2023 Crittenden Cri de Coeur Pinot Noir, Mornington Peninsula

Vibrant ruby and purple in the glass. Dark cherry, crushed dried herbs and biltong aromatics. Palate is weighty and dense, black cherry at its core with a melting pot of bunchy herbal notes and fine oak spices all singing their hearts out in harmony. Tannins are built for the task of controlling this intensity and do it well, bringing focus and longevity to the palate. Will undoubtedly offer even more with time in the cellar. Drink 2025 to 2040.

96 points Stuart Knox for The Real Review, January 2025

There’s always a bit more volume and depth to this wine – partly the amount of new oak implemented at 60%, and whole bunches in the fermentation, final amount not known, but even in the cool and wet vintage of ’23, this has come together well. Lots of roses, violets and herbaceous characters mingling with twigs and undergrowth, with cherries all spiced up. Puckering if refreshing acidity in the driver’s seat, although tannins riding shotgun add some much-needed definition and structure. Ideally, this needs another year or so in bottle to mellow out. Drink 2026 to 2036.

93 points Jane Faulkner for Halliday Wine Companion, May 2025

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 Cri de Coeur — Cry of the Heart — was established in 2012 as the expression of what Rollo Crittenden believed the Dromana vineyard was capable of at its best and made in tiny quantities.

The 2023 was a cooler vintage in on the Mornington Peninsula, with slow ripening preserving acidity and producing fruit of real elegance. Hand harvested from the home vineyard, fermented in open-top barrels with whole bunches ranging from 20% to 70% per fermenter, resulting in around 45% whole bunch in the final blend. Each batch pressed separately and racked to 60% new French oak barriques for 11 months, natural malolactic fermentation through winter. Bottled without fining or filtration and held for 18 months in bottle before release.

A deeply aromatic wine. Dark cherry, dried herbs, rose, violet and a brambly whole-bunch complexity on the nose with spice and a faint undergrowth edge. The palate is weighty and intense, black cherry at its core with fine oak spice and bunchy herbal notes in harmony, tannins built firmly enough to carry the wine well into the next decade.

The wine's intensity and spice reward something with genuine depth: a venison ragù with pappardelle and aged pecorino, or a slow-roasted lamb shoulder with dried herbs and anchovy butter.

Open well ahead of serving. A wine that is already compelling and will be more so with time. Drink 2026 through 2040.