2018 Dawson & James Pinot Noir, Derwent Valley

Best Tasmanian Pinot Noir

London International Wine Challenge 2021

“Subtle earthy red fruits on the nose with cherry, plum and subtle, savoury and velvety notes. Good fine tannins supporting elegant red fruit flavours. Elegant palate with good restraint, middle weight with good persistence.”

Bright clear crimson-purple; a very good pinot, the bouquet fragrant and complex, the palate joining in the mix of dark cherry and truffled plum fruits, spice and whole bunch tannins. The fruit has absorbed 40% new Taransaud oak without batting an eyelid but enjoying the ride through to the aftertaste.

97 points James Halliday The Weekend Australian 

 The 2018 Pinot Noir is evolving into a dusty autumnal space, with earth, coffee grinds, cocoa, field mushrooms and poached plums. The length of flavour through the lingering finish is monumental. This is the kind of wine that slinks across the palate, subtle and edging. Unassuming, almost. But the true weight and gravitas of it appears, as a dawning truth, through the long and unbroken finish. The wine needs a decant to free it from its savoury shackles. This is recommended if you seek to unearth the core of pure fruit that lies within the heart of this wine. Drink it anytime over the next decade, a conservative estimate.

95 points Erin Larkin robertparker.com