2022 Paringa Estate The Paringa Pinot Noir, Mornington Peninsula

Top of the Paringa Pinot tree and everything steps up a notch; structure, fruit concentration and tannins, adding to the wine’s overall ageing potential. Dusty beets, earth, dark chocolate, black cherry and cedary toasty oak light up the aroma. Solid, well-built and coiled, it does a slow reveal delivering layers of red and dark fruits, earth, dark roasted spices, savoury tapenade and roasting pan juices. Crushed herbs build on the middle palate and gain momentum closing with leafy green characters on the finish. Well positioned for a bright and long future. Drink to 2039.

95 points Jeni Port for Wine Pilot, August 2026

At this youthful stage, it’s all fragrant, with enticing aromas of florals, especially red roses, and wafts of blood orange, chinotto and dried herbs. The fuller-bodied palate takes in those characters but feels as though it’s still finding its way. Tannins are brusque, and this needs more time to flesh out and garner complexity. And it will. Drink to 2035.

93 pts Jane Faulkner for Halliday Wine Companion, June 2024

Paringa Estate The Paringa Pinot Noir from Mornington Peninsula is a benchmark Australian Pinot that embodies precision, power, and poise. It comes from the estate’s home block in Red Hill South, a steep, north-facing vineyard with rich volcanic soils that consistently produces some of the most finely structured and age-worthy Pinot Noir in the region. This is the flagship Pinot from Paringa Estate and a wine that regularly garners critical acclaim for its depth and site expression.

Established by Lindsay McCall in 1985, Paringa Estate has long been one of the Mornington Peninsula’s leading producers, with a reputation built on meticulous vineyard work and a commitment to showcasing the nuances of site and vintage. The Paringa vineyard is planted to closely spaced vines and carefully managed to produce low yields and highly concentrated fruit.

The winemaking is thoughtful and restrained. Grapes are hand harvested and destemmed, then fermented in small open vats with daily plunging. A portion of whole bunches is sometimes included depending on the vintage, to add aromatic complexity and fine tannin. After fermentation, the wine is matured in French oak barriques for about 18 months, with a portion of new oak to add subtle structure and spice.