It’s a while since GW’s let me review the ‘standard’ Hoddles Creek Estate Pinot Noir. In fact the 2014 seems to be the last one I had first crack at. It’s good to be back, on the marks, live. This wine, as we all know at The Winefront, is a modern legend. One day, one fine day, far in the future, this label should win a medal for Services to Australian Pinot Noir.

I wrote the above, I should add, after having tasted the wine. Truth is that before I started tasting it I was a touch nervous; the Hoddles wines are released young, almost rudely so, and in general need a little time to both sort themselves out and reveal themselves properly; reviewing them when they’re still super-young isn’t the easiest task, oftentimes. But, alas, not so this year.

This release jumps out at you. It’s fragrant and lively, blessed with bell-clear varietal fruit flavour, blossomy, tannic and sure. Woodsmoke and oranges, red cherry and woodsy spice, mint and meat. It feels dry and tight but there’s enough here to suggest generosity; this release feels more eager to please than usual, and yet it still feels tight, and the lines of acidity are perfectly threaded. In short, if ever there was a no-brainer Hoddles Creek pinot release, this one is it. Tasted May 2022. Campbell Mattinson - Winefront