Pooley
Pooley is a Mattinson 10-Star Winery — Campbell Mattinson's highest honour.
Tasmania.
Anna Pooley has been a star of Australian winemaking since, effectively, she started working at Treasury Wine Estates over twenty years ago. What she has achieved however at her family estate – she’s the granddaughter of founders Denis and Margaret Pooley – in the Coal River Valley of Tasmania since 2013 has added many extra layers of lustre.
The case.
Anna Pooley, and her partner Justin Bubb, the Pooley family at large and the estate they farm are now firmly established as rolled gold gems of Australian wine. Never was an award more apt than when the Pooley winery was named the Halliday Wine Companion Winery of the Year in 2023 – though really, given that this is ‘just’ a tiny family wine estate, it’s incredible that it managed to beat all-comers. There’s both a force and an inherent quietness to the wines of Pooley. Across Chardonnay and Pinot Noir in particular, though also too with Shiraz and Riesling, the wines are stoic, regal, upstanding and true, all of which is a reflection of the cold drama of the land they farm. These wines age, and impress, and hold firm in equal measure. In Pooley, you can trust. This trust has built steadily since the establishment of the estate in 1985 (with just seven rows of Pinot Noir, and ten rows of riesling, planted as a “retirement plan”) but the 2023 and 2024 releases – born of Anna’s now extensive experience – are prime evidence of an Australian wine estate in full flight. All the 2024 releases are exceptional but, given the difficulty of ripening shiraz in the Tasmanian landscape, the two 2024 Pooley Syrah releases are a particularly good insight into just how outstanding Pooley is as a wine producer.
Wines that prove the case.
Pooley J.R.D. Syrah 2024 (Tasmania): Winefront.
Pooley Syrah 2024 (Tasmania): Both more-ish and quality at once.
Pooley Cooinda Vale Pinot Noir 2024 (Tasmania): Winefront.
Pooley Cooinda Vale Chardonnay 2017 (Tasmania): Winefront.
Pooley’s wine reputation is built around two outstanding vineyards: Cooinda Vale (just north of Campania, established in 1985), and Butcher’s Hill (at Richmond, established in 2003). Both these vineyards are run sustainably, using biological farming techniques.
Pooley is a Mattinson 10-Star Winery – the highest honour awarded by Australian wine critic Campbell Mattinson. 10-Star status recognises one thing: the quality of the wine in the glass, every glass, across the range. The full list of 10-Star Wineries constitutes Australia's Best Wineries.
