TOLPUDDLE PINOT NOIR 2023

Trophy for Champion Australian Red – International Wine Challenge 2025
Trophy for Champion Australian Pinot Noir – International Wine Challenge 2025
Gold Medal & 96/100 – International Wine Challenge 2025

Winery notes (2023 Vintage)
"Intensely aromatic, a darker fruit spectrum and complex savoury spice is interwoven seamlessly with firm, structural tannin. Fruit density and depth of flavour reflect the cool season. This wine is not without the bright, aromatic freshness we expect from cool climate Pinot Noir.

All hand-picked fruit is fermented as a combination of whole berries and whole bunches, in open wooden and stainless fermenters, with gentle plunging. Aged for 10 months in French oak, of which about one third was new."

97/100 Andrew Caillard MW, The Vintage Journal (2023 Vintage)
"Medium deep. Lovely pure dark cherry, negroni, herb garden, star anise aromas with hints of marzipan. Sweet supple dark cherry pastille, strawberry fruits, loose knit lacy/al dente textures, lovely mid palate volume and underlying marzipan roasted chestnut/ herb garden notes. Sappy notes build up to the finish. This is an exceptionally enjoyable and characterful wine, highlighting a classic vineyard site and cracking good winemaking. "

5 Stars & 97/100 Huon Hooke, The Real Review (2023 Vintage)
"Deep red-purple, bright and clear colour; superb rich ripe black cherry fragrance with a kiss of smoky oak, the palate remarkably full and rich, smooth and fleshy with excellent texture and immediate drinking appeal, although it has the legs to age well too. Serious structure, but also succulent, sweet and plush—almost too much of a good thing. Outstanding pinot noir."

96/100 Erin Larkin, RobertParker.com, Wine Advocate, January 2025 (2023 Vintage)
"This wine was recently shown by a respected Clare Valley winemaker at an options game, and it looked superb. It's so clearly like Tasmanian Pinot Noir fruit but powerful, balanced and sapid in its execution of flavour delivery. It's saturated, in fact. When it was revealed as being the Tolpuddle 2023 Pinot Noir, there were cries around the room of "of course!" and "wow!" To me on that evening, I was particularly impressed by the integration of the whole-bunch component, as I occasionally feel that the use of bunches in this wine can border on overt. In this 2023 iteration, it is clearly evident, but it sits within the confines of the pomegranate/cherry/raspberry fruit with aplomb. Providing further depth of character, a backdrop of star anise, blood orange, coffee grounds, lilac and red apples drive across the palate. This is an enduring wine of sophistication and long-term aesthetic value."

96/100 Dave Brookes, James Halliday's Wine Companion (2023 Vintage)
"A cooler vintage for Tolpuddle with some hen and chicken and lighter bunches due to a wetter-than-normal spring, before excellent ripening conditions for the remainder of the growing season. When compared to the ‘22 release there is a little more concentration on display. Vibrant, magenta-splashed ruby in the glass with aromas of dark cherry, plum and blackberry fruits with hints of crushed herbs, softly spoken vanillin oak, raspberry coulis, charcuterie board, purple flowers, bay leaf and stone. Rich and flowy with spice, herbal and floral tendrils weaving through the pure base layers of dark fruits. Textural and harmonious with finely crushed riverstone tannins and mineral line providing support and cadence. Another cracking release from Tolpuddle."

95/100 Shanteh Wale, WinePilot.com (2023 Vintage)
"This vintage strikes out again with surprise and intrigue, just when you think the S+S winemaking team have got the recipe right, the vineyard shows you another side entirely. Here it’s witches brew of jarred and dried aromatica. Blackberries, dark cherries, juniper and sloe berries. A bouquet of garrigue herbs, pine and poppy seeds. There is a harmony between the dark fruit and ripe herbal notes. Its a different shape entirely than what’s come before it and i’m feelin it. Savoury oak tannins support the woodsy style of black fruit. It’s a very tailored wine and has found a nice balance in a very cool vintage. Striking harmony between spice, cassis and oak. A hint of medicinal, and a luxurious almost syrupy in its richness on the palate. Serious stuff. This would be ideal with pink lamb and chermoula."

94/100 Mike Bennie, The Wine Front (2023 Vintage)
"There’s something that feels essentially pinot about this wine. It’s the inlay of mineral and graphite amid the undergrowth and spice notes, all of which are part of the general wash of black cherry. It’s a silken release, of medium intensity, with fine-grained tannin and an impressive push of complex flavour through the finish. This wine’s earthen/undergrowth aspect is both well played, and a key feature. There’s no real x-factor to this release but everything does feel in excellent order."