Scorpo Eocene Pinot Noir 2020

The Scorpo Eocene Pinot Noir, from the Scorpo family vineyard in Merricks North, on Australia’s Mornington Peninsula, combines old world practices with the new world – emulating the traditions of Burgundy, Alsace and Côte-Rôtie with the Mornington Peninsula flavours.

This wine uses fruit from the ‘Eocene’ high density vineyard that is handpicked and fermented with wild yeast, and bottled without fining or filtration. This produces a wine with tastes of black cherries, sweet raspberry, dark chocolate and oak.

In their words -  100% MV6 Pinot Noir from Paul Scorpo’s original (1997) plantings. The fruit was picked on 27th March 2020 at 12.7 Baumé. The fruit was given a seven-day cold soak before spontaneous fermentation in a concrete vat with 10% of whole clusters included. The wine spent 28 days on skins in total. It was matured in oak (20% new, the rest three- to five-year-old barrels) until bottling with no fining or filtration on 19th February 2021.

This wine is focused and precise. The nose opens up with a mix of fresh raspberries as well as raspberry coulis. There is depth to the nose that then presents fresh herbs and spices such as cardamom and nutmeg. The palate showcases great balance and poise with raspberry, blood orange and cranberries on display. The fine emery tannins sit comfortably alongside a firm acid backbone. – Paul Scorpo