- Big Rivers Zone, NSW - $11-$18
- Screwcap
- 13.5%alc
Reliable performers among Australia's mass produced, sub-$15 pinot class are so thin on the ground you could count them on one hand. In fact, here we go; De Bortoli's Windy Peak and Trentham Estate's. If anyone has any suggestions for my remaining fingers I'd be very grateful.
Unsurprisingly Trentham's 2009 Pinot Noir smells ripe, with dark cherry and blackberry fruits graced by a meaty edge, but there's also a herbal, sappy and perhaps spicy note that is keenly varietal. The palate drinks fractionally warm and as a result is nothing if not straight forward by pinot noir standards, but that's it - it actually fits within pinot noir standards. Its warm climate fruit has imparted a body that's relatively medium-full for the variety, yet it's beautifully soft in its progression, unravelling true flavours of dark cherries, meats and light spice in the white pepper/cinnamon spectrum. As one should expect its refreshing, acid-based structure won't see this wine into the cellar, but there's definitely a backbone; it's clean in nature, devoid of harshness, with an ease of gentle accessibility that's bound to see streetwise quaffers aching for more.
ü+ A wonderful summertime quaffing red. Smooth, soft, silky and varietal; I continue to be amazed by what Trentham Estate can achieve with a $13, warm climate pinot. Drink now.
89 points
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