Red Hill Estate Cool Climate Pinot Noir 2024 Mornington Peninsula

Winemaking Notes
The Red Hill Estate Cool Climate Pinot Noir 2024 is a carefully crafted blend assembled from a range of vineyards across the Mornington Peninsula, with each parcel receiving different treatments to maximise complexity and character. This meticulous approach allows the winemaking team to capture the unique expression of each site whilst building layers of flavour and texture in the final wine. One parcel was cold-soaked at zero degrees on skins for two days before fermentation, a technique that gently extracts colour and aromatics whilst preserving the wine's fresh fruit character. Other parcels were fermented straight on skins for 8-10 days, allowing for deeper extraction of tannins and flavour compounds. Fermentation temperatures were carefully controlled, ranging from 20-25°C, to maintain fruit purity and prevent the loss of delicate aromatics. Once the parcels had finished fermenting, they were pressed off skins and racked to a balance of new and old French oak barrels for maturation. Importantly, a portion of the wine was kept un-oaked, allowing the winemaking team to back-blend this component later to bring brightness and freshness to the palate. This thoughtful approach to parcel selection, varied fermentation techniques and judicious oak usage has resulted in a well-structured Pinot Noir with soft tannins and a smooth, velvety finish.

Vintage Conditions
The 2024 vintage on the Mornington Peninsula delivered excellent conditions for Pinot Noir production, allowing Red Hill Estate to source high-quality fruit from a range of vineyards across this renowned cool-climate region. The growing season benefited from the Peninsula's unique maritime influence, with the moderating effects of Port Phillip Bay and Bass Strait providing the cool temperatures and extended ripening period essential for developing the complex aromatics and elegant structure that define quality cool-climate Pinot Noir. The vintage conditions allowed the grapes to achieve optimal physiological ripeness whilst retaining the vibrant natural acidity and fresh fruit character that are hallmarks of Mornington Peninsula viticulture. The diversity of vineyard sites—each with different soil types, aspects and mesoclimates—provided the winemaking team with a varied palette of fruit characters to work with during blending. This range of parcels, combined with the different winemaking treatments applied to each, has resulted in a wine of remarkable depth and complexity. The deep crimson and purple hue reflects excellent colour extraction, whilst the robust aromas of dark cherries, red and black berries, and earthy notes of game and cedar showcase the classic cool-climate character that has established the Mornington Peninsula as one of Australia's premier regions for world-class Pinot Noir.