2024 Bannockburn De La Terre Pinot Noir

Bannockburn Vineyards was founded in 1974 by Stuart Hooper, who envisioned producing Australian wines to rival the world’s best. Situated in the Moorabool Valley near Geelong, the estate spans 26 vineyard blocks across diverse soils of volcanic debris, ancient seabeds, and limestone. Now among the oldest plantings in the region, Bannockburn is celebrated for its close-planted Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and other varieties, grown with organic principles and crafted with minimal intervention to reflect purity of site. Remaining family-owned, the estate continues to balance heritage, sustainability, and innovation, producing wines of depth, character, and enduring quality.

The 2024 De La Terre Pinot Noir is drawn from a close-planted 1.78-acre block established in 2007 to predominantly clone 777 with a portion of 114. Densely planted at 8,333 vines per hectare, the vineyard combines a flat section with north–south orientation and an adjoining east-facing slope, both rooted in dark clay over weathered basalt and limestone.
Hand-picked fruit was fully destemmed and fermented on skins for 10 days before pressing to French oak hogsheads, around 25% new. The wine underwent natural malolactic fermentation in spring and matured undisturbed before blending and bottling in February. The result is a Pinot Noir of depth and precision, where concentrated fruit is underpinned by fine structure, mineral detail, and subtle oak complexity.
Alc. 13.5%

Other Reviews....
Bannockburn’s De La Terre vineyard was planted (to high density) in 2007, and certified organic in 2021.
Some wines just have that extra something, and this is one of those wines. It’s outstanding. The length of the finish here is for the ages. It tastes of iron, cherry, woodspice, undergrowth and cedar, red rose notes in the mix too, and it firms beautifully as it mounts its final attack. One sip and I was convinced. It’s complex, tense, and exquisitely well finished. Drink 2026-2034+
96 Points
Campbell Mattinson - The Wine Front