Tasmania

This island, slightly smaller than Ireland and surrounded by the cold Southern Ocean, is now recognised as one of Australia’s premier fine-wine regions. It is home to the country’s best traditional method sparkling wines and fine Chardonnay – and to some of its best Pinot Noirs. Vines flourish only on the drier eastern side of the island as its weather-beaten west coast is home to temperate rainforests. They soak up most of the rain and leave the Derwent Valley, Coal River Valley – both close to its capital Hobart in the south – and the Tamar Valley, close to Launceston in the north, beautifully dry. Penguin colonies are indeed a feature of this picturesque, cool island.

Tasmania’s modern wine history got going in the early 1970s, initially with plantings for white wine. In the 1980s, its potential for sparkling wine was recognised when companies like Moët & Chandon and Louis Roederer scouted for vineyards in the area. It took a while longer for the island to be recognised as a prime spot for Pinot Noir. A lot of credit for his goes to Michael Hill Smith MW and Martin Shaw, seasoned wine professionals from the mainland looking to invest and make wine there. They hit upon the Tolpuddle Vineyard in the Coal River Valley, planted in 1988 for sparkling wine, and made their first red Pinot Noir in 2012. Since then, Tassie, as the island is nicknamed, has become a hotspot for translucent, elegant and scented Pinot Noirs that represent almost half of its 2,084 hectares of vineyard.

Samantha Connew, who is the winemaker behind the Stargazer label, fell in love with the island: ‘My little patch of dirt in Tea Tree in the Coal River Valley is one of the cooler spots and normally one of the later areas to be harvested. We generally get a seven-month growing season between budburst and harvest. This long ripening period together with very low rainfall makes it a superb spot for growing and producing perfectly balanced Pinot Noir that requires minimal winemaking intervention – exactly how I like it.’

Victoria

Victoria, surrounding Melbourne on Australia’s south coast, is the key state for Pinot Noir on Australia’s mainland. With quite some inspiration, the regional tourist board has even dubbed Victoria’s stunning shoreline the ‘Pinot Coast’. Pinot Noir is the most planted variety in the subregions of Yarra Valley and Mornington Peninsula, while it also has a sizeable presence in the much smaller yet distinct regions of Geelong, Gippsland and the Macedon Ranges – but there are striking differences within these regions, too – all speaking to Pinot Noir’s ability to reflect its origin.

Yarra Valley

The Yarra Valley extends to the north-east of Melbourne and has a lively hub in the small town of Healesville, a popular wine-tasting destination just an hour’s drive from Melbourne. The region spans 2,837 hectares of vineyards and Pinot Noir represents 37% of the annual crush and is thus the key grape. The ocean, 70km away, has a lesser influence here.

Melanie Chester, head of winemaking and viticulture at Giant Steps, explains that there are significant regional differences within the region and that altitude is the key factor when thinking about Yarra Valley Pinot Noir styles: ‘The Upper Yarra has higher elevation, cooler daytime temperatures and later ripening. Compared with the quilted and gentle landscape of the Lower Yarra or valley floor, the Upper Yarra is more sparsely planted, and we see vineyards tucked into hillsides, gullies and valleys, surrounded by the temperate forest of the ranges,’ she says. ‘There is no clear definition between the Upper and Lower Yarra Valley but townships like Woori Yallock, Gladysdale, Gembrook and Hoddles Creek are in the Upper Yarra, while townships like Tarrawarra, Yarra Glenn and Coldsteam make up the valley floor.’

It is her aim to express these differences in her single vineyard wines: ‘As we climb to the Upper Yarra, the climate gets more marginal. You will see Pinots of more perfume and savouriness, less fruit weight, and wiry tannins.’ Her description is beautifully evident in her Applejack Vineyard Pinot Noir from the Upper Yarra. The valley floor wines are indeed richer and rounder, fruit plays a bigger role than spice and tannins are more supple. Regional blends smudge this difference and take the best of both worlds but once you can locate where your Pinot Noir is from, these differences are easily apparent.

Geelong

Geelong lies southwest of Melbourne, to the west of Port Phillip Bay. It is a small region with just 457 hectares of vineyard. Depending on altitude and proximity to the ocean, Pinot Noir has different styles. Wines from the Bellarine Peninsula to the more continental yet windy Moorabool Valley could not be more different: for example, Lethbridge wine from the peninsula is all smooth silkiness while the shape and flavours of the Valley’s By Farr Wines are far more brooding.

Nick Farr of By Farr Wines, who now works alongside his father Gary Farr on their Bannockburn farm, points out the wide day-night extremes in temperature which, along with volcanic soils, lend ‘density and structure’ to Pinot Noirs that also bear the ‘hallmark of savouriness’. With age, the Moorabool Valley Pinot Noirs can attain much meatier, almost leathery notions and if you like this, it is worth laying them down.

