Description
Rob’s Yarra Valley Pinot has a track record of being a bit tightly wound on release but rewarding time in the bottle. I’d happily buy a dozen of this and hide it for 12 months to get the most. At the moment it has fragrant red and blue fruits and spices but the palate is lean and compact still. The balance and harmony in this wine means it is good drinking but in 6 or 12 months it will be amazing. It certainly opens up with air or a decant, so don’t be scared to tip it into a jug and back into the bottle.
Rob Hall has done some magical things when it comes to wine. He’s worked at big and small places making outstanding quality wines. Most notably he has worked at Mount Mary and Kellybrook. He has also been making wines under his own label sourced from his family vineyard near Healesville and local fruit. Yarra Valley Pinot Noir and Chardonnay are the main wines here, both are made for younger drinking, offering great quality and value. Further releases of interesting parcel sourced from around the Yarra will only add to his legend.
Yarra Valley
A region that is just too big to generalise about. The difference between Upper and Lower Yarra can be the ability to ripen some grapes or not. Great wines are made in the Yarra but it is best to know the producers.
Pinot Noir
This is the most elusive grape. It is relatively early ripening and extremely sensitive to terroir. Its perfect place on earth is the Cote d’Or in Burgundy. So haunting are great red Burgundy’s charms that growers everywhere try to emulate them. Pinot Noir is not just a one trick pony, it can make great reds, rosé, sparkling and even sweet wines, whites on occasion and I’ve tasted a decent fortified Pinot Noir too.