On Tuesday this week I met up with the lovely Samantha O’Keefe to taste through her impressive new Lismore releases. What a pleasant surprise to get a sneak peek at her newly bottled Lismore Pinot Noir 2016!

Made from a blend of 50% Stanford Pinot Noir and 50% Kaaimangat Pinot Noir fruit, all 115 clone, coming in at 13 Abv. Grapes were fermented in a 5000L tank with 10% whole bunch. The wine was then aged in a mix of older 225L barriques and new 500L barrels.

Tasting Note: This wine, despite being newly bottled, is fabulously vibrant and fresh with the most attractive sour cherry, sweet spice, cherry blossom nose. The fruits are so pure and crunchy and display wonderful mid palate tension and superb textural elegance. I love the pristine purity of the fruits, very much in the red berry spectrum with plenty of Cotes de Beaune nuances. The finish is focused, soft and linear with attractive strawberry fruit and foresty bramble berry notes, pointing to the Stanford influence. A wonderful vein of acidity is evident throughout, balanced by the weightier, fleshy Kaaimansgat fruit density. A truly impressive wine that definitely has Burgundy in its DNA. 

(Wine Safari Score: 93+/100 Greg Sherwood MW)