2025 Small Wonder Auburn Pinot Noir $52
It's been six years since Western Australian wine company Overstory purchased Goaty Hill Vineyard in the Tamar Valley and commenced operations there as Small Wonder.
A lot has happened since May 2020. First came a carefully planned and executed vineyard conversion to certified organic; new plantings (2022); construction of a large on-site winery (2023); purchase of Marengo Vineyard in the Coal River Valley (2024); and, most recently, the construction and opening (2026) of its cellar door showpiece on Auburn Road.
And if you think all that sounds an impressive list of milestones, you need to know that the company has been travelling below the radar developing an impressive, multi-tiered portfolio to pour world-class wines into the glasses of those who visit its world-class assets in the West Tamar.
Progress to date has been quite remarkable.
Small Wonder Rosé from 2024 and 2025 vintage secured back-to-back trophies at the annual Tasmanian Wine Show (2025 and 2026). The 2024 Landscape Chardonnay was named Best Chardonnay at the 2025 Cathay Global Wine & Spirits Awards, held in Hong Kong.
Earlier this year, Small Wonder was named a finalist in the 2025-2026 Young Gun of Wine Vineyard of the Year, providing just acknowledgement and reward for the company's fastidious attention to detail in growing premium quality, cool-climate fruit in Tasmania.
The 2025 Auburn Pinot Noir is part of the company's single vineyard series that captures the pristine nature of Tasmania's landscape along with the unique terroir and growing conditions of each vineyard property.
Winemaker Ockie Myburgh says their Pinot Noir is hand-harvested multiple times during vintage, with timing and volumes based on soil type, vine vigour and seasonal growing conditions.
Unlike the Landscape Series Pinot Noir – which derives much of its softer, fruit-forward characters from vineyard rows located on the lower slopes of both properties, where soils are lighter and sandier – Auburn comes from the Kayena site's older plantings further up the hill. Clonal selections there are primarily Pommard, Dijon 114, Dijon 115 and D5V12 (which many Tasmanian vineyard operators also refer to as 2051).
Those separate winemaking parcels receive kid-glove treatment as they make their way through the winery. Myburgh says 20 percent whole bunch fermentation took place in 2025. After two weeks on skins, the various batches of new wine were sent to barrel (15 percent new) for around 11 months' oak maturation. The most outstanding individual components were then blended to create the resulting Auburn label.
The wine is the glass looks fabulous. Rich, opulent, glass-staining. Those deep crimson hues telegraph a Pinot Noir with generosity and intensity. The palate lives up to expectation. The wine is voluptuous and powerful, gladly reined in by neat tannin structure that prevents it from becoming awkward and ungainly.
You might say this is Pinot Noir for Shiraz-lovers, but that would do the wine a great disservice. It looks, smells and tastes like topnotch, cool-climate Pinot Noir. It's not clumsy and over-ripe.
A swirl of the glass offers engaging aromas of dark fruits, black cherries and plum, along with floral/forest floor notes. The fruit richness and sumptuous texture is trimmed by fine ripe tannins and that delectable savoury character that distinguishes really good Pinot Noir.
A full, well-rounded palate sometimes comes with length of flavour that falls away in the finish. Not in my wine, says Myburgh. This one delivers flavour that keeps on keeping on.
Sure, it's a bigger style that might find some detractors among Burgundy purists, but you can't knock the wine's capacity partner hearty beef courses, rare Tasmanian venison and spit-roasted lamb or pork.
Make a booking for lunch created on-site by acclaimed chef Konstantin Putkin and there'll be a handful more Pinot Noir pairings that will take your fancy. The food here is superb.
Source: Vineyard cellar door
Website: www.smallwonderwines.com.au
Last page update: 11 October 2026