Jim Chatto spent more than twenty years on the other side of the judging bench, handing out the scores. Then he planted a vineyard at the bottom of Tasmania and started collecting them.
He found the site the slow way. Six years of looking before he planted at Glaziers Bay in 2007, one of the most southerly vineyards in the country and, in his own words, right on the edge of viticultural possibility. Gourmet Traveller made him Winemaker of the Year in 2019.
Since 2017 the wines have been made on site, in a shed where a racing yacht was built (named Intrigue) in secret in 1984. The whole operation runs to around 3000 dozen a year. No second label, no bought-in fruit, no second chances. 2025 was warm and dry, rainfall around ten percent below average. Medium weight wines, but the intensity is all there. Detail and focus rather than muscle, which is exactly what this vineyard does better than anywhere else in the country.
It doesn’t stop with the new releases. We also have a short run of the sensational 2024 Intrigue and Isle, Australia’s highest-rated pinot duo. The 2024 Isle was in fact the #1 ranked Pinot in the country last year, alongside Bindi Block 5 (but coming in at nearly half the price). Intrigue took 97 points from both Halliday and Hooke.
And a stunner that will not come around again. Seven vintages of Isle, 2016 through 2024 in a vertical set. Huon Hooke has rated ten vintages of this wine and every one has landed between 95 and 98 points.
