2024 Garagiste Terre De Feu Pinot Noir

95 POINTS

Jane Faulkner - Halliday Wine Companion

A small parcel of fruit, always 100% whole bunches, makes its mark with Terre de Feu – it’s a style Barnaby Flanders has mastered. It’s distinctive and, if you’re wanting a pinot with purity of fruit, drink one of the single-vineyard wines he makes. The whole bunches impart a strongly fragrant, earthy, sappy, twiggy and smoky character. It’s deep, complex and rich with dark cherries, warm tar, licorice, chinotto and wet iron. Fuller bodied, densely packed with tannins, cedary smoky oak and spices, yet plenty of refreshing acidity lifts and extends the finish. A wine for food and better with some mellow time in bottle.

93 POINTS

Gary Walsh - The Wine Front

This is 100% whole bunch, and I have to say, I’m not a fan of a lot of whole bunch in Pinot Noir, though one reviews what’s in the glass regardless.  Whole bunch is like salt for me; a seasoning component. As a sidebar, I’m mad for high quality mescal, so that maybe runs counter to what I’m saying here. Still, that’s not wine, though the ones I like are artisanal products all the same. Anyway, if you want a more classic Pinot Noir, try the Merricks 2024 – HERE. I like that better, more as a matter of personal taste than quality. Smoky mescal-like smells, capsicum, orange peel and amaro, dark cherry juice, almost a liquorice richness here, and I’m a regular consumer of those very bitter tiny Italian treats that come packaged in cute metal boxes with classic and interesting graphics. There’s some roast coffee and chicory, a damp earthy character too, firm granular tannin of impact and grip, and excellent length. This wine is A LOT. It’s not for me, though it’s very good example of this overt style. You have been warned!