Red Claw Pinot Noir 2024

Red Claw is the second label of Yabby Lake, one of the Mornington Peninsula's finest producers. Business couple Robert and Mem Kirby, longtime landowners on the Peninsula, established the vineyard in 1998 in the Mooroduc sub-region, and it is now led by winemaker Tom Carson, widely regarded as one of Australia's top winemakers. Red Claw is made by the same team following the same principles as the single-vineyard wines, with the emphasis on wines that are bright, juicy and expressive when young. The fruit is handpicked, sorted and carefully destemmed with about 10% whole bunches, cold-soaked for three days, fermented in open fermenters and aged ten months in 500-litre French oak puncheons. The 2025 blends clones MV6, G5V15, 115, 667, Abel, D4V2 and 114.

The result is a perfumed, fragrant Pinot Noir. Cherry and red fruits lead, with a touch of spice and French oak, and the palate is silky and elegant, with juicy cherry and red berry fruit, a plush, velvety texture and a finely poised finish. It is not a complex, serious Pinot, more a pleasure to drink at any time.