Home > Wines We Love > 2024 Utzinger Estate Pinot Noir

From a five-hectare, organically farmed vineyard on Tasmania’s Tamar Valley that’s racked up a stunning number of trophies in the last three years of awards from Young Gun of Wine — the Danger Zone, the Winemaker’s Choice, the New Vineyard of the Year, and finally Young Gun of Wine itself — this is pinot noir with red fruit, spice and real conviction. This is a stunning project to know.

Producer
Utzinger
Region

Tasmania
RRP

$60
Vintage

2024
Variety/Varieties

Pinot noir
Alc./Vol.

13.8%

Raspberries, cherries and a little wild strawberry, with a savoury dash of herbs running through the middle. Light on its feet but packed with flavour, and it lingers far longer than you’d expect from something this pretty.

Lauren and Matthias Utzinger met while travelling through Armenia, Georgia and Iran, and eventually settled on a steep, north-east-facing slope above Kanamaluka/the Tamar River in Tasmania — Lauren’s home state. Matthias brought a winemaking career built across Switzerland, Provence and the southern Rhône; together they planted their five-hectare site in 2018 to his own specifications, at a high density of 6,500 vines per hectare, certified organic from the outset, with 20 per cent of the land set aside for revegetation and biodiversity.

The rise has been rapid and, frankly, remarkable. Utzinger took out both the Danger Zone and Winemaker’s Choice trophies at the 2024 YGOW Awards, followed by New Vineyard of the Year in 2025, before claiming the major Young Gun of Wine title at the 20th Annual Awards in 2026 — four wins in three years for a project barely out of its infancy. Alongside pinot noir, the Utzingers make chardonnay, syrah and a fumé-style sauvignon blanc, with Swiss varieties, a blanc de blancs and a terracotta-aged gewürztraminer all quietly in the pipeline. Their guiding belief, repeated often and clearly meant: wine is grown, not made.

Tasting note

Raspberry, black cherry, wild strawberry and plum lead the way, with a savoury whisper of forest floor and warming anise threading underneath. It’s a wonderfully perfumed, elegant wine, with just enough new French oak in the mix to lend a soft dusting of vanilla and clove without ever crowding out the fruit. The palate is light in frame but dense in flavour — fresh raspberry and blackberry laced with oregano and a touch of rosemary, the kind of herbal lift that comes from a carefully judged portion of whole-bunch fermentation, working beautifully in this cool-climate style. Tannins are lithe and supple, another quiet nod to considered winemaking, leaving you with a generous mouthful of red fruit and restrained spice that lingers long after the glass is empty.

When to drink

You could enjoy this with a mild massaman duck curry. Or even, cheese, for dinner. It’s a thing. Especially on a Friday when you’re late home from work and cooking’s utterly out of the question. Cue some washed rind, lavosh and something a bit spesh to usher in the weekend. Like this.

Themes of this wine

Pinot Noir

Pinot noir is famously fickle in the vineyard and endlessly compelling in the glass — a thin-skinned, early-ripening variety that demands cool conditions and rewards patience with wines of perfume, savoury complexity and remarkable transparency to site. Its spiritual home is Burgundy, but cool pockets around the world, from Central Otago to the Mornington Peninsula and Tasmania, have carved out their own distinct expressions, each shaped by the particular climate and soil the grape happens to land on.

Tamar Valley

Tasmania Tasmania’s Tamar Valley runs north from Launceston along the river that gives it its name, benefiting from a cool, maritime climate that keeps ripening slow and steady. It has become one of the country’s most exciting cool-climate regions, prized particularly for sparkling wine, pinot noir and chardonnay, with a growing number of young, ambitious producers drawn to its combination of climate, relatively affordable land and a strong sense of frontier possibility.

Whole-bunch fermentation

Rather than removing every grape from its stem before fermentation, some winemakers choose to include a portion of whole bunches — stems and all — in the ferment. Handled well, this technique can lend a wine savoury, herbal and spicy characters, along with a textural lift to the tannins, adding a layer of complexity beyond straightforward fruit. Used with restraint, as it is here, it’s less about flavour dominance and more about adding an extra dimension that keeps a wine interesting glass after glass.

