2024 Sailor Seeks Horse Pinot Noir, Huon Valley

The 2024 Pinot Noir is richer and more savory than the Small Wonder Vineyard (the vineyards are in different areas, yet this is cooler), and the wine is ethereal and fine, floral, rocky and mineral. This aligns with the personality of the Chardonnay and the reason why this sandstone-laden site is so special. The flavor is intense but light, and this is a great thing. The tannins are chalky and supple. The fruit sees extended post-ferment maceration, prior to being pressed to oak with full solids sans sulfur. Malolactic fermentation occurs here and is done around mid-winter. I love the delicacy and poise of this wine. The wines from this producer and vineyard come warmly recommended. This was made with 5% whole-bunch fruit and spent months in barrel before being bottled sans fining. Drink to 2036.

96 points Erin Larkin for The Wine Advocate, March 2026

Huon Valley-born pinot noir, 5% whole bunch, 12 months' maturation in French oak, 10% new. This is such a pure-smelling wine. It's all raspberry-flecked red cherry and red plum fruits with a splash of cranberry over hints of souk-like spice, nori sheets, leaf litter, mushroom broth, citrus blossom, pomegranate, crushed stone and charcuterie. Filigreed and nuanced, gorgeous fruit layered with spice, subtle crushed mountain herbs and dried citrus rinds, powdery tannins and a saline mineral line.

95+ points Dave Brookes for Halliday Wine Companion, May 2026

This Pinot is made from mainly D2V6 and D5V12 clones. It was wild fermented with a 5% whole bunch inclusion and matured in oak barrels for 12 months in barrel, of which 16% were new. The wine was bottled unfined.

About this producer

Sailor Seeks Horse is the Huon River Valley vineyard and winery of Paul and Gilli Lipscombe. Established in 2010, they draw on vineyard originally planted in 2005 that they have rejuvenated and planted to multiple clones of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. The northeast facing slope features sandy loams over clay subsoils, is farmed organically and dry grown, with only the youngest of seedlings receiving drip irrigation during the years of establishment.