Eldridge Pinot Noir 2023

“Whole bunch gives lift but this wine is ultra strawberries in the truest sense of the word, in that it’s fresh strawberry rather than strawberry syrup. Smoked herbs, stones, hay and earth notes encase the whole, and compellingly so. There is so much elegance here but such an array too. This is beautiful. Slippery, twiggy, ripe, fresh, undergrowthy, a brand new box and a brand new dice.”

“Stylish new sage-green labels are the first obvious difference and the heavy bottles close to 1.6kg when full. That’s less impressive, but everything else is impressive, thanks to Steve Flamsteed leading the team. He’s a craftsman with pinot noir and chardonnay so all the good things are in this: dark cherries, fragrant forest-floor aromas, pomegranate and blood orange with woodsy spices. Fuller bodied but not weighty, as there’s a refinement here, fine tannins, too, with raspberry acidity making it feel vibrant and, yes, still very youthful. It’ll garner more complexity in time, but it’s moreish and hard to resist now.”

“Deep-ish purple-red colour, fresh and youthful; the aromas are fresh and clean, bright red fruits, red cherry, raspberry, Turkish delight, laced with herbs and there are sarsaparilla and ruby grapefruit notes on palate, where the tannins are gently firm and upright, suggesting it will be improved, softened and complexed by a little cellar time. Purity of fruit shines through.”