Explore Further

Winemaker Profile

Matthias & Lauren Utzinger

Matthias and Lauren Utzinger are the Swiss-Tasmanian partnership behind one of the Tamar Valley’s most purposeful young estates. Matthias brings a European winemaking formation that spans Switzerland, Provence and the southern Rhône; Lauren brings a childhood steeped in northern Tasmania. Together they planted their five-hectare estate in Legana from scratch in 2018, certified organic, at a density of 6,500 vines per hectare – a figure that says everything about how seriously they take the vineyard as the foundation of the wine. The range spans pinot noir, chardonnay, syrah, riesling and a fumé sauvignon blanc across two tiers – the White Label and the Black Label estate range – with a growing experimental program of Swiss varieties imported by Matthias himself. Their ‘Roter Satz’ field blend won the Danger Zone trophy at the 2024 Young Gun of Wine Awards, with Winemaker’s Choice following in the same ceremony – only the third time in the competition’s history a winemaker has won two trophies at the same awards.

Vineyard Profile

Utzinger Vineyard, Tamar Valley, Tasmania

Nestled in Tasmania’s Tamar Valley, the Utzinger Vineyard spans 5 hectares under the care of Matthias Utzinger, planted in 2018 on virgin brown dermosols rich with ironstone gravel. This north-easterly slope, cooled by winds off kanamaluka/the Tamar River, offers a prolonged ripening season that shapes its pinot noir, chardonnay, sauvignon blanc, and syrah. Certified organic since its inception, the vineyard employs high-density planting at 6,500 vines per hectare, with 20% of the land dedicated to revegetation for biodiversity. Matthias crafts the wines from this site himself. This young vineyard, blending Utzinger’s Swiss heritage with Tasmanian terroir, shows how small-scale, intentional viticulture can make an immediate impact.

Awards

20th Annual Young Gun of Wine Awards Winners

Twenty years of championing young Australian winemakers. Six trophies. One unforgettable night. Meet the makers who took home the silverware at the 2026 Young Gun of Wine Awards.

Awards

Fifth Annual Vineyard of the Year Awards Winners

The Vineyard of the Year Awards in 2019 in order to place vineyards and griowers across the nation at the heart of the Australian wine story – and at the heart of the Australian wine community. We wanted to reconnect the whole idea of wine to the place it comes from and the manner in which the grapes are grown. Five years on, and the mission of the Vineyard of the Year Awards remains the same. Read on to discover the New Vineyard of the Year; Old Vineyard of the Year; Innovative Vineyard of the Year, dubbed ‘The Groundbreaker’; and Vineyard of the Year.

Awards

18th Annual Young Gun of Wine Awards Winners

For the first time in the 18 year history of the Young Gun of Wine Awards, the top trophy has gone to a Tasmanian winemaker. Indeed, three of the six trophies went to Tasmania.

Region Guide

Tasmania

In Australia, Tasmania is the only wine region that is also an entire state, one rather vast region, and, naturally, only a fraction of it is under vine. In truth, Tasmania can be more helpfully divided into its seven unofficial subregions, with three in the north around and either side of Launceston, the fourth stretching down the length of the east coast, and with the last three clustered around the southern centres of Richmond, Hobart and Cygnet. For the visitor, Hobart and Launceston are ideal launching points to explore most Tasmanian wine regions, and with over 160 wine producers and many cellar doors, there’s a lot to discover.

Home > Wines We Love > 2022 Bellbrae Estate ‘Bird Rock’ Pinot Noir

If you want to understand what wine-lovers mean when they talk of ‘terroir’, look no further than this wine, which has a mineral structure and searing elegance that demonstrates its origin on hard limestone soils close to the Southern Ocean.

Producer
Bellbrae Estate
Region

Geelong
RRP

$55
Vintage

2022
Variety/Varieties

Pinot noir
Alc./Vol.

13.5%

Wine types love pinot noir for its ability to ‘transmit terroir’ – in other words, to taste like where it’s grown – and this wine gives a masterclass in this phenomenon. Bellbrae Estate sits close to the Southern Ocean on hard limestone bedrock, and there’s a strict minerality in this wine that gives it a structure and tension reminiscent of some of the villages of France’s hallowed Burgundy region (the spiritual home of pinot noir).

