Savaterre

Pinot Noir

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  Vintage 2017
  94 points Halliday Wine Companion

While many have opted for other cultivars over pinot noir in Beechworth of late, Keppel Smith persists. And for the better! For even as it gets warmer on these sub-alpine granitic slopes, there is something febrile about the pinot at this address, accentuated by a minimal hand in the winery: natural yeast, fining and filtration eschewed and sulphur-dioxide levels psychologically reassuring, little more. A sandalwood forest floor scent greets the first whiff. Candied orange rind, root beer and turmeric to clove, alluding to whole-cluster in the mix. Woodsy red berry scents, too, but the lead solo is the texture: spindly tannins, expansive and moreish. Akin to nebbiolo. Then the key riff of volatility conferring zest and lift, sensitively appointed to the style at hand.