I've long thought Best's Meunier the best of its kind in Australia and this vintage convinces. It is fragrant with rose, cherry and spice. On the palate it gives strawberry, black cherry flavours, with that sweet fruit mid-palate backed by hints of amaro and baking spice on the long finish. Delicacy marks this wine. It floats with silky flow and drive. Tannin there, but so fine. A unique wine on the landscape and one to experience!

Last Saturday (8/6/19 my wife Di and I had a bottle of this wine (and the LSV Shiraz) to taste and review and thought we would put on a dinner and invite our fellow wine loving neighbors over to share the experience and their thoughts. We tasted the wine with an entree of a charcuterie platter- a sorpresa salami, a garlic metwurst a capocollo and a few slices of Portuguese chicken breast- after all the tasting notes suggested pairing it with an old guys homemade salami. On pouring into the glass the color of the wine was to our eyes a light blood red/ ruby; it wasn’t opaque but had a brilliance like a ruby; the bouquet was quite delicate- it didn’t have the “Pinot pong” you sometimes get with pinots-instead to our noses it was subtle red cherry/ strawberry with a hint of earthiness and a nuance of perfume ( you wouldn’t go far wrong dabbing a bit of this wine behind your ears!). The general consensus was the bouquet boded well for what was to follow. Getting down to business end and actually tasting the wine we decided on a two stage approach - trying it before and after food- that’s the luxury of having a bottle to taste- how anyone can truly appreciate any wine on a single thimbleful tasting is beyond me... On its own before food we picked up notes of cherry and red currant with some of that earthiness following through from the bouquet; All agreed it was silky smooth, well balanced with the tannins in harmony with, rather tan overpowering the fruit; overall this wine came across as more savory than spicy, and was a joy to roll it around the mouth- when finally swallowed (you’d never spit out such good wine, surely?) the finish was reasonably long so all boxes ticked so far. With the charcuterie the view in common was that the wine and meats complimented each other without the wine being overpowered, even by the garlic metwurst; we thought the wine opened up more and the savory aspects of the wine were enhanced. If you want to pair this wine with something more elaborate than a platter we collectively would recommend a Moroccan Chicken and Almond Pie (B’stilla) it has a savory/ sweet flavor that this wine would compliment beautifully

This jury was able to bring in an unanimous verdict, finding this wine guilty of being a seriously elegant wine - Class in a Glass if you like; it’s always a good sign when you are in no hurry to swallow a wine; this a wine worth giving a leisurely tour of your tastebuds; it’s by no means a blockbuster but it proves that big is not always best; the neighbors thought it reminded them of a Chateau de Mersault Pinot villages from Beaune; I can’t vouch for a big call like that myself but comparing this wine to that of one of the biggest and best Beaune winemakers is high praise indeed; Di and red wine don’t normally agree with each other but this one was a wine she came back for more of; we did and I’m sure you will too.

P.S.This wine may well develop its savoury characters with a few years in the cellar but why wait- it’s drinking beautifully now. James Halliday is in our view a little stingey giving this wine only 93 points; on our assessment we think it’s a 95.

We had a group of 6 try a few wines together and we all think this may be the first PM driven wine any of us have had so found ourselves comparing it to a Pinot Noir, as a reference. It was very light and bright in colour. The nose was quite restrained and we struggled to find much beyond soft earth and a hint of spice. There were mixed responses on the palate, with earth and wood being the main consensus. It definitely opened up as we drank it so ensure you decant for optimum enjoyment. With decent acidity, and a very restrained palate, I think this would be a great gateway wine for people who "only like white" to start their enlightened journey into the amazing world of red wine.

A wonderful ‘armchair’ wine – it is delicious, silky, fruit forward with very low tannins. The 2017 Pinot Meunier Pinot Noir is very well made and balanced. We can attest that it can happily be drunk on its own to celebrate the beginning of the weekend. Akin to a North Fitzroy hipster, it has a slight attitude on the nose but is also very pretty to look at with a bright ruby colour. The perfect ‘change of season’ red wine. A lovely bottle to bridge between the white wines of summer and the big, bold red wines of winter.