Tasting note

There’s an appealing dynamic between depth and freshness evident in the nose of this wine – bright, just-barely-ripe raspberries mingle with fleshy black cherries, delicate violet notes waft over green tobacco, warm baking spices rub shoulders with graphite. It’s fruity and sensuous, while at the same time vegetal and lean. On the palate, that tug-of-war continues – it shows ripe fruit flavours, silky-soft tannins and a slightly denser weight than many Australian pinots, but the bright acidity lifts the wine, and a strong mineral backbone frames it on the palate. The finish is long and high-toned – the wine seems to lift off the palate and disappear into the stratosphere, leaving behind a wake of sparkling fresh acidity and delicate pops of limestone minerality. It’s the kind of wine that strikes a fine balance not only between its different component parts, but also between drinkability and intellectual stimulation – a wine you could share with anyone from a friend who has no interest in wine to the most nerdy cork dork.

Themes of this wine

Pinot noir

Pinot noir is one of the wine world’s most revered grapes. Notoriously fickle to grown and make, it makes what many see as the pinnacle of red wine in France’s Burgundy, but it’s also found many happy homes around the world, and none more so than in Australia across our cooler viticultural regions.

Minerality

Found in minute quantities, some non-organic salts are dissolved in wine and can play a significant part in its flavour. While there is some debate about whether or not the presence of these mineral salts in wine comes directly from the soil the grapes were grown in – no proposed mechanism has been scientifically proven to transmit these molecules from soil to grape as yet – it’s hard to deny that the same grape variety will taste dramatically different when grown on different types of soil.

Geelong

On the surface, it’s easy to compare the Geelong wine region with the Mornington Peninsula. Its Bellarine Peninsula embraces Port Phillip Bay in tandem with the Mornington Peninsula, and two of the regional heroes are chardonnay and pinot noir, but the two are remarkably dissimilar, with Geelong sprawling both along the coast and bay, as well as inland, unlike water-flanked Mornington. While Mornington catches the light with a good dose of glamour, Geelong has a quieter resolve and greater subregional diversity, with lighter soils making fragrant wines as well as volcanic sites producing those with dark fruit profiles and rugged minerality.

Home > Wines We Love > 2023 North by Etienne Mangier ‘Crémant Rosé’

A seriously sophisticated sparkling rosé that joins the ranks of top-notch Australian pink bubbles looking to challenge preconceptions about the category.

Producer
North Wine
Region

Macedon Ranges
RRP

$58
Vintage

2023
Variety/Varieties

Chardonnay Pinot noir
Alc./Vol.

11.5%

Sparkling rosé may look like a merely festive drink – what says ‘frivolous’ more obviously than pink bubbles? – but don’t let its hue or its fizziness fool you. There are many Australian producers who are dead-serious about producing seriously-good pink sparkling wines – and their rank includes Etienne Mangier, whose ‘Crémant Rosé’ showcases an oxidative, savoury style of bubbles that feels more at home in a hatted restaurant than it does poolside.

Tasting note

There’s an immediate and appealing savoury leesiness to the nose of this wine – something akin to a slice of toasted brioche lathered in butter and Vegemite. A panoply of red fruits – tart cranberry, pomegranate, sour morello cherries, and fresh, zippy raspberries – hides discreetly behind that initial savouriness, waiting patiently in the wings to bring some hedonism to the proceedings. The wine is driven down the palate by its brisk acidity, finishing with a note of bruised Granny Smith apple reminiscent of high-quality Loire chenin blanc or fresh, tangy manzanilla sherry. There’s a gentle whisper of phenolic bitterness on the finish, offering an intimation of a seriously impressive structure waiting to be discovered with each further sip. This is a wine that offers a heady, voluptuous mix of hedonism and intellectualism – like a sexy college professor on silk sheets.

