Narkoojee Gippsland Pinot Noir 2023

Narkoojee, meaning “place of flowers”, was a dairy farm owned and operated by Edna and Athelstan Friend, since the early 1940s. Their son Harry planted the first experimental vines back in 1980 and with his wife Val, moved to the property from Melbourne in 1995. Narkoojee had very humble beginnings with the Cellar Door operating out of a small weatherboard bungalow at the back of Harry and Val Friend’s house. The grapes were taken to the old butter factory in Glengarry, which served as their first winery.

Father and son team, Harry and Axel Friend make for an unbeatable combination of talents. They share the desire to experiment with new techniques aiming to perfect the winemaking process, which gives Narkoojee wines their unique characteristics.

The fruit for this wine was handpicked from our estate plantings. The wine was fermented using wild yeasts indigenous to our vineyard. The cool 2023 season has produced a beautifully balanced, cool climate wine with a long, seamless palate and silky tannins. It will develop further in the bottle over the next five years or so.