Murdoch Hill Apollo Pinot Noir 2023

Written By Campbell Mattinson
Mattinson review of Murdoch Hill Apollo Pinot Noir 2022.

Murdoch Hill Apollo Pinot Noir 2023
$93, 12-5% alcohol, screwcap, Adelaide Hills.

  • Grown on a single (10 hectare) vineyard at Lenswood in the Adelaide Hills.

  • Three blocks of pinot noir used, two planted in 1989 and the other in the early 2000s (the latter to Dijon clones 114 and 115).

  • 20% whole bunches, 40% new French oak.

  • 2023 was a cool vintage temperature-wise.

  • The style is more about structure and length than brute fruit intensity.

Flavoured acidity, long strings of tannin, cuts of mineral and herb notes rolled and crushed on the heal of your palm. This is the top tier Pinot Noir from Murdoch Hill but its quality is built more on length, style and finesse than it is on any overt step up in intensity. There a momentum to this wine; an irrepressibility. It’s juicy, dry, tannic and, ultimately, thrilling through the finish. 95 points.

Campbell Mattinson

This article was written by Campbell Mattinson, founder of The Winefront and mattinson, and former chief editor of Halliday.

When you pick up a wine book and see thousands of top-scoring wines, it’s hard to know which wine to choose. Mattinson guides you through this maze, giving you an honest view of the best Australian wines, the best wine stories, the best wine producers, the best value wines and simply, the best tasting wines. Importantly, Mattinson will tell you about the top-rated wines and also about the underrated wines. In short, Mattinson knows Australian wines inside and out.

Mattinson has been a photo-journalist since 1987. For the past 25 years he’s been a voice that you can trust when you’re looking for the best wines. He’s the only Australian to have won the Australian Wine Communicator of the Year Award more than once. He’s a past winner of a Louis Roederer International Wine Media Award, and is the author of the award-winning book The Wine Hunter. He’s not afraid to put a score beside a wine. But what he’d rather do, is tell you the wine’s story.

https://www.campbellmattinson.com
Previous

Friends of Friends Shiraz Cabernet Sauvignon 2019
Next

Murdoch Hill The Landau Syrah 2023