2025 Chatto Franklinii Pinot Noir, Huon Valley

Jim Chatto's obsession with Pinot Noir has taken him around the world but it was Tasmania that had the strongest pull. After years of searching, he found his place at Glaziers Bay in the Huon Valley, right on the edge of viticultural possibility. The Isle vineyard planted in 2007 remains the heart of Chatto Wines. A small and carefully chosen family of Tasmanian wines has grown around it, each one a conversation with the variety and the site, driven by an insatiable curiosity for Pinot Noir.

The Franklinii takes its name from Lagarostrobos franklinii — the Huon Pine — an ancient conifer species found only in southern Tasmania, some specimens living for thousands of years. It is a fitting name for a wine from one of Australia's most southerly wine regions, where the cool, slow-ripening conditions of the Huon Valley produce Pinot Noir of real delicacy and depth.

Dark cherry and wild strawberry on the nose, with floral lift, star anise and dried herbs. The palate cuts stony and savoury, with powdery tannins and a fine mineral line that carries the wine to a long, composed finish. Production is small and these wines move quickly.

At home with a slow-roasted duck, a mushroom and lentil ragù, or a plate of soft washed-rind cheese at the end of an unhurried evening.

Drinking well now through 2033.