Pooley Pinot Noir Cooinda Vale Oronsay 2020

Oronsay is the pinnacle of the Pooley range, a very limited bottling from the best eight barrels of the Cooinda Vale vineyard, which Denis and Margaret Pooley first planted in 1985 in the Coal River Valley. Anna Pooley, third-generation winemaker since 2013, has led the estate to Halliday's Winery of the Year in 2023. The fruit comes from the oldest vines on the estate, from block 9, planted to the Pommard clone in earlier vintages and to the Abel "gumboot" clone in recent releases, on iron-poor soils in a sheltered nook north of Campania. It is a bold, whole-bunch wine, with 80–100% whole bunches, hand-sorted, and 10 to 14 months in French oak, with about half new.

The result is restrained, polished and structured. Cedarwood, kirsch, oakmoss and warming spice lead, then poached strawberry, dark cherry, earth and allspice, with understated tannin, bright acidity and a graceful line. The estate's signature orange citrus notes show in cooler years, and tasters describe it as driven by structure as much as fruit: "a proper wine of the soil".