Kooyong Ferrous Pinot Noir 2019
- 95
- $75
- Drink by: 2024 - 2034
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Another superb wine which provides compelling evidence that Kooyong has maintained its standards as one of the nation’s best pinot producers. The fruit is sourced from a gently sloping 0.79 hectare block which tends naturally to lower yields than many. The soil for this block contains a higher percentage of ironstone pebbles than any other part of the vineyard. The team led by winemaker Glen Hayley believe that this delivers a wine with greater concentration and more savoury tannins. The wine, with a portion of whole bunches, was fermented in a large-format concrete tank. Native yeasts were used and the process took 17 days. The wine was then pressed into French oak barriques (27% new), before malo. The total period of maturation was 17 months. Bottling took place without any fining or filtration.
This wine has a deep red/magenta appearance. It is immediately obvious that it is quite complex, which will only increase in the coming years. There is a minerally backing behind the red fruit and root vegetable notes. Look for raspberries and cherries. It offers a juicy and briary character with hints of animal skins. There is a focus on very fine tannins here, with fresh acidity. This is a really well-balanced pinot in every respect and it surely has a decade plus ahead of it.
Ken was born and bred in Brisbane, Queensland. He had a non-trendy, perfectly happy childhood, in a family convinced alcohol meant instant condemnation to Hades. But a break fishing on the Great Barrier Reef, and some good wine, started a serious obsession that eventually took over. It did not stop Ken being chastised later for drinking Pol champagne, disgusted he’d drink anything made by a Cambodian dictator. Now, Ken mostly writes on wine, champagne and spirits for various newspapers, magazines and books, but is perhaps best known for his work in The Courier Mail. He also has a little sideline writing on cigars, fishing, travel and food. When not writing, fly-fishing for trout in NZ or bonefish on the flats of Cuba, travelling or smoking cigars, he is no doubt following a variety of sporting teams – the occasionally glorious Queensland Reds rugby, the dysfunctional Washington Redskins, the dodgy Arsenal and especially revels in the world restored to its proper axis with the return of the Ashes to their rightful home.
