2021 Bass Phillip "Estate" Pinot Noir Gippsland Victoria

From fruit in Leongatha, planted in 1996. The nose has an iron-oxide lift, and the palate tingles with a fine pepperiness that seems to accentuate ripeness but also red fruit. There is tension and an edge of mouthwatering, pithy bitter liquorice. The body is fluid, slender and refreshing with a sense of depth that is most appetising. This spent 14 months in 20% new barrels.(AK)

Bass Phillip has long had a cult-like following in Australia, but its acquisition by famed Burgundian winemaker Jean-Marie Fourrier in 2020 only has caused demand for the wines – which have always been exceedingly difficult to source – to grow even more. Located in Gippsland, a cool-climate region in Victoria to the southeast of Melbourne, Bass Phillip has consistently produced lean, elegant examples of Pinot Noir that defy expectations of the style of wine Australia can produce. This part of the country has a maritime climate, with cold winds sweeping onshore from the nearby Bass Strait, lowering ripeness potential and lending incredible tension and structure to the wines. Jean-Marie Fourrier had previously worked as a consultant at Bass Phillip, and he too was taken with the landscape and the potential of the terroir, so much so that when the opportunity arose to purchase the estate, he accepted. His intention is not to be an absentee owner, but rather work two harvests per year, so that he can maintain influence over the winemaking, blending and bottling. 2021 was the first vintage where he was fully in control of the winemaking, and the results are lovely: brooding black cherry and plum on the nose that mingles with a delicately elegant note of dried violet, all tied together with supple, fine-grained tannins and a finish that lingers. This Pinot Noir perfectly balances power with finesse, and the nod to a Burgundian sense of restraint and emphasis on terroir is clear. With the demand of these wines growing each year, this is one – also priced at a tiny fraction of what Fourrier’s Burgundies cost – to collect by the case.