2024 Bannockburn De La Terre Pinot Noir, Geelong

Some wines just have that extra something, and this is one of those wines. It’s outstanding. The length of the finish here is for the ages. It tastes of iron, cherry, woodspice, undergrowth and cedar, red rose notes in the mix too, and it firms beautifully as it mounts its final attack. One sip and I was convinced. It’s complex, tense, and exquisitely well finished.

96 points Campbell Mattinson for The Wine Front

Snap, crackle and pop on the nose, aromas of sap, Campari, dried herbs, cherry, earth, rhubarb and underbrush. There's plenty going on here. Fine, focused, layered and mouth-filling, with lashings of supple red fruits, spice, textured tannins and a woodsy, ferrous earthiness. Length and poise are impressive. Drink 2025 to 2035.

95 points Aaron Brasher for The Real Review, November 2025

Sitting on the edge of reduction, with an earth-driven focus and aromas of dried black fruits, smoked bark, cured meats, damp organic soils and burnt orange peel. The palate is finely tuned, with an herbal edge, fine-boned tannins and bright acidity. Nicely constructed. Drink or hold.

95 points James Suckling, August 2025

From a 0.72ha high-density vineyard planted in 2007. Totally destemmed and matured in 25% new hogsheads. A light, bright cherry red. Opens with aromas of red cherry, orange peel, autumnal spices such as cinnamon and nutmeg as well as some woodsy, bracken notes. There's a savoury nuance, too, on the flavoursome, finely detailed and structured palate. Drink 2025 to 2029.

94 points Philip Rich for Halliday Wine Companion, November 2025

The 2024 De La Terre Pinot Noir leads with leather and raspberry, dried mint and aniseed, licorice, autumn leaves, hung deli meat/pastrami and tapenade. In the mouth, the wine has all of these characters, shaped by pliable tannins and savory, exotic spices. The acidity is high, but it works within the confines of the other elements. I admire the confidence and conviction of these wines—they are so distinctly of this place and producer. I respect that. This is made from clones 777 and 114, planted at high density in 2007. Drink 2025 to 2035.

94 points Erin Larkin for The Wine Advocate, December 2025

Stuart Hooper planted the first vines at Bannockburn in 1974 with a clear ambition: to produce wines that could stand alongside the great estates of Burgundy. Fifty years on, the estate has made good on that ambition. The 26 blocks of estate vines, some of the oldest in the Geelong region, include the Serré vineyard planted in 1984. Farming across the estate is organic, yields are tightly restricted, and the Moorabool Valley's low-fertility soils and continental climate do the rest. Chardonnay and Pinot Noir are the foundation, but the range extends further, and every wine is made from estate fruit alone.

De La Terre — of the earth — was planted in 2007 on a small block adjacent to the Serré vineyard. Certified organic, it is planted to notably high density and planted predominantly to clone 777 on dark clay over weathered basalt and limestone. Despite the location next to Serré, the two vineyards and their produce are markedly different in character: lighter, finer and more ferrous here, shaped by the slope, the clone selection and the soils beneath.

The 2024 fruit was destemmed, wild fermented on skins for 10 days, then pressed to predominantly seasoned French oak hogsheads and left undisturbed through winter, with malolactic fermentation in spring before blending and bottling in February 2025.

The result is a Pinot Noir that sits on the edgier, more demanding end of Bannockburn's stylistic range. Red cherry, leather, dried mint, iron and Campari on the nose with autumnal spice, tapenade and bracken. The palate is finely tuned and layered, with bright acidity, fine gravelly tannins and a ferrous, herb-edged earthiness running through to a long, tense finish. A wine of real conviction and a strong sense of place.

The wine's ferrous edge and fine tannins are good company for food with some earthiness and savour behind it: a Provençal rabbit braise with olives, capers and white wine, or a Japanese-style braised pork belly with dashi, soy and daikon.

Drink now through 2035.