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2021 Pinot noir
5 Stars - Lester Jesberg, Winewise
Another pinot noir from Lyons Will that ticks every box. A perfumed cherry nose is enhanced by whole bunch/whole berry complexity and perfectly handled oak. The palate is a long, silky delight. 94 Points - Emma Farrally, Wine Pilot Pretty and perfumed red cherry/rhubarb fruits with warm spice and damp earth. A gentle tug of supple (beautifully woven) tannins offer shape alongside bright acid and gorgeous sappy texture. Alluring and very well made. 94 Points - Steve Leszczynski, Q Wine Lyons Will is a label to get on your radar. Their wines are precise and very consistent across a range of varieties. If wines from the Macedon Ranges are yet to land on your bench, make a beeline to these guys. This is a fab Pinot Noir well worth wrapping your lips around. The back label is a wine nerd's delight and I love it! There is so much detail to digest, and it demonstrates how meticulous the winemaking is at Lyons Will. Earthy and savoury, dried cherries and dark plums open proceedings. A wine that reaches all corners of the mouth, super fine spices ride on the back of fleshy fruit and fabulous savoury goodness. Tilled earth, dried leaves and even apricot kernels get in the groove. A whisper of negroni raises its hand on close as those spices reach long. It's a wine that has an attractive and curious persona that suddenly turns addictive. Count. Me. In! 93 Points - Kasia Sobiesiak, The Wine Front Raspberries, cherries and almond biscuits. Cool-flowing, river stones feel of tannins, soft-edged but firm-cored. There’s a bloody element and violet nuance followed by a spicy finish. It’s driven by beautifully bright and pure red fruit, rolling smoothly with stoney texture and a light, pinchy finish. Lovely drop. 92 Points - Ned Goodwin, JamesSuckling.com Sappy mid-weighted pinot. Scents of fecund strawberry, orange zest, clove and sassafras. The acidity is bright, evincing some tension. There is plenty of flavour here, although the texture is rather straightforward. A crowd-pleasing style. 91 Points - Huon Hooke, The Real Review Still has a tint of purple in the rim and the bouquet is fresh and spicy with aniseed, mixed spice aromas, a trace of ginger even, the palate light bodied but has attractive morello cherry intensity and a touch of well judged firmness. The finish has some persistence, too. Ed Agg, The Cellar Post Wild strawberry, raspberry, sap and spice, rhubarb and earthy sweetness. Light-medium, grippy, bright. Red berries, strawberry, redcurrant, cherry, good concentration and palate weight, sappy herbal qualities offering savoury contrast, with fine tannins and crisp acidity lending shape and length. T’is a good Pinot in my book. |
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2021 Pinot noir
95 Points - Jane Faulkner, Halliday Wine Companion
Gosh this is packed with flavour, fine tannins and plenty of acidity - it's come together exceedingly well. Sure, there's the usual eucalypt / mint character but there's so much else here it's just like seasoning. Spiced red and morello cherries, sumac and pepper with splashes of Averna with cedary oak bolstering the palate. 5 Stars - Lester Jesberg, Winewise This stunning wine is simply bursting with dark cherry flavour, and the floral hints are particularly enticing. Stemmy notes and high quality oak contribute complexity, and the intense fruit is supported by delightfully fine tannins. 93 Points - Huon Hooke, The Real Review Good depth of red with a bright purple tint in the rim and a fresh, lifted, floral, red-fruit and fresh-herb bouquet, possibly some green stalk involvement. The wine is bright and firm on the palate, quite intense and framed by slightly sappy tannins that persist. Plenty of stuffing here. Very good but perhaps even better next year? 93 Points - Emma Farrally, Wine Pilot This is a seriously good Pinot with immediate appeal. High tone aromatics – rhubarb, redcurrant and a hint of five spice offering perfume and allure. There is sappy texture, density and fruit concentration on the palate, with chewy yet beautifully integrated fruit tannin, from extending time on skins. The juicy acidity washes over the palate and maintains direction and focus. 12.8% alcohol offering balance along with subtle and supportive oak. Long and detailed. Just delicious! 92 Points - Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front This certainly scratches the pinot noir itch. It’s well ripened and fruited but most particularly it’s riddled with undergrowth-driven characters. It keeps you engaged from the outset. Mint, bright red cherries, deli meat and undergrowth flavours make for delicious drinking; fine-grained, gently bitter tannin mark the exit. There’s a lot of pleasure to be had here, particularly with food. Ed Agg, The Cellar Post There's some serious Pinot Noir coming out of the Macedon Ranges. Pair that quality with a vintage like 2021 and you've a recipe for some seriously delicious drinking. Red cherry and strawberry, sweet and aromatic, dried herbs, and fine oak spice, subtle hints of vanilla and sweet earth. Medium-bodied, fresh, focused. Beautifully ripe red berries, cherry, strawberry, raspberry, with layers of savoury complexity backing up, bay sweet oak and tobacco. The tannins are fine, firm, and powdering, while the acidity is pitch perfect, clean and crisp. It's a bloody good release. |
