2021 Paringa Estate Pinot Noir 12 Pack

95 POINTS

Jane Faulkner - Halliday Wine Companion

Not a shy and retiring wine, but by golly this is good. Full of forest floor and menthol aromas, flavours of dark cherries, rhubarb, chinotto and blood orange with lots of refreshing acidity but also plenty of tannins. Fuller bodied, firm and forceful yet the fruit is sweetly flavoured across the palate. There’s a lot going on in this wine.

95 POINTS

Gary Walsh - The Wine Front

I often think of Paringa Estate as making a bolder style of Pinot Noir, though that has changed over the past number of years. Now they have a vaguely Italianate (Etna v Verduno Pelaverga) quality, which of course I love. But don’t mind me. Quite some perfume here, dried roses, aniseed and mint, spiced strawberry and red cherry. It’s medium-bodied (and only just), has plenty of red fruit, but also a pleasing blood orange and amaro tang, tannin is fine with a pumice stone feel, there’s a quiet succulence, but also a firm acid line, which carries on to a sappy and white peppery finish of excellent length. It’s bony and brisk, but absolutely delicious and individual. I like it a whole lot.

92 POINTS

Tina Gellie - Decanter

Lindsay McCall is one of the region's pioneers, and his wines are exemplars of the Mornington style. This is his entry-level Pinot, made from estate and purchased fruit, and in 2021 offers a more restrained, elegant palate, with quite structured but fine tannins, bright red cherry and plum flavours and crisp acidity.

91 POINTS

Erin Larkin - Robert Parker Wine Advocate

The 2021 Estate Pinot Noir leads with a firm bouquet of sour cherry, bramble, clove, a hint of star anise and layers of dehydrated orange peel. The fruit is lean and shaped by fine, grippy tannins and tart plum-skin acidity. It's savory and silky at the same time with a subtle malty, caramel sort of character through the finish. 13% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.

91 POINTS

Campbell Mattinson - The Wine Front

This wine is sound and solid through the finish but not outstanding in that regard, and it’s my only (very) minor quibble. In all other respects it’s lovely, and complex, and delicious, and is worth more than its asking price. Complex undergrowth and red cherry flavours with twiggy spice and cedar. It’s balanced, it’s interesting, it’s an excellent mix of fruitiness and savouriness, and it drinks like a charm.

90 POINTS

Jane Faulkner - Halliday Wine Companion

Sure it has all the cherries and pips, warming spices and florals, but it’s also lightly savoury with supple tannins, although its acidity is leading the way. Refreshing and uncomplicated.

90 POINTS

Huon Hooke - The Real Review

Medium-light red with purple tints, and a lightly spiced bouquet of dark cherry with a note of licorice that points towards a high degree of ripeness. The palate is bold and big-framed with solid tannins that supply a drying grip to the back-palate and finish. Food with protein is recommended. A gutsy pinot.