2010 Yabby Lake Pinot Noir

Medium-deep ruby-purple in color, 2010 Single Vineyard Pinot Noir offers youthfully closed red cherry and cranberry notes with a whiff of under-ripe blueberries, some cinnamon, cumin and a dusting of chocolate. Tight-knit with high acid, a medium body and a medium level of chewy tannins, it has a long purely fruited finish. Drink it 2012 to 2016+. Established in 1998, there are now 100 acres of vines planted at Yabby Lake making it biggest single estate project in the Mornington Peninsula thus far. 60% of the plantings are Pinot Noir with 20% Chardonnay, 10% Pinot Gris and 5% Shiraz. "We like to say expression over impression," commented winemaker Tom Carson during my visit. "Wines shouldn't smell like winemaking. The wines aren't acid adjusted or fined. They are wild fermented and left on lees until bottling. And we use a very small proportion of new oak." Single vineyard and single block releases are the new thrust here. "When we're putting the final blends together, if something stands out we'll bottle it separately. We only actually take a small portion out - most will go into the estate wine." The good value Red Claw label is all off estate vineyards. Carson is creating some very impressive wines straight across the range. Now if he could only be convinced to ditch the cross flow filter, at least for the top "single block" wines?! Importer: Yabby Lake Vineyard Inc., Lafayette, CA; Tel: (925) 962-9229