2022 Crittenden Zumma Pinot Noir, Mornington Peninsula

This is a marvellous product of an ideal Mornington vintage. The perfumes of cherry and fresh berry are just delightful with a spicy violet-like fragrance. The palate is thoroughly beautiful, striking a balance between what appears to be super fine-grained oak, fine tannins and supple medium-bodied fruit. Has a silky satiny mouthfeel that tends to conceal the power and drive. Outstanding wine. Drink 2024 to 2034.

96 points Ray Jordan for Wine Pilot, November 2024

A lovely balance to wines off the low yielding ’22 vintage; it has to count for something. Zumma has a certain structure and detail, with the oak superbly integrated. It’s full of sweet cherries, blood orange, lots of baking spices and some cooling menthol with a whiff of damp autumn leaves. The more mid-weighted palate fleshes out with textural tannins and the acidity keeping everything lively. There’s a succulence, too. Drink 2024 to 2034.

95 points Jane Faulkner for Halliday Wine Companion, August 2024

Bright and deep-ish red-purple colour; the bouquet has spicy and forest-floor aromas, classy oak adding a smoky note, dark cherries and abundant fleshy tannins that add a note of firmness to the finish and aftertaste. A well-built pinot that has a certain future in the cellar, and the backbone to cope with hearty foods. Drink 2024 to 2037.

95 points Huon Hooke for The Real Review, January 2024

Matured in 15% new oak for 11 months and a further 15 months in bottle prior to release. The Zumma, usually a mix of clones, stands out for its underfoot aromas. Clay and terra cotta, red sand and pine mushroom notes, but that’s not before you get hit with rosehip, raspberry and macerated red cherries. There is a tea rose note that lifts the wine into heavenly heights. The palate is focused and tannins are powdery and fine. Acidity jogs along but isn’t shrill. It’s earthy and graceful too, just like a wood fairy might be. Always a very consistent wine for its description of place. Drink 2024 to 2028.

95 points Shanteh Wale for Wine Pilot, November 2024

Crittenden was established in Dromana in 1982 by Garry Crittenden — at a time when planting those first vines effectively doubled the total vineyard area on the Mornington Peninsula. His son Rollo returned home after years making wine abroad and now leads the winemaking, bringing a broader perspective to a place he knows intimately. The Dromana vineyard is farmed sustainably without synthetic inputs, with a focus on building natural resilience in the vines over time.

The name Zumma was a childhood nickname for Garry and Margaret Crittenden's daughter Zoe — affectionately known in the family as Zoe Zoe Zum Zum. It now sits on the label of a limited bottling from some of their oldest and most treasured vines.

The 2022 was a low-yielding vintage across the Mornington Peninsula but for many vineyards of very good quality. The fruit from the Crittenden vineyard was hand harvested, cold soaked for several days to build aromatics and colour, then mostly destemmed with a small portion of whole bunches retained through fermentation with wild yeast. Fifteen percent new French oak for 11 months, then 15 months in bottle before release.

The result is a wine with lifted and perfumed, with cherry, rosehip, raspberry and a violet-like fragrance on the nose alongside earthy, forest-floor notes of pine mushroom and damp autumn leaves. The palate is mid-weighted and silky with powdery, fine-grained tannins, baking spice and blood orange woven through, and a succulence that carries everything to a long, composed finish.

The wine's earthy perfume and silky tannins find a willing partner in anything that deserves a proper glass: coq au vin with good bread to mop up the sauce, a roasted duck breast with cherry and five spice or a wild mushroom and truffle risotto.

A wine with the balance and structure to develop further but drinking superbly now. Drink now through 2034.