2024 Evenfall Pinot Noir $48

09/14/2025

Wow. Here's a Pinot Noir with style and pizazz. When Tamar Valley wine pioneer Ralph Power added Pinot Noir to the vineyard he planted at Legana in the early 1970s, there was very little of the variety being grown anywhere in Australia.

But luck's a fortune. This wine from the outstanding 2023-2024 growing season shows you why Pinot Noir has become a Tasmanian wine industry flagship. In 2024 vintage, it combines power and finesse. The best of these Pinot Noirs have all the ripe fruit, fine tannin and balanced natural acidity they will need for a long life. The chances are that most of them will be consigned to immediate or early consumption.

In all probability, contract winemaker Liam McElhinney will have something very special indeed to enjoy in retirement, some years hence. Rich and almost lush in its liqueur red cherry and raspberry-like fruit, there's an intensity here you only see in topnotch Pinot Noir. Next stop, Burgundy. Well, almost...

You don't have to be big to be best. This is mid-weight on the palate, though somewhat surprisingly it does land there with 14 percent alcohol. You simply don't notice it, however. You're too busy being distracted by the fabulous colour, alluring fruit aromas and superb structure. The wine finishes long, with that sappy/cherry pip aftertaste that turns it from being juicy/fruity to dry and savoury. Food-friendly.

Thanks to Ralph Power's foresight, the wine contains a good dollop of Pinot Noir from his old vineyard, then called Chateau Elmslie. The good folks at Evenfall matched that with some very smart fruit purchased from the Derwent Valley. I can't imagine how they can do all that and charge $48.

That's brilliant.

Source: Evenfall cellar door tasting with Leeroy Gorman