2024 Tolpuddle Vineyard Pinot Noir

Tolpuddle Vineyard was established in 1988 in Tasmania's Coal River Valley, between Hobart and Richmond. When Martin Shaw and Michael Hill Smith MW purchased the site in 2011, they recognised its potential to produce exceptional cool-climate Chardonnay and Pinot Noir and set about realising it. Their vision has since been fulfilled, with Tolpuddle now firmly regarded as one of Australia's great single-vineyard estates.

The Coal River Valley sits at the limits of viable viticulture, its long, cool growing season ideally suited to producing wines of precision and fine structure. Unlike many other cool regions, rainfall here is low, allowing the fruit to ripen slowly through autumn with minimal disease pressure. The vineyard's gentle north-east aspect and silica-rich soils of moderate vigour promote balance in the vines and produce fruit of notable concentration and character.

Tolpuddle's reputation has grown steadily over the past decade, and today its wines are among the most sought after in Australia. Production remains focused solely on the estate's two varieties, with a commitment to vineyard expression above all else.

After a dry winter, the 2024 season brought well-timed spring and summer rainfall followed by mild, settled conditions through to harvest. The even ripening period and moderate yields have produced wines that reflect the site's hallmark purity and balance, an elegant and complete expression of this remarkable vineyard.

Other Reviews....
Quite a tarry, meaty and savory edge to this nose, really bold and assertive; it is nicely wound together and has bright red cherry and pink grapefruit aromas as well as a smoky, flinty note. The palate's supple, bright, lithe and fresh with red and dark cherry fruit flavor, red plums too. Plenty of acid crunch, clear whole bunch influence on both palate and nose, and web-like, deep, fine tannins; detailed, light and shade. Needs time. Drink in 2018.
96 points
JamesSuckling.com

A wonderfully perfumed and composed wine that comes across as a little finer in aromatic detail than the excellent '23 release. It's an amalgam of clones – 777, 667, Abel, Pommard, MV6 and some that winemaker Adam Wadewitz snaffled from Best's Great Western – all playing their part in the final blend. Vibrant dark cherry, red berry and raspberry fruit tones mesh with hints of exotic spice, a whiff of negroni, juniper, wild strawberry, almond paste, integrated vanillin oak, meadow flowers and crushed stone. Everything plays at concert pitch, with complex whole bunch (50%) notes, the gentle tension of ground-riverstone tannins and a fine, mineral line as the wine slowly trails away. A cracking release that smells and tastes of a special place. Drink 2025-2043.
97 points
Dave Brookes - James Halliday's Australian Wine Companion