2023 Save Our Souls Pinot Noir

Now this is the Yarra done right. Pinot, from the value end of the spectrum (when it comes to price), but packing the goods in the flavour and complexity department.

The origin story here sends us back two decades when budding winemaking talents Bill Downie and Jason Searle met among the rows of Bass Phillip in Gippsland. Among an estate famed for producing some of the world's most elite Pinot, it was a fortuitous beginning for a partnership where value was at the centre of everything they would go on to produce.

Both winemakers have rightfully earned credit for the day-jobs, but with the Save our Souls range, they’ve been given a little breathing room to let their creativity fly.

Fruit is sourced from several different vineyards spanning both the Yarra Valley and the Mornington Peninsula. Wine making practices remain aimed at producing savoury, textural wines that speak of place and move into the territory of ‘something interesting’.

2023 in the Yarra was a year of lighter yields as a result of extremely low bunch weights. This resulted in an increased skin to juice ratio, and with it more concentrated flavour and tannin. As the boys say, pair it with a burnt butter, sage & mushroom pasta and crank up some tunes from Chet Baker or Miles Davis, alongside a card-game with friends.

Not a bad way to spend a few bob.