William Downie Gippsland Pinot Noir 2021 75cl

Tasting Note

Deep colour, with plum, red berries and dry spice on the nose. Complex and dense with amaro orange, acacia and white pepper, textured with firm tannins. Approachable now but will still benefit from a couple of years in the cellar.

Producer

William Downie is a reference for minimal intervention, site specific Pinot Noir in Australia. He's always focussed on the grape, spending several harvests in Burgundy at Domaines Fourrier and Hubert Lignier early in his career, before working at Bass Phillip in Gippsland and De Bortoli. In 2003 he started his own label, sourcing and making Pinot from the Yarra Valley, Gippsland, and the Mornington Peninsula. He now focusses on the lesser-known Gippsland region, he has a farm there which he runs with his wife Rachel, in addition to tending to other plots across the region. His approach in the winery is low intervention, like most Aussie winemakers William isn't dogmatic: he works hard with hygiene, temperature, and pH to make sure his wines are squeaky clean and employs sulphur when he needs it. The aim is to showcase his land. William says: "What I think is interesting about Australian Pinot Noir is the generally very old soils. The vines have a big story to tell. An old story to tell. And because it's such large story to tell. A subtle and nuanced story to tell. It can be very hard to coax that story out. So we have to work very gently and delicately to coax the story out”. We're delighted to be working with these vibrant wines which combine finesse with a real depth of flavour, like all the best crafted Pinots.

_{Country: Australia | Region: Gippsland, Victoria | Alcohol: 13% | Grapes: Pinot Noir | Vegetarian | Vegan}