Grosset Pinot Noir 2004 Grosset Pinot Noir 2004

The 2004 Grosset Pinot is vibrant, fine, tightly structured, has silky texture and great length. It will develop in the short term and may be cellared for up to five years, if you can resist the temptation to drink it sooner.

As in previous years, 40 percent was whole-bunched fermented and immediately after pressing was run into barrels (60 percent new barriques) and matured for twelve months.

Acknowledged as the original varieties of Burgundy, pinot noir and chardonnay seem to have found a new and exciting home in the Adelaide Hills. While various producers have built their reputation on one or other of these varieties, none has equalled the success Grosset has enjoyed with this pair of noble varieties grown in the Adelaide Hills. Ralph Kyte-Powell writing in The Age in June 2004 said that "Jeff Grosset's meticulous winemaking isn't confined to riesling". Nor, for that matter, to the Clare Valley, and given that the re-planting of vineyards in the Adelaide Hills has only occurred since the early 1980's, their full potential is only just emerging. 

In answer to the question whether or not Grosset Pinot Noir is Burgundian, Jeffrey Grosset says the wine is not, but the techniques employed to produce it are. Or at least they have been until this vintage. After eleven years there has been a subtle change in approach involving the use of new fermenters which automatically but gently plunge the pinot. These fermenters are a revolutionary innovation not only because of their precision - they can be timed to plunge at regular intervals - but also because they remove the need to foot plunge at three in the morning!

Comparison with great Burgundy is, of course, inevitable, and although the description of the wines in the tasting notes to follow alludes to a different taste, their structure and finesse - qualities that pinot lovers often value the most - reflect the distinctly mild days and cold nights of the central Adelaide Hills.

As has been usual in recent years, this has been sourced from the same two Adelaide Hills vineyards and continues to show more depth and length of flavour as the vines mature. It is delightfully fragrant with characteristic aromas of Adelaide Hills pinot: dark plums, sour cherries and follows through with similar savoury flavours on the mid palate while the aftertaste lingers long in the memory. The wine is intense, has good weight and is beautifully focused. It appears more youthful than usual and not as overtly ripe as in some years (despite that it shows no unripe characters - it is just more restrained).

Reviews

Ralph Kyte-Powell & Huon Hooke
The Penguin Good Australian WINE GUIDE 2007
This is a very impressive pinot.  Good depth of colour; lovely bouquet of black cherry, backed up by classy oak.  It's nicely concentrated with lots of flesh, fruit-sweetness and extract.  The tannins are supple and almost chewy.  A pinot of real power and density, the flavour persisting in the mouth for a long time after swallowing. Absolutely yummy!
Quality: 5 glasses
Rating: 96 points

Jeremy Oliver
www.onwine.com.au
A pristine, perfumed and precisely flavoured pinot noir whose delicate rose petal perfume of raspberries, strawberries and lightly toasty vanilla oak reveals nuances of confectionary and bacon.  Despite its finesse and silkiness, it's deeply fruited and surprisingly astringent; likely to build more depth of flavour and firmness of structure with time in the bottle.  It finishes long, with undertones of earthiness.  91 Points