2023 Meadowbank Pinot Noir, Derwent Valley

Complex aromas of cherry, dried herbs, spice, sap, underbrush, earth and bramble. There’s plenty of fleshy blue and red fruits here, along with some bunchy funk and lift. The fruit is vibrant, textured and layered and there’s lovely, firm, shapely tannins and snappy acidity.

 95 points Aaron Brasher therealreview.com

The Peter Dredge x Meadowbank partnership is a thing of beauty. Vintage 2023 continues this partnership’s stellar run of form, and what might have been a damp squib of a vintage turned out to be a masterpiece. “We were expecting it to be wet and gross,” Pete told us. “Instead, we got moderate and consistent, and the quality was through the roof.” Meeting the high bar set by last year’s trophy-winning release may not have been a walk in the park, but Dredge has knocked it out of the park with the pure, vibrantly red-fruited 2023.

This wine's predecessor took out a rather huge accolade, winning 'Best Pinot Noir' at the 2023 Australian Pinot Noir Challenge. It then sold out in record time and we haven't had any pinot to share with you for the past 5 months! But never fear, our new pinot is officially here - say hello to the pinnacle red wine from our vineyard, the 2023 Meadowbank Pinot Noir. 

Think flavour, finesse and even more flavour! This wine has everything you could want from a pinot. It's smooth, silky and elegant on the palate, with a mouth-watering hit of freshness that makes you thirsty for more. The vibrant strawberry and cherry aromas erupt from the glass, as the complex layers of flavour continue to reveal themselves long after the first sip. All of this is beautifully balanced with an earthy minerality that speaks volumes about the cold and slightly wild conditions that sweep through our hidden valley. 

Of course there is a lot to love about Tasmanian Pinot Noir, with our soils and climate so strongly suited to growing this delicious red grape variety. Gerald Ellis first planted Pinot Noir at Meadowbank in 1987 and our wine is still produced from these vines today. We hand-pick the grapes in three separate instalments, over a two week harvest period. Gerald and daughter Mardi, alongside our winemaker Peter Dredge, base their picking decisions predominantly on taste of the grapes alone, as they look for different stages of peak ripening, which later express as unique flavour characteristics come winemaking time.

In the winery, Pete allows each individual parcel of fruit to ferment on skins for two weeks, before the delicious red juice is pressed off and placed into seasoned French oak barrels (just 10% new oak). These barrels are put to bed for 9 months, before they are carefully blended to create the final masterpiece that now awaits you in bottle.

We are confident in assuring you this wine will deliver and still has potential to get even better while hanging out in your cellar. It’s the bottle you’ll be reaching for to take to your next dinner party and impress your friends, or the bottle you’ll incidentally consume in its entirety at home because it’s impossible to stop yourself at just one glass.

Food wise, this wine is super versatile. Tastes great alongside cheese, red meat, slow cooked stews or anything made from mushrooms. For us, we're all about pairing this with venison. Pinot reminds us of time spent with our cousins up in the Tassie highlands, eating ‘just-seared’ venison backstrap with potatoes, jerusaleum artichokes, and of course healthy glasses of Pinot.