Pertaringa Lakeside Pinot Noir 2022

For many years, winelovers would moan that the chances of finding enjoyable Pinot Noir for twenty bucks or less was on a par with finding an orangutan in your backyard. These days, it might not be quite so impossible but they are still thin on the ground. We have one for you. The wine spent nine months in French oak, 10% of it new, though you’d never know it, such is the seamless integration. From Adelaide Hills fruit, this offers a deep red hue, a little more than many Pinots but nothing like the colour we expect in a good Barossa Shiraz, for example – it is why colour should always be taken with a grain of salt. The nose offers lovely dried herbs and plums, bright floral notes and red fruits. Mid-weight in style, it is a wine of medium length, though one feels it is building to something and, over the next few years, expect more. There is a delicious cherry liqueur character on the palate too. Lovely drinking today and over the next three to four years – this is a very well made Pinot.