Themes of this wine

Sparkling wine

There are many different ways to make sparkling wine. The most famous is the method widely associated with Champagne, where still wine is refermented in bottle with added sugar and yeast to create bubbles, then matured on the lees to create layers of flavour and textural detail. But pétillant naturel (pét-nat) or méthode ancestrale is an even older approach, with the primary ferment finishing in bottle to create the bubbles, with the result usually simpler and brighter, with less leesy complexity. Then there are more modern methods, like Charmat, where the fizz-producing ferment occurs in tank, then the wine is bottled cold to retain the bubbles, and the result is, well, bubbly wine, without any bottle-conditioned character.

Chardonnay

With an explosion of interest over the last few decades, chardonnay is now the world’s most planted white grape. With its ability to grow in varied conditions and make everything from sparkling wine, to lean and mineral whites, to full-bodied textural expressions, it is perhaps no surprise to see Burgundy’s key white grape become so dominant.

Pinot noir

Pinot noir is one of the wine world’s most revered grapes. Notoriously fickle to grow and make, it makes what many see as the pinnacle of red wine in France’s Burgundy, but it has also found many happy homes around the world, and none more so than in Australia across our cooler viticultural regions.

Macedon Ranges

Melbourne is well served with top wine regions, with the Yarra, Mornington, Geelong and Macedon all about an hour from the city. All are cool climate, but Macedon takes the prize for being the coolest, with some touting it as the best territory for chardonnay and pinot noir in the country. Evidence of that potential, aside from some glittering exceptions, haven’t exactly been crowding wine store shelves over the years, but much has changed, and there’s a dynamic community ensuring that potential is being tapped in exciting ways.

Home > Wines We Love > 2023 Apogee ‘Alto’ Pinot Noir

Tasmanian wine industry legend Andrew Pirie flexes his muscles with this impressive pinot noir. Bright and supple, with a surprising amount of ripe fruit on the palate, this wine shows the potential of Burgundian savoir-faire applied to Tasmanian terroir.

Producer
Apogee
Region

Tasmania
RRP

$75
Vintage

2023
Variety/Varieties

Pinot noir
Alc./Vol.

14%

Andrew Pirie, a pioneering figure in Tasmanian viticulture, founded Apogee in the hills of Pipers River in 2007, guided by his long-held belief that Tasmania could rival Northern France’s cool climate wine regions. In 2008, Pirie planted his small, two-hectare vineyard near the Lebrina township, calling it a “grand cru sparkling site.” Precision viticulture underpins his methods, incorporating climate and soil water monitoring to fine-tune irrigation and ensure the vineyard’s terroir is reflected in every bottle. Apogee focuses on chardonnay, pinot noir, and pinot meunier, producing traditional method sparkling wines alongside limited still wines: ‘Alto’ Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir.

Tasting note

‘Alto’ effortlessly juxtaposes bright acidity with fruit ripeness – a trademark of Tasmanian pinot in general, where long hang times build flavour while cool nights keep things fresh. There’s an impressive complexity of cherry fruit character here – a mélange of flavours from bright fresh Bing to syrupy-sour Morello and intoxicating kirschwasser. There’s a little nutmeg and kola nut on the finish from the ageing in French oak barrique, and subtle phenolic bitterness that lingers pleasantly in the finish. An unusually large proportion of Burgundian pinot clone 777, sourced from Morey-St-Denis, speaks to Pirie’s influences here: this is Tasmanian terroir with a French accent. Un autre, s’il vous plaît!

Themes of this wine

Pinot Noir

Pinot noir is one of the wine world’s most revered grapes. Notoriously fickle to grown and make, it makes what many see as the pinnacle of red wine in France’s Burgundy, but it’s also found many happy homes around the world, and none more so than in Australia across our cooler viticultural regions.

Tasmania

Tasmania is the only state that is also a wine region, one rather vast region, and, naturally, only a fraction of it is under vine. In truth, Tasmania can be more helpfully divided into its seven subregions, with three in the north around and either side of Launceston, the fourth stretching down the length of the east coast, and with the last three clustered around the southern centres of Richmond, Hobart and Cygnet. Tasmania’s wine industry may have been founded on Bordeaux varieties, but it has been the grapes of Burgundy that have emerged triumphant, and by quite a margin. Towering over all is pinot noir, with chardonnay easily the next most planted variety, with it comfortably filling more sparkling bottles than pinot noir does. Aromatic white grapes complete the general picture, with riesling, sauvignon blanc and pinot gris all well represented.

