Mewstone Pinot Noir D'Entrecasteaux Channel 2022

Brothers Matthew and Jonathan Hughes planted the Mewstone vineyard in 2011 on the banks of the D'Entrecasteaux Channel, in Flowerpot, southern Tasmania — a former cherry orchard transformed into one of the island's most closely watched small producers. Jonny, the winemaker, brings genuinely global experience to the project, having studied at Lincoln University in New Zealand and worked vintages in Langhorne Creek, Central Otago, the Mornington Peninsula, Barolo, the Hunter Valley, and Canada's Okanagan Valley before returning home to Tasmania, where he spent years as assistant winemaker at Moorilla and later Pooley — the same cellar where Mewstone's wines are still made today. The philosophy here is unapologetically low-intervention: wild ferments, gentle handling, no unnecessary additions, and bottling unfined and unfiltered wherever possible, with every wine estate-grown entirely from the family's own 5.5-hectare Flowerpot site, just 600 metres from the water's edge.

That coastal proximity shows directly in the glass: a sea-kissed, saline thread runs beneath pure cherry, wild strawberry, and raspberry fruit, layered with exotic spice, pomegranate, dried blossom, and a touch of gamey, savoury depth. The palate is graceful and detailed, finishing with a distinctive stony flick that speaks clearly of its maritime terroir — a hallmark of the D'Entrecasteaux Channel's ability to produce Pinot Noir of real precision and longevity.