Adelaide Hills Winter Wine Reviews

Adelaide Hills | $50 | 13.5%
From the most celebrated of the Hills Pinot producers, this is its wide-angle view of what Piccadilly Valley is all about, fruit sourced from five separate vineyards harvested over two weeks after a warmer end of ripening season vintage.
A portion of whole bunches were included in the ferments, which has resulted in lifted aromatics, and flavours are richly expressed as well. Cherry crush juices, with a faint note of mouthwatering tonic bitters, peppery spices and an earthy minerally textural feel all give this wine its district personality.
Ashton Hills also has Estate and Reserve variations in its Pinot portfolio that come purely from the celebrated Ashton vineyard – they’re all properly prized Hills icons.

Adelaide Hills | $55 | 13.2%
From a steep block on the Broderick family estate, the original winemakers of Basket Range. Here harnessing dual clones MV6 and 777 both at harvest and later at barrel selection time to showcase the thrill of Pinot’s highly perfumed aromatics that from this site swirl with crushed mulberry, black pepper heading a mixed spice rack, with cardamom too.
Deeply embedded layers rising out of the glass keep the nose entertained, the palate keeping its feet on the ground with savoury thyme senses that have a sweet floral feel as well, neatly threaded with structural elegance that enhances the aromatic flavours within. Delicious wine.

Adelaide Hills | $85 | 14%
Selected from just a few special rows at the top of MLRV’s steep Lenswood vineyards, multiple clones included, and historically 100% whole bunch pressed. Created as the top estate wine every year, it certainly embraces the inner power that Lenswood Pinot can carry, here tightly wound with aromas of dark cherry, fennel bulb-like anise notes, rainy day wooded forest smells and a notable minerality.
All this reverbs in the palate, a lively acidity pulsating through, chalk-dusted tannins softly coating the mouth.
A Pinot designed for longevity and a decent rest in the cellar before it reveals even more desirable varietal pleasures.
Mt Lofty Ranges also offer other variations on the Pinot theme, with a more fruit forward style, the “Aspire”, and accessible “Old Pump Shed” easy-going version, and a Methode Traditionelle sparkling Blanc de Noirs.

Adelaide Hills | $68 | 13.5%
Grown and made by father Justin Scanlon and son Harry from their estate plantings in the Carey Gully district of the Piccadilly Valley, the wine named in memory of their wife and mother Joanne Mary. The JMS is billed as their reserve style, built with more backbone than an Estate release, and while that might suggest the JMS could be a robust and muscly style, it is however a masterclass in what Pinot Noir elegance can be even in higher powered mode. It’s fragrant with a dusting of dried herbs and flowers, followed by a palate that exudes cherry juice offset by a touch of amaro-like bitters complemented with a light note of French oak vanilla sweetness. Complex for sure.
As with Pinots of such calibre, the natural fruit acidity is refreshing and drives the wine gently from underneath, the tannins soft and unobtrusive. All class.

Adelaide Hills | $35 | 13.5%
Sourced and blended from two distinct districts in the Hills, Kuitpo Forest in the south-western sector of the region as well as Kenton Valley in the centre-north. The focus here is on the clever winemaking which tends towards a flint-like note in the wine’s nose and palate, savoury lines and peppery spices enveloping neatly framed fruit into a stylish design.
A Kuitpo component from the Christmas Hill Vineyard also finds its way into another release from the same crew, Aptitude Pinot Noir 2025 ($48) which also carries similar flintiness, but with greater fruit concentration – excellent wine with an exciting palate scaffold, flavour expression and enduring deliciousness.

Adelaide Hills | $55 | 12%
Pinot Noir is also one of the key varieties in sparkling wines, another of the Hills celebrated wine offerings. Here it makes up 79% of this superb pale pink rose sparkling harvested from the Honey Moon Vineyard estate plantings in Echunga, the rest is Piccadilly Valley and Charleston grown Chardonnay.
The MV stands for multiple vintage vinification, the wine made by the Methode Traditionelle (Champagne-style) process, close to half of it from the 2023 season with reserve wines back as far as 2012 included. It’s quite the “adult” drink, savoury, almost saline, brined green olive on one hand, red berry crunch and tang on the other. Its palate gastronomics are pleasingly mouthwatering with a subtle bitterness, making this a most attractive aperitif that speaks of elite sparkling styling.