2022 Derwent Estate Pinot Noir, Derwent Valley

From Tasmania’s southern reaches, this is a textured Pinot with appealing mouth weight. The aromas are a swirl of red and black fruit that become increasingly spicy and earthy with time in the glass. Bright and savoury, the palate follows the nose, with light meatiness to the medium-bodied fruit.

This would be a natural fit for a duck confit served with Puy lentils cooked with porcini, garlic and thyme. Oven-roasted Italianate pork and fennel sausages work really well, too, if you want to keep things simple.

More about this wine

This wine is made from fruit grown in southern Tasmania’s Derwent River Valley. The 28-year-old north facing site features six different clones of the Pinot Noir standing in well-draining loamy soils over limestone.

The hand-picked fruit was fermented in small batches using twenty small open-top fermenters. 15% of the grapes were kept as whole bunches, while most were de-stemmed. The majority of the must fermented with indigenous yeasts, but a smaller 15% portion was inoculated with a select yeast strain. The wine matured in French oak barrels of which a quarter were new and went through malolactic fermentation during spring. The wine was lightly filtered and sulphured prior to bottling.

About this producer

Derwent Estate was established in 1992 when Trevor and Pat Hanigan planted their first vines on their Granton property in Tasmania’s Derwent River Valley. Local farmers since 1913, their son Andrew Hanigan represents the fifth generation on the site and is today the viticulturist of the family business.

Winemaker John Schuts has made the wines since 2003, initially as an external contract winemaker and since 2013 in-house, soon thereafter becoming a co-owner in the business.

Fruit is sourced mainly from the original site, today spreading over 20 hectares. This is supplemented by fruit from an additional, more recently acquired Coal River site, and smaller amounts bought from other growers across Tasmania.