Blind Spot Pinot Noir 2014, Yarra Valley, Australia (was £9.50 The Wine Society)
Soft, gentle, quite mature and very moreish, this is made by the talented Mac Forbes, whose wines seem to have retained the freshness they’ve always had, but now seem to offer a little more joie de vivre. Bargain. S-
Yering Station ‘The Elms’ Pinot Noir 2015, Yarra Valley, Australia (£11.99 single bottle, £9.99 when you buy six Majestic)
Clean, almost crisp with hint of spice and violets alongside its juicy cherry flavours. Again, great value. S-
Domaine Bouchard Père & Fils Beaune du Château Premier Cru Rouge 2011, Burgundy, France (£27.99 Waitrose, Grape and Grain, Partridges of Sloane Square, Bubbles and Wine, The Wine Shop (Leek, Staffs), Evington’s, Taylor’s Fine Wine, The Wine Shop (Winscombe), The Dorset Wine Company, Cambridge Wine Merchants, Chislehurst Wines, Milford Wines, Shenfield Wines, Village Wines, Last Drop Wines, Best Cellars, Clifton Cellars, Constantine Stores, Dylans Wine Merchants, Lindley Fine Wines, Sandhams, In the Pink, Grayshott Wines, Fine Wines of Mayfield)
One of those wines that I regret finishing so quickly, as the last glass was so different from the first. It starts off in elegant but quite forward fashion, with a silky softness that is as much about the toasty oak as the wine underneath, but then the cherries and red berries emerge, along with other spices, and by the last sip (five hours after first opening) showing a fresh earthiness and alight floral character. S
Le Champ des Etoiles Pinot Noir 2015, Pays d’Oc, France (£10.49 Laithwaites)
Gentle juicy style of wine, no shortage of easy drinking red fruit flavours, but let down by a sweet confected vanilla character. An OK cheapie – but it’s not that cheap…. C(+)
Heinrich Hartl III Pinot Noir Classic 2013, Thermenregion, Austria (£13.99 Laithwaites)
Honest, open-hearted wine with gentle slightly truffley berry flesh, a touch of spice, a hint of coffee and a kirsch-like edge developing with time. Not hugely complex but a decent glug, would have probably had it down as Marlborough if I’d tasted it blind. B+