Wantirna Estate Lily Pinot Noir 2024

Maryann Egan, Wantirna “Our Pinot Noir vines are old - in Australian terms. Wantirna Estate has amongst the oldest Pinot Noir in the Yarra Valley - if not the oldest. The vines are a mixture of 55 to 42 years old, dry grown on their own roots. Whilst phylloxera has reached the Yarra Valley, as a bit of an outpost to the main Yarra, we have been able to keep our vines free from this pest and our old vines continue to thrive. The yields though are low - good for making fabulous wines, bit hard on the vineyard budget!

The old vines are able to deliver fabulously flavoured fruit with some intense pinot flavours. We don’t fiddle too much with the grapes, simply destemmed and then fermented in small one tonne open fermenters. The ferments are looked after with a combination of pump overs and hand plunging, with temperatures around 24 to 26 to maintain that fabulous pinot fruit. Some parcels are given 1-2 days post ferment skin soak before pressing to barrel. We like the extra maceration for a portion of the wine to develop some lovely dry tannins. The wine shows some lovely black plums, rose petals with some spice. A rich wine on the palate with a lovely long finish. After 10 months in a mixture of French barrels with no more than 25% new, the wine is bottled before 2 years in bottle before release.”