Gippsland

Gippsland extends to the east of Port Phillip Bay but while the area is large, the region has just 187 hectares of vineyard – stretching as far east as Lakes Entrance, a four-hour drive east of Melbourne though vast farming country with some tantalising glimpses of the sparkling waves of the Bass Strait. Giant cattle pastures are far more evident than vineyards. These are some of the lowest lying vineyards of Australia, rising to just 50m of altitude, and it is the ocean rather than the elevation that cools the vineyards here. One winery in particular has put the area on the map and its wines are considered some of the best Pinot Noirs in Australia: Bass Phillip. The now iconic estate was founded and first planted by Phillip Jones in 1979, initially with Bordeaux varieties which failed to ripen. Jones planted his first Pinot Noir a little later and made his first wines in 1984, which were not released until 1991. The vineyards are now owned by Burgundian star winemaker Jean-Marie Fourrier who has long been in love with these wines; as Jones had no heirs to take over, Fourrier stepped in as a buyer. The volcanic bedrock covered with silty loams south of the city of Leongatha are densely planted and the oldest vines are by now 39 years old. This gives these Pinot Noirs unusual concentration and longevity.

Macedon Ranges

The Macedon Ranges constitute a tiny wine region of just 215 hectares situated north of Melbourne with two key distinctions: it is Australia’s coolest mainland wine region, and its defining characteristic is altitude. Vineyards here are planted at 480–800 metres. Viticulture was pioneered in the late 1960s, again initially with Bordeaux varieties. Pinot Noir, however, has come out as the star of the region – which is little surprise when you consider the conditions that imbue these wines with peppery spice and red-fruited allure. Ben Kimmorley, winemaker at Curly Flat (pictured at the top of this page), which is planted at 540 metres above sea level, says that ‘Macedon Ranges Pinot Noir is marked by power of fruit without sacrifice to elegance or length, while allowing space for subtle earth and savoury notes with nuanced spice and floral fragrance.’

You can taste how marginal the climate is and those looking for particularly translucent Pinot Noirs will find much to love here. The long and cool growing season means that the grapes ripen past the heat peak of summer. ‘The thin skins of Pinot Noir are not subjected to harsh sun, leading to fragrance, unforced flavour and nuanced detail. Natural acidity is preserved while depth of flavour has true scope to blossom,’ Kimmorley adds. I wish more Macedon Ranges Pinot Noir made it out to the UK but with so little of it, and quite some demand, you must snap up what is available.

Mornington Peninsula

Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula is a Pinot paradise – and I choose this term deliberately. Two very different coastlines define this peninsula: the gentle, sandy beaches of Port Phillip Bay and the rugged, rocky surf of the Bass Strait. In between, there is pastoral farmland and undulating bush – it seems paradisical. In fact, the Peninsula is the favoured weekend getaway for well-heeled Melburnians: prime real estate, chichi hotels and exclusive golf courses leave you in little doubt. With 976 hectares of vineyard, the area is sizeable but viticulture does not dominate. Pastures, fields and bush take turns with vines that are tucked in sheltered sites. No vineyard on this beautiful peninsula is further than seven kilometres from the sea and the climate is thus cool but moderate without any real danger of frost. Within the peninsula, locals distinguish between ‘up the hill,’ meaning vines grown on the red volcanic soils at altitudes of up to 250 metres, and ‘down the hill,’ meaning vines grown on alluvial loams at lower elevations, even though there also are wines grown on volcanic soils at lower elevations. These differences are not easy to tell in the wines since they all brim with red-fruited charm but the volcanic wines from slightly higher elevations have a headier aromatic expression, often with spicy, floral and berry overtones. It is the moderation provided by the sea on either side that lends suppleness to the wines.

Southern Australia

Adelaide Hills

Pinot Noir represents barely a fifth of the grape crush resulting from the Adelaide Hills’ 3,957 hectares of vines but it is nevertheless the hotspot for Southern Australian Pinot Noir. It is the altitude afforded by the Mount Lofty Ranges that creates the right conditions, in places, for Pinot Noir that thrives at altitudes of up to 600 metres.

The region extends to the east of Adelaide and the local wine board dubbed it a ‘cool-climate jewel between warmer lower lying cousins,’ as the much warmer McLaren Vale borders in the south and Barossa and Eden Valley in the north. There are two subregions that make it onto Pinot Noir labels: the wetter and higher Piccadilly Hills and Lenswood. Ashton Hills Vineyard winemaker Liam van Pelt describes Piccadilly as the ‘highest, coolest, wettest subregion of the Adelaide Hills.’ While this creates very scented styles, he also notes that with age, distinct ‘mushroom broth and umami character’ shows through in the wines. Lenswood wines tend to be slightly more structured and sumptuous, helped by the day-night temperature difference.

Fleurieu Peninsula

It was Brian Croser who pioneered the 20^th-century renaissance of the Adelaide Hills region when he established his Petaluma Project here. But he pushed further and looked for what he calls an ‘even more distinguished’ site and in 2003, went south of Adelaide to plant his Foggy Hill vineyard at the highest point of the Fleurieu Peninsula, just eight kilometres from the Southern Ocean. This translates into only a small difference between night and day temperatures and the growing season is long and cool. The resulting wine is of exquisite nuance and potential. ‘After 54 vintages, I still wonder – and with no variety more than Pinot Noir,’ says Croser. I wonder, too, but in amazement.