Description
Since its establishment by Stuart Reginald Hooper in 1974, Bannockburn Vineyards has been at the vanguard of the Australian fine wine story, producing vineyard specific wines of the highest quality from the start. It lies 25 kilometres northwest of Geelong, located in the Moorabool Valley sub-region, just outside the township of Bannockburn. The estate comprises 26 vineyard blocks – including the iconic Serré vineyard (now the site of Australia’s oldest close-planted Pinot Noir vines) – planted to seven grape varieties, of which Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc and Shiraz form the key quintet. Here, Bannockburn’s predominantly mature vines are rooted in one of Victorias’ most unique low-fertility terroirs; volcanic surface debris and ancient sea beds running to richer and darker soils, layered over predominantly limestone bedrock.
Following almost a decade under the steam train of energy and passion that was Michael Glover, Matt Holmes is the winemaker charged with writing the next chapter of this singular estate, taking over in 2015.
About this wine: Certified organic. Serré is Bannockburn’s most iconic and memorable Pinot Noir. The 1.2 hectares of densely planted (9,000 per hectare), low-yielding, own-rooted vines were planted exclusively to the MV6 clone in 1984 and 1986. It is likely Australia’s oldest plot of densely planted Pinot Noir—which goes some way to explaining the striking complexity and intense concentration found in this wine. The naturally low-yielding vines lie in the estate’s signature volcanic, basalt and limestone-rich soils with a north-south orientation. They give the estate’s most powerful, deeply flavoured and long-lived Pinot Noir.
As is usually the case for Matt Holmes’s Serré, the fruit was entirely destemmed before fermenting on skins for 10 days. The wine was pressed to hogsheads (33% new) and then left to mature on lees until February 2024. With head-spinning perfume and alluring savoury spice, Serré 2023 is an instant classic: a Pinot of symphonic precision, layers of fine detail and a finish akin to the rumbling clap of thunder.
95+ points, Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front “I had a sneaky glass of this the night before I was due to formally taste it, which might sound like a free ride for the wine but often turns out to be the opposite; when I’m on the hunt for a “likely contender” I often go through a handful of bottles before finding one that lives up to the expectation. This is no such wine; I was hooked from the first sip. This is autumnal and sinewy and savoury and spiced, but it’s also sleek, harmonious and settled. It just feels right. It bursts onto the palate with red cherries, rhubarb, tangerine and strawberry, with inlays of dried leaves, pepper and smoked cedarwood, but it’s the soft-firm of the finish, and the way it seems to both dry and expand at once, and the way the juices keep flowing and fanning, that really mark its quality. This will be released in August 2024. It’s a top release, and it will mature beautifully.”
RRP $117 *VERY LIMITED* Our Special Price $103.99
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