Best’s Great Western Old Vine Pinot Meunier 2022

Old vines don’t describe the half of it. Best’s vines were planted in 1868 which makes them among the oldest pinot meunier vines in the world. It is a point to ponder as you explore the myriad aromas and flavours of this wine, a free-wheeling, sustained ride of pure vinous pleasure. Bright purple-garnet hues. Combines youthful freshness and vitality with real depth of concentrated flavour. Old vines off a single vineyard site seen to be able to achieve that kind of effortless feat so easily. Cherry, pomegranate, raspberry, dried herbs and a ribbon of pepper and earthy spice mingle, bright and easy flowing, with superfine tannins and gentle oak. The palate comes alive with complexity of fruit, yet it’s so, so young. This is the great secret to this wine, year in year out. It arrives fully formed and ready to be enjoyed upon release and yet, rest assured, it will age an absolute treat. It is a national treasure.

Jeni Port

Wine critic at Winepilot

Jeni Port is one of Australia’s top wine communicators. Based in Melbourne, Jeni created the first wine column in the (then) Sun News-Pictorial before moving over to The Age and becoming that paper’s longest-serving wine writer. Over the years she has written for most Australian wine magazines and these days calls WinePilot home. She is also a Tasting Panel member on the Halliday Wine Companion. She was named Wine Communicator of the Year and Legend of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival in 2014 and in 2018 Legend of the Vine. She is a founding board member of Australian Women In Wine and is the co-deputy chair of Australia’s Wine List of the Year Awards and China’s Wine List of the Year Awards.

Wine writer and critic