Product Description:
Introducing the latest releases from Chatto. Bird is one of four captivating single vineyard impressions of Pinot Noir which also includes Seven Inch, Killara Farm, Franklinii, and Lutruwita. Fruit for each of these wines was handpicked, hand sorted, destemmed with a percentage of whole bunch. A mix of new and old oak for 10 months.
Planted by Tasmanian pioneer Dr Andrew Pirie, Bird vineyard is one of the newer (15 yo) sites in the Pipers River region in the north east of Tasmania. Thanks to the generosity of the team at Pipers Brook, Chatto are lucky to get a lovely parcel of clone 114 Pinot from the Bird Vineyard. The most elegant of their ‘Grower’ wines Bird, displays bright and crunchy red fruits, laced with super aromatic spice. Ethereal and racy, with a long sapid finish. A lot of intensity packed into a lighter frame.
Maker:
Jim Chatto is one of the best winemakers in Australian wine today. He’s also one of the busiest. Jim was made Chief Winemaker for the McWilliam’s Wines Group in 2013. In 2017 he also took on the role of Chief Winemaker for Kreglinger/Pipers Brook in Tasmania. He now oversees the entire Group’s winemaking efforts. He works closely with the team at Mount Pleasant, providing style direction and mentoring teams, but it’s a less hands-on role. That’s given him energy to focus on his own wine brand, Chatto Wines, which he and his wife Daisy started in 2000 while living in the Hunter Valley. Pinot Noir is Jim’s current obsession. He and Daisy live on their own vineyard in Huon Valley in Tasmania’s far south – a cold and very different climate from the warmth of Hunter Valley. Theirs is a “tiny vineyard making serious Pinot fun” and in a short amount of time, Jim’s produced extraordinary wines that have won critical acclaim.
Often it’s left to the younger generations to challenge the status quo and forge new paths. But not in Jim’s case. This experienced winemaker and senior wine show judge has been helping to define modern Australian wine for years, and he’s not slowing down any time soon. Jim Chatto believes ‘every time you produce a wine you’re putting yourself out there, and that’s a very strong driver to produce the best wine you possibly can.’
Vineyard:
Huon Valley is a wine region in southern Tasmania, just south of Hobart. The area's cool climate and high sunshine hours make it a perfect region for the production of complex, high-quality Chardonnay- and Pinot Noir-based wines in particular. All together, this is one of Tasmania's most viticulturally important areas, and is home to a significant portion of the island's wine industry. The climate is of particular importance here. Huon Valley has a cool, maritime-influenced climate in the protective rain shadow of mountains to the west. Grapes can remain on the vine well into autumn as the gentle, late-summer warmth allows for a long, slow ripening period, balancing flavour development with acidity. Many of Huon Valley's vineyards are located on the slopes above the river, where the aspect and drainage in the alluvial limestone soils makes for a healthy vineyard. North-facing slopes help to maximize sunlight while protecting from cold southerly winds from the Antarctic. The river itself also serves to moderate temperatures, adding another element to the region's varied mesoclimates.
Tasting Notes:
Nose - Flowering Basil, Red Cherry, Poach Strawberry
Crunchy red fruits, laced with super aromatic spice.
Palate - Frisky, Bright, Pumice Stone
It’s a light wine, kind of frisky and bright, a light pumice stone grip to tannin, has some orange juice flavour in the mix, and maybe some almond cake.
Finish - Orange, Almond Cake, Bony
Ethereal and racy, with a long sapid finish. A lot of intensity packed into a lighter frame.
Quite a lot of mint and menthol here, flowering basil even, red cherry, spice, poached strawberry. It’s a light wine, kind of frisky and bright, a light pumice stone grip to tannin, has some orange juice flavour in the mix, and maybe some almond cake, but gee, it’s a bit edgy and just on the cusp of ripeness, still, it’s certainly lively. Bony and minty, but interesting all the same. - Gary Walsh, The Wine Front.
The Finer Details
Style - Red Wine
Varietal - Pinot Noir
Country - Australia
Region - Huon Valley, Tasmania
Vintage - 2023
Bottle Size - 750ml
ABV - 13.5%
