quality would certainly justify it. Beautifully fresh and vibrant for yarra pinot with none of the baked, meaty, gamey flavours that predominate in the warmer parts of the valley. This is my favorite Hoddles Creek pinot so far.
tim watson
Tim- spot on, the vibrancy is key. Got some info from Franco that the grapes were picked 1st March 2008 thus avoiding the subsequent heat. It seems that I may have been wrong in attributing any stemmy characters to whole bunch techniques too.
If Hoddles Pinot remians this good I would still buy it at double the price. But I am a bit selfish so I kind of hope it remains around the $20-25 mark. Builds loyalty as well.
Don't worry price is not going anywhere much to the dismay of a number of Yarra producers
Thanks Anthony. I did wonder how Hoddles pricing sat with other Yarra wineries