98 points, Pinot Noir of the Year & Top 100 Wines of the Year - "Named after the Applejack eucalypts that surround the vineyard, which was planted at Gladysdale in 1997 by Ray Guerin. Seven clones comprising 114, 115, MV6, D2V5, D5V15, Pommard and Abel. Whole bunches (40 per cent) and 20–25 per cent new French barriques. 2022 was a hard act to follow, but this superb wine gives it a shake. Exotic, aromatic and pure with its bouquet of wild strawberries, dark cherries, quince, spices and flowers. Densley packed, this saturates the palate, but, as always, it's light on its feet at the same time. Seamless tannins round out another benchmark for what's already a benchmark wine." - Philip Rich (Halliday Wine Companion)

98 points - "The final blend of this wine is around 40% whole bunch fermented from the grey clay soils containing Able, MV6, Pommard, 114 and 115 clones. Red toffee apple, hibiscus, and freshly smeared lipstick. Rosella, beetroot and cassis. Exotically spiced, savoury and earthy. The mid palate has a clarity of Bing cherry that’s astonishing. Followed by prune plums, Quong dong and finishing with amplified acidity. There is an umami note, almost like a delicious msg sprinkle. Some decently weighted tannins keep the palate flavours echoing long into the next sip, its sturdy in its structure ensuring this wine will outlive almost any Aussie pinot noir. It’s bullet proof and worth every cent and more. Drink now or will cellar for 10 years. A wonderful wine to have with sirloin, truffle crisps or drinking alone." - Shanteh Wale (Wine Pilot)

98 points - "Deep-ish ruby red with a lot of purple in the colour; a reserved but engaging nose of dried herbs and earthy, undergrowth scents, a note of balsamic herbs floating across to suggest some whole-bunch influence, while the palate is gorgeously sweet fruited and succulent, with ample superfine tannins in support but very sotto voce, the finish filling out superbly into a long peacock's tail with the flavour and tannins perfectly matched. An exquisite pinot noir." - Huon Hooke (The Real Review)

96 points - "I tasted this wine a few months ago and loved it from the first sip. I have it on the desk now and there it is again, aglimmer in the glass. This wine is no one’s fool. It’s a pure expression of its place in the world and that place happens to be complex. It’s a cool wine with straight trees of tannin, perfumed red and black berries, lines of spice and echoes of woodsmoke. It’s a forest of a wine, a bit lush, a bit wet, a bit woody; verdant. At all times, as you drink it, the fruit comes at you like a swell. When you swallow this wine it flares out like you’ve reached the lookout at the end of a long walk. It’s a good wine. And it’s more than that." - Campbell Mattinson (The Wine Front)

96 points - "A complex story unfolds along the palate – reflective of the complex plantings of MV6, G5V15, 114 and Pommard clones across the steep Applejack Vineyard, that rises sharply from 180m to almost 300m in the upper Yarra Valley. A moreish juiciness is celebrated thanks to 40% whole-bunch fruit in the fermentation, but the sophisticated flavour profile in this restrained, almost coy expression turns very serious in the back-palate, when a surge of black cherry grunt enters the conversation and leaves you with plenty to contemplate by its powerful closing note." - David Sly (Decanter)

SEASON:

2023 was a small, high-quality vintage in the Yarra Valley. The season was defined by a cool Spring, a mild growing season, cool nights,
and medium to high rainfall.

2023 was one of the coolest and latest harvests on record, with our first pick starting two and a half weeks later than the previous average. The grapes in 2023 had lovely fruit concentration with bright natural acidities.


VINIFICATION:

Hand-picked, Fermented in a combination of small oak fermenters and
stainless-steel open vats. The Pommard clone parcels were fermented as whole bunches, while the remaining clones were destemmed to whole berries and cold soaked for four days before fermentation started naturally.

The final blend is 40% whole bunch fermented.
All parcels were matured in French oak 20% new, 80% seasoned – for ten
months in 225L barriques, predominately Taransaud and Dargaud & Jaeglé.

The wine was not moved and kept in contact with its lees before blending in
December. Bottled by gravity. No fining. No filtration.


THE VINEYARD:

Location: Gladysdale

Planted: 1997

Elevation: 180 - 260 metres

Soil type: Grey clay loam over black (basalt) volcanic base

Aspect: East facing slopes

Size: 12.5 Hectares

Applejack Vineyard is a special site, located on a dramatic slope in the upper Yarra Valley. It was planted by respected viticulturist Ray Guerin in 1997. The basalt based underlying volcanic soil and rock produce a characteristically fine yet extended, spicy and firm palate. The higher altitude results in a cooler and extended growing season, ideally suited to Pinot Noir and Chardonnay (3-4 weeks later than central Yarra Valley).

This vineyard is a special location for Pinot Noir in the Yarra Valley – its eastern aspect means the sun rises to gently warm and dry out the vineyard in the morning, but the vines are sheltered from the afternoon heat by the temperate rainforest that surrounds it.

We notice it produces the most earthen pinot noirs, that have the beautiful
perfume and exotic red fruits that we love about Pinot, with complex notes of fresh turned earth, miso and mushroom. The flavours combined with wound tannins, intense flavour and texture on the palate shows us the quality of the site for world class Pinot Noir.