Our first ever Vintage of El Desperado was 2011, and will always be known in Australian wine history as the vintage from hell, as many vineyards suc-cumb to the wet summer. For the Pawn, we sacrificed making our full range of wines that year to create a brand new style wine. Although we did not set out to make the El Desperado before that vintage, when you taste this wine, by hell you will be glad we did.

This Pinot Noir was grown in the Adelaide Hills, with warm days and cool nights, which provides ideal growing conditions for this varietal.

A blend of several clones, I have taken to a bit of winemaking in the vineyard with all clones being harvested together and then fermented.

Aromas of cherry cola, rose petals and spice erupt from the glass. On the palate, the wine reveals a berry fruit explosion of black cherry and cranberry, with touches of balsamic and earth tones.

Variety trivia
Pinot Noir is the vignerons heartache and the winemakers holy grail. Never to be underestimated, this variety in the right region in the right hands can be a king maker.
Prior to fermentation, the grapes were left on skins for 2 days, then wild fermented dry over the next 10 days with 10% whole bunch, in an open top fermenter. The ferment was hand plunged twice a day, with the temperature peaking at 32ºC . Post ferment, the wine re-mained on skins for 4 days, after which it was pressed into a mix of new and old (10% : 90%) French oak puncheons (500L) for malolactic fermentation and maturation of 6 months. The wine was bottled in late September 2025.

Chess Trivia
In chess, El Desperado is a doomed pawn that seems deter-mined to give itself up to bring about a stalemate when captured, a pawn that is as good as dead and so sets out to do as much damage as possi-ble.

Goes best with
The dry, long finish indicates that this is a food wine, and one which would pair marvelously with Peking Duck from Chinatown.

Harvest Date
March 25th, 2025 10am
A blend of 6 different clones, MV6, 114, 115, 777, 113 & #5, we have taken to a bit of winemaking in the vineyard with all 6 clones being harvested together and fermented as one complete blend. An old Vine Improvement source block, it now gives us a unique opportunity to look at several different clones and how they perform each season.

Harvest Weight
6.5 tonnes/hectare

Clonal Material
MV6, 114, 115, 777, 113 & #5

Alcohol
14.9%

pH
3.49

T.A.
6.04