Clones

As if there aren’t enough grape varieties in the world, clones only complicate things further. You might hear people talking about 777, 114, 115 or MV6, which are all clones of pinot noir. In fact, there are over 1000 known clones of pinot noir, which is dizzying to think about. Pinot noir mutates easily, so some of the plants that show a particularly useful trait are isolated and cultivated, thus making a clone. Nurseries propagate these clones and they are sold to suit certain climates and conditions, or to give certain flavours.

Home > Wines We Love > 2022 Moonlit Forest ‘Spring’

Flush with spice, orange peel and wild forest berries, there’s a suppleness here and texture that welcomes a chill.

Producer
Region

Mornington Peninsula
RRP

$55
Vintage

2022
Variety/Varieties

Pinot gris/grigio Pinot noir
Alc./Vol.

12.5%

Pinot gris is a mutation of pinot noir, so no surprise there is a natural kinship when combined, with Jayden Ong celebrating the point where they meet. Flush with spice, orange peel and wild forest berries, there’s a suppleness and texture that welcomes a chill.

Tasting note

A blend of related grapes, one red (pinot noir) and the other somewhere in between (pinot gris), this is a bright expression but one that is also savoury. Twiggy, spicy notes, a little Campari, cherry, wild berries, autumnal leafy characters and cinnamon all appear, with a suppleness to the palate that suggest this could take a chill, but not a long home-fridge four-degree takedown, rather just enough to enliven and soften.

Themes of this wine

Pinot noir

Pinot noir is one of the wine world’s most revered grapes. Notoriously fickle to grow and make, it makes what many see as the pinnacle of red wine in France’s Burgundy, but it’s also found many happy homes around the world, and none more so than in Australia across our cooler viticultural regions.

Pinot gris/grigio

Whether you call it pinot gris or pinot grigio, the variety has become an international star, pushing even sauvignon blanc out of the spotlight for those wanting a crisp, quaffable white without all the overt fruitiness. But the grape is much more versatile than that, making wines that can be dry and mineral or richly sweet and spicy, as well as skin-contact examples that are grippy and fragrant with red fruits and spices.

Mornington Peninsula

The Mornington Peninsula wine region is somewhat of a latecomer, with ongoing commercial production not taking hold until the 1980s. But it has blossomed somewhat since then. Now boasting over 200 vineyards, with 60-odd wineries and over 50 cellar doors, the Mornington Peninsula specialises in chardonnay and pinot noir, while also staking a claim to some of the country’s best pinot gris.

Home > Wines We Love > 2022 Ben Haines ‘Red’

A melange of fruit from the Pyrenees, Grampians and Yarra Valley – spicy, crunchy and vibrant, this is a pitch perfect lighter red with savouriness and freshness in equal measure.

Producer
Ben Haines
Region

Victoria
RRP

$32
Vintage
Variety/Varieties

Cabernet sauvignon Pinot noir Shiraz (Syrah) Touriga nacional
Alc./Vol.

11.8%

Ben Haines may have moved to the Adelaide Hills, but his affinity for mediumweight Victorian shiraz-based wines lives on, with this a melange of fruit from the Pyrenees, Grampians and Yarra Valley – Haines’ happy hunting grounds. Spicy, crunchy and vibrant, this is a pitch perfect lighter red with savouriness and freshness in equal measure.

Tasting note

This is from varieties that aren’t declared on the label, but nosing it, shiraz clearly plays a big role (75%, in fact), and it’s supported by some touriga nacional and pinot noir (10% each), along with a dash of cabernet sauvignon (5%). Fruit is sourced from the Pyrenees, Grampians and Yarra Valley. Striking out at a lowish alcohol, this doesn’t lack for savoury, earthy character and flavour. It’s a midweight red built for everyday drinking and to be versatile with food, but it’s a long way from the juicy, confected reds that often occupy that roster, with ample tannin, dried herb notes and spicy intrigue.

Themes of this wine

Syrah/shiraz

Shiraz dominates the Australian wine industry, accounting for nearly a third of this country’s vines. The grape’s traditional home is in France’s Northern Rhône, with wines that combine elegance and power, while Australia is perhaps best known for the muscular styles from warmer areas. Today, drinkers of Australian shiraz are spoilt for choice with expressions ranging from the elegant and spicy to the monumental.

