2021 Mount Pleasant Old Hill Pinot Noir, Hunter Valley

From the oldest Pinot Noir plantings in Australia.Well, it’s identifiably Pinot Noir, but with that idiosyncratic twist that the Hunter Valley offers, which I like. Cherry, rhubarb, a little earth, light cedar oak and biscuit spice oak, potpourri and aniseed. It’s medium-bodied, red fruit but also slightly tarry, yet lively too, with good depth and presence, and fine-grained tannin, and no shortage of length. So charming and different, but you can taste the old vine power. It’s a fine vintage for Mount Pleasant Pinot Noir. I love it.

95 points Gary Walsh winefront.com.au

This wine has been handled with kid gloves: hand picked and destemmed, 10% retained as whole bunches. Held in cold soak for three days, open fermented with thrice daily plunging; eight days on skins, then matured in French puncheons for eight months. The colour is excellent, and the abundant red fruits and superfine tannins are as good as they come. A new Hunter Valley style that challenges the idea that the Hunter is too hot for pinot noir.

95 points James Halliday winecompanion.com.au