Gulf Station Pinot Noir 2010
Region
Yarra Valley
Appearance
Bright red with garnet hues.
Bouquet
Complex red and dark berry aromas with underlying earth and forest floor characters.
Palate
Medium bodied with intense berry and spice flavours. The palate is textured with length and balance.
Vintage Conditions
The 2009 – 2010 growing season saw our earliest budburst for sometime. Timely rainfall received in early summer gave the vineyard some relief from a dry winter & spring. Conditions for ripening of Pinot Noir were ideal with warm days & cool nights. Fruit was picked in optimal condition.
Winemaking
A mixture a new clone 777 and the traditional MV6 from our estate property at Dixons Creek and our Abbey vineyard at Tarrawarra, both top sites in the Yarra. The handpicked fruit was then hand sorted and destemmed to 6 tonne open fermenters. Fermentation proceeded naturally with ambient yeast from the vineyard and winery. After 21 days maceration and fermentation, the wine was carefully drained to tank and allowed to rest for 24hrs. The clear wine was then racked to French oak casks for maturation.
Wine Analysis
Alc/Vol : 13.0% v/v pH : 3.64 TA : 6.2 g/L
Cellaring
Will continue to develop complexity and interest for up to 6 years if stored in a good cellar.
Suggested Cuisine
Indulge in Confit of duck .
General Characteristics
Dry Medium Bodied
92 Points
"Has to be one of the best pinots under this label and certainly one of the best in the under-$20 category. Has a spicy aroma with slightly savoury note and some rather appealing raspberry and orange zest influences. The palate is beautifully smooth and delicate with excellent structure. Fine tannins add a decent spine to the light to medium-bodied palate. Well worth a look."
, West Australian, December 2011
93 Points
This is a deep one: apple, blackberry, rhubarb crumble-type fruit, with mossy stuff also. Smells fab. Has crispness and plump, caramelised berry flesh on the tongue, becoming quite silky and lasting, pretty long. There's some flintiness and sweet-sharp pomegranate.
Tim White, Financial Review, December 2011
"Affordable pinot noir? You've come to the right place. This has dark cherry flavours to the fore, some earthy, mushroom notes and quite assertive tannins. It is unmistakably pinot - which is not something that can be said about many of it's similarly priced rivals."
Winsor Dobbin, Golf Magazine, December 2011
92 Points
The large Brookland vineyard acquired by De Bortoli a few years ago supplies most of its grapes for its wine. Brightly coloured, it has plenty of interest; the palate is vibrant crunchy-fruited and refreshing on entry, with great energy and generosity to conclude. It will repay cellaring for 3-5.
James Halliday , 1001 Wines Under $20, 2012, December 2011
92 Points
"It can be done at this price: the lift and allure of pinot's trademark perfume, paler brick-red colours, a light touch giving a gentler, raspberry, red currant and strawberry spectrum, a medium-weighted palate and genuine finish."
Tony Love, Adelaide Advertiser, November 2011
From one of De Bortoli’s secondary labels, but don’t let that fool you because
it is seriously good quaffer. Soft and supple, aromatic, lashings of cherry and
plum fruit, integrated spice, lovely balance and a smooth finish.
Kerry Skinner, Illawarra Mercury, September 2011
"This is a fresh, lively young Yarra Valley wine that offers immediate drinking pleasure at a sensible price. It has dark cherry flavours to the fore, some earthy, mushroom notes and quite assertive tannins. It is unmistakeably pinot, which is not something that can be said about many of its similarly-priced rivals. It’s a pinot for enjoying with friends and family, without fuss, and is very good value."
, The Examiner , September 2011
4.5 Stars
" An excellent Yarra Valley pinot at a good price, Gulf Station 2010 smells of sour cherries and ripe plums with a delicate floral note and a light toasty touch. The juicy, forward fruit character suggests whole-berry influence and the mellow-textured, soft tannin palate has lovely gulpability. A real crowd-pleaser."
, The Age, August 2011
92 Points
no review given, just rated
James Halliday, Wine Companion 2012, August 2011
USA
88 Points
"Light and fragrant, glowing with pretty but modest cherry, plum and tar flavors, lingering gently on the refined finish."
Harvey Steiman, Wine Spectator, July 2011
4/5
A cut above
"Every pinotphile's dream - a $20 drop with the lift and allure of the variety's trademark perfume its immediate attraction and classic paler brick-red colours. A light touch in the winery, whole berry fermentation techniques included, have prompted a gentler, raspberry, redcurrant and strawberry fruit spectrum to shine above a lovely, medium-weighted palate with all the necessary hold and finish of many a pricier pinot. Great value."
Tony Love, The Mercury, Courier Mail, Daily Telegraph, Herald Sun, The Advertiser, July 2011
91 Points
"Gulf Station pinot noir has been a star of recent times; as soon as I saw this come in, I ripped the top off it. Tasted this in early February (89 points) but it’s fleshed out over the past few months. It still really needs to be decanted to get anywhere near the best from it – it unfurls given time to breathe. I’m now happy to call it a super release. It tastes of red and black cherries with stewy, macerated flavours serving to knit it all together. Earthen, forest floor notes linger in the background. Tannins are leathery in texture and minerally in flavour. And the aftertaste is impressively lengthy for a wine at this price. There’s nothing particularly – or at all – sweet-fruited about this. It’s savoury and tannic, with full stops of mineral. Time will be kind."
Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front, July 2011
"Looking for a fresh, lively young Yarra Valley red that offers immediate drinking pleasure at a sensible price? You’ve come to the right place. This has dark cherry flavours to the fore, some earthy, mushroom notes and
quite assertive tannins. It is unmistakeably pinot – which is not something that can be said about many of its similarly-priced rivals. A wine for enjoying with friends and family, without fuss, and very good value."
Winsor Dobbin, Ciao Wine Column, July 2011
91 Points
"Grown and made like world class Pinot, smells like rose petals and violets, tastes like cherries, Redskins and herbs, price is cheap and cheerful."
Tyson Stelzer, Wine 100, June 2011
USA
85 Points
"Pale ruby colored, the 2010 Gulf Station Pinot Noir presents a moderate intensity of warm cranberry, sour cherry and ripe strawberry aromas over delicate notes of underbrush and game. Crisp, light to medium bodied and with a moderate amount of flavor concentration, the palate lends a medium level of chewy tannins and a medium-long, slightly astringent finish. Drink it now to 2013."
Lisa Perotti-Brown, eRobertParker, June 2011
4.5 Stars
"One of the best value pinot noirs around, this elegant wine belies its price tag, due to both the economies of scale and expertise available at De Bortoli's large Yarra outpost. Cherry, spice and blossom meet the nose, while a silky texture, delicate plummy flavour, and a sustained, fragrant finish mark the palate."
Ralph Kyte-Powell, The Age, March 2011
"The savoury palate is well-balanced with loads of red fruit." KK
"Stewed plums and toasty characters dominate the nose with red cherries on the palate." BD
Kate Kriven and Beth Dorrough, National Liquor News, November 2010
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