2025 Stargazer Palisander Pinot Noir, Coal River Valley

The latest release of the Palisander Pinot Noir from Samantah Connew’s Stargazer label, with the previous 2024 vintage rated 96 points by both Halliday Wine Companion and The Wine Advocate.

We’ll add our tasting notes for this wine soon. In the meantime, here’s what Samantha herself sees in a glass of the 2025:

“Bright ruby crimson in colour, the nose immediately shows some juniper berry and green cardamom spice which opens to reveal a lively combination of red and black fruits. Red liquorice and rosehip tea dominate, but there is some chinotto and fenugreek there also. The palate is refined, compact and coiled, lithe tannins coming in early and supporting the ample fruit right through to the finish.”

More about this wine

This wine is sourced from two parcels of Pinot Noir in Stargazer's Palisander vineyard in the Tea Tree area of Coal River Valley. Stading in brown dermosol soils on Jurassic dolerite, the vines are a combination of clones, the majority of which is G5V12 and D5V15. The blend also includes smaller amounts of the Abel, 115, 777, MV6, Pommard and 667 clones of Pinot.

The 777 clone was included in the ferment as whole bunches with the remaining fermented with varying degrees of whole bunch from nil to 55%, with the overall amount of whole bunch in the wine ending up at roughly a third of the blend.

The remaining fruit was destemmed but not crushed and cold soaked for three days pre-ferment. The wine was basket pressed to French oak puncheons from Francois Freres, Mercurey and Damy, of which a quarter were new. The wine matured in oak for eight months, with a further two-month rest in stainless steel after blending.

About this producer

Stargazer pays tribute to Abel Tasman, the Dutchman who is believed to be the first European to sight Tasmania and the South Island of New Zealand in 1642. Founder and winemaker Sam Connew is a born and bred South Islander who fell in love with Tasmania after fifteen years of vintages across the globe. Her Palisander Vineyard in the upper reaches of Coal River in Lutruwita/Tasmania was planted by its original owners in 2002 to Riesling and Pinot Noir and expanded in 2017 by Sam with more of the same (but increasing clone numbers) and four clones of Chardonnay. Pinots Blanc and Gris followed in 2021, along with Gamay and Gewürztraminer.

The property sits on brown dermosol soil over Jurassic dolerite and is particularly high in calcium associated with thicker skins and slower ripening. Sam believes in the strength of biodiversity and regenerative agriculture and uses sheep and chickens for manure distribution and weed and bug control. Bees and other insects are essential for vine pollination too, and Sam has planted over 1000 local plants on the property since 2020 to provide them with food around the year.