Port Phillip Estate Morillon Pinot Noir 2023

A picture-perfect mate to the Morillon Chardonnay. Planted in 1987, fruit is off the oldest block of Pinot Noir on iron and magnesium basalt soils which bring a natural mineral lift and energy – a word often used when describing Morillon – to the glass. Its youth is evident and oh so drinkable, but there is opportunity for future ageing and development – a win win kind of wine. Red cherry, plum, mulberry, vanilla with rose petal, blood orange skin aromatics and dried herbs travel a firm line of minerally acidity running long and direct. Tannins are fine cut adding to a wine which can be easily described in one word: elegant. The Morillon block seems to always bring a touch of pomegranate – a mix of the tart and the sweet – which adds to the general taste sensation.

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