Kooyong Ferrous Pinot Noir 2020
- 95
- $75
- Drink by: 2022-2030
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The Ferrous Vineyard is a single block, with the fruit coming from a section of only 0.79 hectares. The vines are 22 years of age. This sector includes a far higher percentage of ironstone pebbles than elsewhere in the vineyard and the team believe that this is what contributes to the concentration found in the wine and its ‘savoury tannic presence’. Fermentation, with wild yeasts, includes a percentage of whole bunches which took 17 days. The wine is then racked into French oak barriques, 27% new. A single racking with 14 months maturation. No fining or filtration.
The cooler vintage contributes to the linear nature of the structure and the wine’s focus. Red fruits, floral notes, spices, raspberries, cloves and more, plus a slight briary note. There is serious concentration here and power. Good acidity throughout and silky tannins lingering. Six to eight years improvement, and then this should remain a wine of power for some time. At the moment, the score for me is only marginally above their Estate Pinot, which currently benefits from its more welcoming structure and generosity, but with time, this will edge further and further ahead. And time it deserves.
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.
