Squitchy Lane Yarra Valley Merlot 2024

This is a first for the producer – a stand-alone, limited release Merlot. The vines were planted in 1982 with the intention of playing a role in a Cabernet Sauvignon blend, which it does, but in 2024 the fruit was too good to ignore. Still very much early days for this complex youngster, but the partnership of aromatics and plush fruit promises a very bright future. Red plum, blueberry, violet, rose petal and spice aromas – lifted and lively. The palate brings ripe blueberries, red berries, plum, spice and florals to the fore. Background savoury notes are starting to emerge, building as the wine crosses the tongue, in earthy, undergrowth, herbal with background notes of new leather polished oak. Tannins are firm, earthy and chewy. A quality Yarra Valley Merlot that can take medium-term ageing.

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