The 2018 Hoddles Creek 1ER Pinot Noir will go down as one of the classics, with lots of perfume and structure. The 1ER Pinot Noir always comes from a block on Hoddles Creek Estate’s Top Paddock vineyard called ‘SRM’. This block faces West but runs down to the South. This is the only block which sees the inclusion of around 20-25% whole bunches in the ferment. I’m not looking for whole bunches characters in the wine but more what it does to the tannins. Normally it should make the wines finer and the tannins more pure.

This wine spent the majority of its life in Foudre, then around December it was transferred to seasoned casks until March. We do this to open the wine up as being in large format oak the wines can close down for a long period of time. Around April, this wine was then transferred to tank to spend another winter in the cellar. The wine is then bottled without filtration or fining.

“Often quite reticent in their youth, these wines build up with time in bottle, or to a lesser extent, in glass. Tasting this one after it has been open for a day.
Perfumed, slight mintiness over red berries and red cherry, mineral/earth stuff, spiced biscuit. Light to medium-bodied, well-defined, bright and fine, succulence of fruit but with restraint, super fine emery tannin, spiced fresh strawberry and earthy bunch in the aftertaste, which is pretty long. Understated, but confident.”
94+ Points – Gary Walsh, The Wine Front, Drink: 2022 – 2030+