Rivulet Pinot Noir 2024

“This is grown on the Elsewhere vineyard, which is the oldest vineyard in Tasmania’s Huon Valley. This vineyard was established in 1982, and is dry-grown. As Rivulet’s Keira O’Brien writes, “Elsewhere Vineyard is in the deep south of Tasmania, between Huonville and Cygnet, at the edge of viticultural possibility.” Production of this wine was only 145 dozen.

I met Keira once, a lifetime ago. Her journey since has been a river with many twists and turns, all of them remarkable or – to use her more exquisite word – a rivulet. Whatever word you use, Keira O’Brien is the real deal. She never makes a bad wine. From afar at least she comes across as the perfect combination of grace, determination, hard work and talent.

This wine is still settling, as if still rehearsing its lines and/or songs, but the set list that it has at its disposal is killer. The depth of fruit here, the inbuilt complexity, the wave of perfectly formed tannin and extension through the finish; every aspect is top notch. It tastes of both black cherries and red plums, cedarwood and cream, but it’s the tobacco and undergrowth characters humming away in the background and that rumble of earth-shot tannin that really draws you in. Be patient. This will be excellent. 94 points. - Campbell Mattinson, WIne Front. 

Toffee, black currant, darker raspberry, velvet liqueur, cranberry paste, crushed rocks, mineral earth feel. Good length and bright acid. A good structural dna with a little puppy fat showing in this early stage. Mitch Milicich, FWC