2024 Montalto Single Vineyard North One Pinot Noir, Mornington Peninsula

Big love for this and yet another cracker in the Montalto lineup. This set of 2024 single vineyard Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays from Montalto is in elite form. Planted in 1985 alongside Montalto's The Eleven Chardonnay vineyard, this site is Montalto's oldest. In 2012, the site was grafted over to the MV6 clone with budwood sourced from the Merricks Vineyard.

The fruit was handpicked, sorted, destemmed and wild fermented before seeing French oak (23% new) for 11 months. Only 205 dozen were produced.

Dark chocolate is wrapped around dark cherries, strawberries and an array of spices. Orange peel and burnt chocolate lob up late. A flicker of cloves, rosemary sprig, dried twigs and a little dab of minerality keep adding to the prestige and detail that this wine exudes. It's a wine that is silky yet deliciously expressive. Still youthful, this will flourish with more bottle age.

95 points Q Wine Reviews

The best thing to do is to drink a bottle of this, shared with friends and good food, to know how terrific it is now. But is will also be much better when it has a few years’ bottle age. Today, you can expect quite a vivacious style. Upfront acidity leads the charge, yet it's densely packed with fruit and spice (think licorice and sumac). It's even a touch ferrous, with woodsy/oak – all in balance though. Fuller-bodied, satiny tannins and, while there’s complexity and length, it’s very youthful and nervy. Cellar with confidence.

95 points Jane Faulkner Halliday Wine Companion

From one of the Mornington Peninsula’s most expressive vineyard sites, Montalto North One Pinot Noir is a finely detailed, site driven wine that shows just how serious this region has become for Pinot lovers. Montalto has built its reputation on meticulous vineyard work and a strong single vineyard focus, with North One delivering fruit of clarity, structure and aromatic lift thanks to its well drained soils and constant maritime influence.

A vivid ruby garnet with bright clarity sits in the glass. Aromas open with wild strawberry, red cherry and cranberry layered with rose petal, subtle spice and a gentle forest floor note. There is a quiet confidence here, everything finely tuned rather than pushed.

The palate is medium bodied and beautifully poised, delivering vibrant red berry fruit framed by ultra fine tannins and bright acidity. Notes of pomegranate, dried herbs and a savoury mineral edge build through the mid palate, leading to a long, precise finish that feels both elegant and persistent. This is Pinot Noir built on finesse and tension, drinking beautifully now but with the structure to evolve over eight to twelve years into more complex, earthy territory.

Duck pancakes with hoisin and herbs, grilled quail with a touch of spice, or mushroom dumplings that disappear faster than expected. A shift into something atmospheric, Brian Eno drifting into Ravel’s Boléro, the wine holding that same slow build, detail layered on detail, quietly captivating.