Since the first black cluster vines were available for purchase from Tasmania in 1827, Tasmania has been recognised as a producer of quality Pinot Noir. It was the sloping hills overlooking Bass Strait that made the site unique and inspired the Hill-Smith family to purchase the vineyard, along with distinct single sites around Tasmania in their pursuit to produce the perfect single site Pinot.

As views go, the Swansea vineyard has a cracker. The 21-year-old vines look out over Great Oyster Bay on Tasmania’s east coast. It’s a spot that suits them. The result is a veritable rich Christmas cake of flavours; all concentrated spice and lashings of nice. Slightly lower acidity delivers a Pinot Noir that’s like a gentle, comforting hug. It’s rich, ripe, plush and rewarding to drink as a young wine.

A savoury restraint is first noticed with the youthfulness of the wine. This lifts with a swirl in the glass to show aromas of violets, dried fruit spice and redcurrants. Earthy notes complex with these characters and grow with the hours since the wine was opened. The palate shows the pedigree of the site with a richness of ripe, fleshy cherries coupled with fine, red fruit acidity, giving depth and length from this east coast site.

The Swansea vineyard was planted over 15 years ago with Pinot Noir clone 115. All work is done by hand, from cane pruning through to shoot, leaf and bunch thinning and finally hand-harvesting. The vines have been planted onto a gentle slope of basalt soil that faces towards the north, capturing the maximum amount of sun during the growing season. The vineyard could not be closer to the Great Oyster Bay or it would be underwater at high tide. Warm days and long summer nights means early ripening and richer Pinot Noir.

A noticeably cooler, slightly wetter growing season as the weather pattern turned to La Niña, an easterly flow that typically brings moisture from the north east. Flowering was affected by this weather with reduced crop and smaller berries. This was fortunate as the smaller crop coupled with the cooler season allowed the grapes to reach maturity in early April.

The fruit was hand-picked with 30% of bunches placed into small open top fermenters, the balance added after being destemmed. Fermentation commenced after two days and concluded five days later with three gentle plungings per day. The wine was pressed before being racked to French oak barriques (32% new), and underwent malolactic fermentation during its 10 months in barrel.

The Swansea Pinot Noir will continue to develop savoury note complexities with careful cellaring over 5 - 8 years.

Perfect with thick porterhouse steaks with homemade oven-baked chips, fresh garden salad and French mustard or Roma tomato risotto with paprika and saffron.