The 2019 Curly Flat Pinot Noir has a layered nose that opens with a flutter of whole bunch lift that seamlessly merges into a pool of vibrant raspberry and black cherry fruits. The layered complexity is completed as notes of spice, leather and black pepper occupy the savoury register. A voluminous palate coursing with flavour is elegantly restrained by the raft of fine tannin that ferries the red cherry fruits along a fresh stream of cooling acidity.
“Deepish dark red colour with a tint of purple and a rich spicy, 'forest floor' and dark-cherry bouquet, subtly tinged with char-oak. The wine is full-bodied and strongly built, with voluminous flavour, serious tannin structure and plenty of grip. An impressive pinot of impressive weight, flesh and density, which promises to age superbly.”
96 Points - Huon Hooke, The Real Review, Drink 2022–2034
“Curly Flat has made its name on powerfully-built examples of the variety, fruit often matched step-by-step by oak. There’s cedary oak here but it’s been dialled back while, at the same time, tannin has been dialled up. This wine has fruit but it also has a great emphasis on structure. It’s not chunky, it’s chalky and dry, effectively mineral, almost quartz-like. It brings gravitas to the Curly Flat equation.”
95 Points - Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front
“In recent years the tannin and fruit profile has gone up a level, giving power and drive to Curly Flat’s iconic Pinot Noir whilst retaining a delicate and pure expression of the cool climate site. A light to medium red with purple hues in the glass, the nose gives dark cherry and wild strawberry that mixes with earth and understated brown spice. The palate is medium bodied with cherry compote that is set against a drying baseline of tannin that is etched with earl grey whilst holding enough oak induced spice to give balance. The finish is long and framed by red berry fruits; understated herbs the subtle impact of French oak complete the picture. This is a Pinot to give time”
95 Points - Patrick Eckel, winereviewer.com.au
Curly Flat Pinot Noir represents the wineries passion as winegrowers to faithfully capture the essence of our remarkable site coupled with the unique expression that is derived from each vintage.
After a cooler spring, the summer months delivered moderate to warm temperatures of an average of 28 degrees. Veraison occurred in January, past the heat peak of summer and slow ripening ensued without compromise to length or varietal detail. Outside of an above average flourish in November, the rainfall of the season overall was low with the lead up to harvest being our driest on record with only 41mm received between December and April. The combination of warm days, cool nights and very low rainfall manifested in a more powerfully structured yet fragrant Pinot Noir that serves to showcase the quality of tannin that is grown in our vineyards.
Our 2019 Estate Pinot Noir consists of seventeen separate lots representing distinct aspects, clones and soils. Each of these parcels were handled with minimum intervention in the winery with the aim of maximising site expression. Indigenous yeasts connect all ferment but varying amounts of whole bunch, post ferment skin contact and individual oak handling were utilised respective to the lot characters themselves. These parcels combine to form our most complex Pinot Noir, with fragrant spices and a red fruit lift that seamlessly merges with darker fruits and more savoury complexities. A myriad of vineyard based tannin entwines with gentle oak handling to accentuate a length of mineral clarity. After 16 months maturation our Estate blend consists of 22% whole bunch and 22% new oak and was bottled without filtration.
