2022 Joshua Cooper Doug's Vineyard Pinot Noir

Described by wine commentator Mike Bennie as "one of Australia’s brightest young winemakers”, Joshua Cooper is steadily forging a reputation for thoughtful, elegant, and confident wines from grapes grown in Macedon and surrounds. Doug's Vineyard, near Romsey in the Macedon Ranges, was planted 20 years ago by the Newnham family, with mostly MV6 pinot noir and some 114 and 115 clone vines. The soil here is rich in rocky volcanic basalt, which limits vine growth and enhances the intensity of the fruit. After three weeks of fermentation, the wine was pressed to two new (Laurent “Magic Cask” thick stave, blonde toast), seven young (2-4yo Laurent “Magic Cask”) and ten old (6-10yo) oak Burgundian barrels for 12 months of maturation. The wine is then racked to stainless steel tanks for four more months of settling, before bottling without any additives except a small amount of sulphur.

The 2024 Halliday Wine Companion Best New Winery of the Year

Other Reviews....
From Macedon Ranges and a site at 500-or-so metres above sea level. Love the idea of a vineyard owned by a ‘Doug’.
Strange, but I went straight to the wines of Marechal in Burgundy. Something about the expansive but light nature of the wine, the relaxed feel to texture, the little haze of tannins, loads of perfume both primary fruited and herbal. It’s got sinew and pucker, a strong sense of savouriness, a sizzle of cooling acidity and a great stretch of flavour and texture. It’s beautiful, really, and the gist is that it delivers grape character from all angles. I want to drink the hell out of this. Drink 2023 - 2030.
96 Points
Mike Bennie - The Wine Front