Pinot Noir

Pinot noir is one of the wine world’s most revered grapes. Notoriously fickle to grow and make, it makes what many see as the pinnacle of red wine in France’s Burgundy, but it’s also found many happy homes around the world, and none more so than in Australia across our cooler viticultural regions.

Touriga Nacional

Touriga nacional is best known as a Port variety, but it can play a compelling role in table wines, too. Although the grape has been planted in this country for a long time, it typically slipped into blends – mostly fortified –unacknowledged. With intense fruit in a blueberry and dark berry spectrum, touriga nacional typically also shows a lifted fragrance of violets in a wine’s youth, and it can have both leathery and minty notes. Tannins are a big feature of the variety, so expect a drying and grippy palate on most wines.

Cabernet Sauvignon

The world’s most prolific wine grape, cabernet sauvignon has been planted in Australia since the first days of viticulture here. Today, its prime homes are arguably Margaret River and Coonawarra, but the Yarra Valley and even the Hunter Valley mount very convincing cases, too. Cassis or blackcurrant is one of cabernet sauvignon’s prime flavour profiles, though blackberry, mulberry and plum also feature. Notes of mint and capsicum (pyrazines) generally appear when less ripe, with a leafy varietal character persisting in most riper versions.

Yarra Valley

The Yarra Valley, about 50 km north-east of Melbourne, is one of Australia’s premier wine regions, and one of the country’s coldest viticultural zones. The regional champions are chardonnay and pinot noir, with cabernet and shiraz in more than able support. Aside from the vinous pedigree, the Yarra is also one of the best serviced wine regions for visitors, with a wealth of cellar doors and restaurants, and ample accommodation across the price spectrum.

The Grampians & Pyrenees

The Grampians and Pyrenees are nestled in the Western Victoria viticultural zone, an umbrella classification that stretches across to the South Australian border. And while the area is vast, there are around half as many vines in the whole zone than there are in the Yarra Valley. The Grampians and the Pyrenees share a bit in common, with the elevation of their attendant mountain ranges contributing to their subregional character, as well as a specialisation in red wines, with shiraz taking the lead. Being further inland to the north-east, the Pyrenees is more continental in climate with warm days and cold nights, while the Grampians feel the influence of the Southern Ocean, with sea breezes doing the cooling at night.

Home > Wines We Love > 2021 Giant Steps ‘Fatal Shore’ Pinot Noir

Giant Steps may be a Yarra Valley icon, but here it spreads its wings into the hallowed pinot noir territory of Tasmania, with an expression full of ripe wild berries and violets dusted with baking spices that front a palate of silky plushness and sneakily assertive tannins.

Producer
Giant Steps
Region

Tasmania
RRP

$80
Vintage

2021
Variety/Varieties

Pinot noir
Alc./Vol.

13.5%

Giant Steps may be a Yarra Valley icon, but it’s also been known to spread its wings before. This particular foray is into the hallowed pinot noir territory of Tasmania, with an expression from the Coal River Valley that is redolent with ripe wild berries and violets dusted with baking spices that front a palate of silky plushness and sneakily assertive tannins.

Tasting note

From the Coal River Valley in Tasmania’s south, this is Giant Steps’ incursion into new Pinot territory, for them at least. The Nocton Vineyard was planted in 1999, and while it is decidedly cool climate territory, the abundant sunshine always allows for a full fruit expression, which is what is on display here with both red and black fruits, violets, brown cardamom, vanilla and five spice. The palate is equally expressive, with an almost lush feel, silky and supple but corralled by fine but assertively focused tannins, with pithy plum skin grip. This is an interesting contrast to their Yarra offerings, which lean more on red fruits and finer profiles.

Themes of this wine

Pinot noir

Pinot noir is one of the wine world’s most revered grapes. Notoriously fickle to grow and make, it makes what many see as the pinnacle of red wine in France’s Burgundy, but it’s also found many happy homes around the world, and none more so than in Australia across our cooler viticultural regions.

