Coldstream Hills Reserve Pinot Noir is a legacy of the winery's founder, wine writer James Halliday, although he is no longer involved in winemaking. The wine typically shows bright, dark cherry, ginger, meaty aromas and flavours, superb buoyancy of fruit, a silken texture and underlying vanillin oak. The wine finishes with a 'peacock's tail'; a long elegant and flavoursome flourish. Sourced predominantly from the dramatic north-facing 1985 planted Amphitheatre A Block and 1988 planted Ampitheatre B Block, the soils are 'unambiguously acidic' and largely ancient weathered clay loams. The estate-grown fruit is batch vinified using Burgundian techniques including pre-fermentation cold soak, vinification at warm temperatures in open stainless steel fermenters, partial whole bunch fermentation and hand plunging. This is followed by 9-11 months in new (up to 50%) and seasoned French oak barriques and puncheons.
Yarra Valley
The Yarra Valley was first planted by the Ryrie brothers who explored a way through the Snowy Mountains to the Yarra Valley, planting grapes in 1838 just three years after the foundation of Melbourne. A wine industry (developed by Swiss Settlers particularly Hubert de Castella and Baron Guillaume de Pury in the 1850s) thrived during the gold rush era and heyday of the 19th century. However, the end of the gold rush brought the wine industry into decline and it was not until the 1970’s that the modern wine industry started up again. The region is probably Australia’s best-known cool-climate area, yet it is really a patchwork of meso-climates. This varied topography creates an incredible set of variables. Vineyards are planted on elevations of 50 to 400m on varying aspects and management programmes. The more exposed sites are subject to severe spring frosts and winds. Overall, the area experiences a relatively high rainfall pattern and is known for its temperature extremes during ripening. Site selection is crucial, with the best vineyards often located where the original vines were once planted, generally on sandy clay loams and gravels. The Yarra Valley is well known for high quality Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Cabernet Blends with Shiraz increasingly garnering attention. Sparkling wine production is also extremely important, with many of Australia’s finest examples produced in the region.
