Franco D’Anna of Hoddles Creek Estate. Hoddles Creek Estate

Pinot Noir has had a presence in Australia since the early 1800s, first via John Macarthur, then again in the 1830s courtesy of James Busby, but it wasn’t until the later part of the 20^th century that pinot noir began to penetrate into the cooler climate regions of Australia.

With the rise (and re-rise) of regions such as the Yarra Valley, Mornington Peninsula, Tasmania and the Adelaide Hills in the 1960s and 70s, pinot noir became an integral part of the viticultural landscape of these regions, which are now synonymous with world class pinot noir.

Pinot noir is a variety that is notoriously fickle and performs best in a cooler, temperate climate, and in Australia this is delivered via altitude or latitude. And because of its temperamental nature and its propensity to best perform in the more premium regions of the country, pinot noir is typically at the more expensive end of the price spectrum. Hence inexpensive, quality pinot noir is hard to come by, but as plantings increase, volumes increase, and there needs to be an outlet for the ‘declassified’ wines.

The larger wineries of the regions generally have a number of quality and price tiers to their pinot noirs, and at the lower levels, this is where the real value can be found. Quality pinot noir should display fragrance, fruit purity and deliver complexity and mouth-feel, and the four wines selected below tick the boxes across these criteria. These are wines that don’t pretend to be grand cru Burgundy, or indeed top-flight Aussie, but are smart examples of what pinot noir can produce to give the consumer a starting point for this wondrous and seductive variety.

Wickhams Road is the sub-label of Hoddles Creek Estate, established by the D’Anna family in 1997. They produce fabulous examples of pinot noir under the Hoddles Creek label, but it is their Wickhams Road label that delivers amazing value and absolute pinot noir typicity. The latest release Wickhams Road Yarra Valley Pinot Noir 2024 has plenty of bright, crunchy red fruit and textured tannin and shape and for around AUD $20, it over delivers big time.

Like Wickhams Road, Ninth Island from Tasmania is also the ‘second label’ of a top tier producer in Pipers Brook Vineyard. Established in 1974, Pipers Brook Vineyard was a pioneer of grape growing and winemaking on ‘The Apple Isle’. The Ninth Island Pinot Noir 2024 delivers a decent hit of cherry and red fruits and captures enough of the variety to keep things interesting.

Over in South Australia, in the Adelaide Hills, the origin of Lambrook Wines is more recent. Established in 2008 by Adam and Brook Lampit, Lambrook’s Seed Pinot Noir 2024 captures a good amount of Adelaide Hills pinot noir characteristics, with lovely fragrance, a plump red fruitedness and a nice lick of tannin.

Back in Tasmania, and again with one of the established labels of the region: Devil’s Corner. This used to sit as a sub-label to Tamar Ridge, but now, under the ownership of Brown Family Wines, these two brands are separate propositions, and there’s some rich pickings across both brands when it comes to pinot noir. The Devil’s Corner Pinot Noir 2023 delivers a significant amount of persuasive pinot noir for around AUD $25. A wine that speaks of its place and brings all the exotic, nuanced characteristics of pinot noir to the table.

Pinot noir has come a long way in Australia over the last half a century, with the focus firmly being on sites, clones and vinification techniques. The flow-on effect and benefits of winemakers’ obsession with pinot noir are such that even in the lower price points, there will be pinot noirs that deliver real pinosity, with purity, precision and poise.