Tasmania

Tasmania is the only state that is also a wine region, one rather vast region, and, naturally, only a fraction of it is under vine. In truth, Tasmania can be more helpfully divided into its seven subregions, with three in the north around and either side of Launceston, the fourth stretching down the length of the east coast, and with the last three clustered around the southern centres of Richmond, Hobart and Cygnet. Tasmania’s wine industry may have been founded on Bordeaux varieties, but it has been the grapes of Burgundy that have emerged triumphant, and by quite a margin. Towering over all is pinot noir, with chardonnay easily the next most planted variety, with it comfortably filling more sparkling bottles than pinot noir does. Aromatic white grapes complete the general picture, with riesling, sauvignon blanc and pinot gris all well represented.

Home > Wines We Love > 2021 Entropy Wines ‘Willow Grove’ Pinot Noir

Vigneron Ryan Ponsford has made a big impact in short time. This pinot is a savoury splay of wild fruits dusted with spice and herbal notes, grapey tannins providing natural support.

Producer
Entropy
Region

Gippsland
RRP

$59
Vintage

2021
Variety/Varieties

Pinot noir
Alc./Vol.

13%

Turning in a successful career as an artist to express time and place through the medium of wine, Ryan Ponsford has made a big impact in short time. This is an uncluttered expression of pinot noir, with winemaking taking a backseat to the savoury splay of wild fruits dusted with spice and herbal notes, grapey tannins providing natural support.

Tasting note

An elegant and composed pinot, this is layered with subtle flavour, a melange of red cherries, plum skin and sour berries struck in a savoury vein, accented with spice and herbal notes, a brush of bracken lifted with white pepper, cassia and clove. This is bright and vibrant on the palate, with zippy acidity and coolly cut tannins, a chewy, grapey grip closing out. Fresh, savoury and complex.

Themes of this wine

Gippsland

A vast region, Gippsland stretches from Westernport Bay right across eastern Victoria to the New South Wales border. And although many of the wineries are on the western end of the GI, with a concentration in the unofficial subzone of South Gippsland, the region still has a vast array of macroclimates and geological variations. Even with that variability, it’s safe to say that pinot noir and chardonnay are the regional strengths, with generally cool conditions and good rainfall consistent themes.

Pinot noir

Pinot noir is one of the wine world’s most revered grapes. Notoriously fickle to grow and make, it makes what many see as the pinnacle of red wine in France’s Burgundy, but it’s also found many happy homes around the world, and none more so than in Australia across our cooler viticultural regions.

2024 Utzinger Estate Pinot Noir Tasmania

Raspberries, cherries and a little wild strawberry, with a savoury dash of herbs running through the middle. Light on its feet but packed with flavour, and it lingers far longer than you’d expect from something this pretty.

Tasting note

When to drink

Themes of this wine

Pinot Noir

Tamar Valley

Whole-bunch fermentation

Explore Further

Winemaker Profile

Matthias & Lauren Utzinger

Vineyard Profile

Utzinger Vineyard, Tamar Valley, Tasmania

Awards

20th Annual Young Gun of Wine Awards Winners

Awards

Fifth Annual Vineyard of the Year Awards Winners

Awards

18th Annual Young Gun of Wine Awards Winners

Region Guide

Tasmania

Tasting note

Themes of this wine

Pinot noir

Minerality

Geelong

Tasting note

Themes of this wine

Sparkling wine

Chardonnay

Pinot noir

Macedon Ranges

Tasting note

Themes of this wine

Pinot Noir

Tasmania

Clones

Pinot gris is a mutation of pinot noir, so no surprise there is a natural kinship when combined, with Jayden Ong celebrating the point where they meet. Flush with spice, orange peel and wild forest berries, there’s a suppleness and texture that welcomes a chill.

Tasting note

Themes of this wine

Pinot noir

Pinot gris/grigio

Mornington Peninsula

Tasting note

Themes of this wine

Syrah/shiraz

Pinot Noir

Touriga Nacional

Cabernet Sauvignon

Yarra Valley

The Grampians & Pyrenees

Tasting note

Themes of this wine

Pinot noir

Tasmania

Tasting note

Themes of this wine

Gippsland

Pinot noir

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