2025 Clonakilla Pinot Noir

95 pts
A rare look at the small batch Pinot Noir from Canberra's greatest producer.

Price:
Sale price$65.00
Stock:
In stock, ready to ship
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Description

Pinot Noir has always been a bit of a holy grail for Tim Kirk and the team at Clonakilla.

While their Shiraz Viognier usually steals the limelight, this small batch passion project is where they get to flex their cool-climate muscles in a different direction. The wine relies on a serious foundation of vine age, including original plantings from 1978 and a mix of premium clones like Abel and Pommard put in over the last two decades.  

The 2025 vintage was a winner, benefiting from a wet spring and a warm, even summer that pushed the fruit into ideal territory.

This is the first time we've gotten our hands on a little of Tim's Pinot; typically, it just sells out to the faithful Clonakilla club members. Enjoy it while it's here because it won't be here for long.

95 points
"There’s depth to this wine but there’s also exuberance. There’s also structure, nuance and distinctiveness, the combination of which makes for most delicious and engaging drinking... In any case this is an excellent release of Clonakilla Pinot Noir."
- Campbell Mattinson (The Wine Front)

94 points
"Classy Pinot Noir, capturing the pretty perfume and detailed complexity so enthralling about this grape. Excellent."
- Tom Kline (Wine Pilot)

95 points - "There’s depth to this wine but there’s also exuberance. There’s also structure, nuance and distinctiveness, the combination of which makes for most delicious and engaging drinking. It tastes of deep black cherries, potpourri, spearmint, undergrowth and tobacco leaves, with cedarwood oak tucked neatly and modestly within. This is a dark and slightly brooding wine but then it’s fresh and juicy to close; it’s nothing but friendly but then it makes you sign a contract (or vice versa). In any case this is an excellent release of Clonakilla Pinot Noir." - Campbell Mattinson (The Wine Front)

94 points - "Eminently pretty from the outset, with wonderfully lifted aromas of mashed strawberry, raspberry coulis, red cherry and lashings of perfectly ripe red rose bringing a beguiling perfume. A moment to unfurl reveals a substratum of baking spices — ground nutmeg, star anise, cinnamon — and flickers of violet adding to the floral dimension, with autumn leaves beneath contributing savoury complexity and interest. The palate is very lifted and pure in its red fruit and floral aesthetic, but there’s also intensity and fine-boned structure to anchor the wine. Raspberry and strawberry intermingle with red apple nuances as the florals permeate the mouth perfume, with autumn leaves again in the background. The tannins are firm and tight-grained, the acidity fresh and elongating to brilliant length. Classy Pinot Noir, capturing the pretty perfume and detailed complexity so enthralling about this grape. Excellent." - Tom Kline (Wine Pilot)

As one of our 'Small Batch' wines the Pinot Noir is absolutely a passion project.

It's something of a holy grail for many winemakers. When it's good, Pinot beguiles us with its aromatic beauty, intrigue and restrained power on the palate.

At Clonakilla our Pinot Noir vines are getting older; we like to think the more deeply rooted the vines are, the more effective they are at accessing the complex mineral and nutritional resources in the soil.

The Abel, 667 and Pommard vines were planted in 2013, the 777 and 115 clones were planted in 2007 and 2008, and the original 130 Pinot vines were planted by Clonakilla founder John Kirk way back in 1978.

2025 was a marvellous vintage season with excellent spring rain and a glorious warm summer.

The 25 Pinot is right on song; a mesmerising perfume and a captivating energy through the palate. We think you'll love it.

Tim Kirk and the team at Clonakilla

Price Bracket $51 to $100
Type Red
Body Medium Bodied
Variety Pinot Noir
Country Australia
Region Canberra
Australian State NSW
Reviewed By The Wine Front
Size 11

Clonakilla

Clonakilla is one of the true icons of the Australian wine scene. Since its inception, it has been one of the leading lights of the Australian cool climate wine insurgence.

They boast one of the most collectable wines in the country in their Shiraz Viognier, a wine of outstanding quality and consistency over the last two decades. Whether Shiraz, Riesling or otherwise, every wine in the Clonakilla stable are considered amongst the benchmark examples in Canberra District.

Quite simply, Tim Kirk and his family-owned estate are one of the true gems in the Australian wine industry crown.

Tim Kirk harvesting at Clonakilla Discover Clonakilla Wines

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