Shop/Pinot Noir/Helen's Hill 'Smuggler' Reserve Pinot
Yarra Valley, Victoria
Helen's Hill 'Smuggler' Reserve Pinot 2022
Helen's Hill Estate
Reserve-tier Yarra Pinot — concentrated, oak-framed, age-worthy.
$57.00
750mlVintage may change. If it does, we’ll notify you of any price adjustment before dispatch.
About
Mid-premium Yarra Pinot for special occasions. More concentration, more oak, more length.
The name is a nod to the Abel clone, a cutting said to have travelled from Burgundy to New Zealand in a suitcase decades ago. The clone is prized for perfume, intensity and dark fruit, and this wine is made from it alone. The vines sit on a low-lying, east-facing part of the Helen's Hill vineyard at Coldstream.
Helen's Hill was planted in 1997 by the McIntosh and Nalder families. They brought farm childhoods and careers in medicine and finance to 28 hectares of vines. Winemaker Scott McCarthy has worked in Napa, the Languedoc, the Loire and Marlborough. The fruit is hand-picked and fermented in small open-top vats, then spends 18 months in French oak puncheons. The 2022 comes in at a modest 12.8 percent.
It is ready now, and a few years in the cellar will add complexity. The winery suggests roast duck, mushroom risotto or truffle pasta.
Structure
Picked on Stef's structure profile.
