2024 Marco Lubiana Pinot Noir

Marco Lubiana is one of the country's most exciting young winemakers, and the 2024 release only further reinforces this reputation.

Marco’s estate blocks in the Derwent Valley are starting to show real personality now, and the 2024 season gave him exactly the kind of fruit that lets that shine. It was a more typical year after the cool, slow 2023 vintage. Spring was steady, summer warm and dry, and the Pinot came off in great condition most of it picked by mid March. Clean bunches, good flavour, no stress in the winery.

This release brings together fruit from the close planted young vines, the older alluvial block lower down the slope, and a few parcels from the higher clay and chalk soils. It’s a mix of clones and sites that Marco seems to understand instinctively. With better phenolic ripeness in 2024, he pushed whole bunch to around 50%, and brought in a little more new oak about 15% to give the wine some extra backbone and perfume.

The result is a Pinot that feels both serious and approachable. Red and darker fruits, a savoury line, and tannins that are firmer and more structural than you might expect. It’ll age well, but if you’re opening it now, a quick decant really helps it open up.

94+ points
"Serious feeling wine, tense and firm; reserved and for the long term. Very good."
- Mike Bennie (The Wine Front)