2023 Holm Oak The Wizard Pinot Noir, Tamar Valley

It's alluring and captivating on the nose with sweet berry, smoked meat, bouquet garni, porcini, and roasted nut aromas. The palate displays excellent concentration and plush texture, wonderfully structured by finely infused tannins, making it multi-layered with an abundance of satisfying flavours. 

96 points Sam Kim for Wine Orbit, December 2025

This is a light-bodied but intensely expressed wine of great character and poise. It has a velvety smooth, satiny gloss on the palate with deep fruit intensity. The colour is a slightly pale brick red and the aromas deliver a subtle sour cherry and sweet strawberry character. The palate reveals another dimension with its power and driving intensity, albeit on that lighter-bodied structure. This is a classically defined Pinot that will continue to evolve with further ageing. It’s such an elegant and poised wine with impeccable balance that presents the fruit in an almost pristine manner. Drink to 2037.

96 points Ray Jordan for Wine Pilot, September 2025

Complex and layered with characters of spiced dark cherry, raspberry and red plum, hints of leaf litter, souk-like spice, mountain herbs, dried citrus blossom, pan juices, kombu and rhubarb. Lithe and detailed on the palate, flavours dancing, light shining off different facets, tannins silty and fine, and saline acidity providing drive and sapidity. It's really pretty drinking! Drink to 2042.

95 points Dave Brookes for Halliday Wine Companion, February 2026

A wine I always look forward to tasting, this vintage opens with some toasted maple bark, red morello cherries and lingonberries. Some iron and rusty soils then surprisingly morphs into some plush blue fruits and Acai. Acidity drives the palate with red fruit holding shape alongside, it’s crunchy and bursting with pomegranate and terra cotta earth tannins. This is a wonderful example of the unique style form Holm Oak, balancing aromatics, spice with sinewy texture and long lasting flavour. Open a bottle and drink a glass or two with the crispy fried edges of a confit duck, as you plate up dinner.

95 points Shanteh Wale for Wine Pilot, January 2026

From the cooler 2023 vintage, a range of clones were used to increase the complexity. 30% whole bunches are included in the fermentation and maturation was in French oak barriques for a year, with the final wine a barrel selection. A pale garnet hue, this is a savoury style of Pinot with notes of animal fur, truffles and leaf litter, alongside red fruits, freshly turned warm earth and root vegetables. Beautifully structured, this has a seductive texture and excellent length, while remaining focused throughout. There are silky tannins on the finish which lingers beautifully. Enjoy this for the next ten to twelve years and expect the score to rise over that time. Drink to 2037.

94 points Ken Gargett for Wine Pilot, October 2025

The journey for a Wizard vintage starts at pruning time the previous year and ends with barrel selection tastings to ensure only the best barrels for what Bec is aiming for are selected for the wine in front of you.

The fruit for is always grown by the Duffys, and the final 2023 blend is built on clones MV6 and D4V2, while 115 and 777 add plushness, aromatics and elegance, and included for the first time for the 2023, Abel contributes its specific lifted aromatics and velvety texture. The ferments in open-top vats included 30% whole bunches, were allowed to start naturally with indigenous yeasts and were then hand plunged up to five times a day.

The wine was then pressed and racked to barrel the following day for a 12month maturation in French oak barriques.

About this producer

Holm Oak is a family winery in Tamar Valley in northern Tasmania, run by winemaker Bec Duffy and her viticulturist husband Tim. Vines were first planted on the Holm Oak property in 1983, and the Duffys have been making wine here since 2006, building a strong reputation for elegant and well-priced cool-climate wines.