2019 Domaine A Pinot Noir, Coal River Valley

There's a little more space and detail to the '19 release. Tangy black and red cherry fruits with some wild strawberry and raspberry pip at the edges. Hints of exotic spice, crushed mountain herbs, meadow flowers, undergrowth, crushed rocks, pomegranate and earth. It's savoury and shows fine, silty tannins with a bright cherry-skin acidity and some nice layered complexity on the finish. I tried this under screw cap, but half the production will be released under cork. Drink to 2038.

93+ points Dave Brookes for Halliday Wine Companion, August 2026

The Domaine A Pinot Noir will always be shaped by the late ripening clones of the variety planted in the dryest high corner of the vineyard, but slight tweaks in the vineyard and winery alike have brought more vibrancy and balance to the palate without sacrificing fruit concentration.

More about this wine

This wine is from the very warm 2019 season, with grapes harvested from vines planted in 1992. The grapes were allowed a four-day cold soak ahead of ferments that started with a mix of indigenous and selected yeasts and included a mixture of crushed and whole berries in open stainless-steel vats. 15% of the final blend underwent carbonic maceration. The components were matured for 24 months in French oak barrels of which 16% were new.

Our stock has been closed with a natural cork.

About this producer

Domaine A was established by Denis Hill in the late 1970s and remains one of the island’s benchmark estates, now under the guidance of winemaker Conor van der Reest. The vineyard features thin layers of black clay over weathered dolerite and sandstone.