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2020 Pinot noir
92 Points - Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front
This is a complex wine with a lot more than mere fruit in its favour. Red cherry and cranberry flavours come strewn with earth, undergrowth, leaf matter and twig-like notes, though it’s the undergrowth aspect that holds most sway. That’s a positive, of course. This has the bones and the length and the complexity to do well in the cellar but it already has plenty in its favour for drinking now-ish. 92 Points - James Suckling, jamessuckling.com Plums, cherries, spice box and button mushrooms on the nose. It's medium-bodied with tangy acidity and tight tannins. Bright and structured, with a delicious earthiness. 91 Points - Jane Faulkner, Wine Companion This fits the 'wine for lunch' bill perfectly. Not too heavy, not too light, just right with its sweet cherry fruit profile, baking spices and a sprinkle of mint. Fresh acidity and supple tannins round out the palate neatly. |
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2019 Pinot noir
93 Points - Steve Leszczynski, Q Wine
I was a big fan of the 2018 release but this 2019 is a step up once again. A delicate and delicious Pinot Noir from a small Macedon Ranges producer. The fruit sat on skins for a month before seeing twelve months in French oak. That weight! I love it! It's so generous yet so nimble on its feet. Strawberries, dark and sour cherries, the suggestion of earthiness too. Skinsy feels, the time in contact with those skins is clear. Fine spices tease with a soft grip seeing things out. A fabulous Pinot and clever buying for the asking price! Drink to five years+ 93 Points - Andrew Graham, Oz Wine Review Wild fermented with 15% whole bunches, the juice spending 3-4 weeks on skins, then 12 months in 25% new oak. No additions, save for some SO2. Bottled unfined and unfiltered. The whole shebang! Great colour here – it’s a bright ruby thing. A subtle wine it is too, but still plenty of raspberry fruit. Lovely sappy vinous light red, is the mode, and I like it. Interestingly, I notice the oak: but it makes this softer, gentler as the acidity is a given. Gentle raspberry fruit – it’s light and lithe and svelte, yet never looks underripe. A success of elegance and balance. 92 Points. Jane Faulkner, Wine Companion This is in a nice spot, with its heady display of florals, spice and cherry compote. It’s savoury too, with a meatiness, sappy almost, yet with lots of tannin plumping out the palate. The distinctive eucalypt/menthol character that is part of the wine’s DNA is acting as a seasoning and overall, this is thoroughly enjoyable. Sean Mitchell, The Grape Observer The Macedon Ranges is a top region for serious pinot noir in Victoria. This pinot noir has been destemmed and ages for 11 months in French oak (20% new). In the glass, it has complex floral aromas. The palate is medium to full bodied and its high acidity cuts through. It finishes very long, with a refined and elegant bearing. This wine can be approached now, but will suit short term cellaring for 2 to 3 years, and have a best drinking window of a further 5 to 7 years. 90 Points - Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front This Pinot Noir from the Macedon Ranges is light to the point of airiness but it has sure lines of flavour, acid and tannin and it shows good persistence too. Mint and forest berry flavours are seamlessly integrated with meat, toasted cedar and sweet, musky spice. It works well. |
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2018 pinot noir
92 Points - Steve Leszczynski, Q Wine
A super Pinot! It floats through the mouth unobstructed. A great find from Lyons Will Estate, a small Macedon Ranges producer. Made with 20% whole bunches and seeing French oak for 12 months, this is bright in the glass. The appearance entices the eye and the nose is immediately drawn to the glass. A chorus of cloves, bay leaf, plums, earth and undergrowth race for your attention. Classic Pinot characteristics wrapped up in a neat package yet there is even a slight scent of tomato bush. Delve deeper and a wash of cola slowly reveals itself. Well balanced and with a wonderful presence, it is long and persistent. A great Pinot hands down. Drink to five years+. 90 Points - Gary Walsh, The Wine Front Spice, sourdough brown bread, caraway seed, red fruits. Medium-bodied, sap and strawberry, spice and blood orange, a little diffuse, but nice to drink for its spicy and light-framed style. Finish is a little malty, and of solid length. |
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2017 Pinot noir
96 Points - James Halliday, Wine Companion
Clones D5V12, 115, D4V2 and MV6 vinified separately, hand-picked, bunch-sorted, 85% destemmed, 15% whole bunches, open-fermented, 12 months in French barriques (20% new), not fined or filtered. Clarity of colour, of varietal red cherry, of mouthfeel, of length, of ripeness. 92 Points - Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front Macedon Pinot Noir from vines over 20+ years old. It’s a meaty Pinot Noir with good depth and reach. It looks light-ish and it certainly has a cranberried aspect but bacon, Black Forest cake, twiggy spice and sweet herb/rose-bush characters are arranged in number. It’s spicy, dry, meshed with fine-grained tannin and satisfying. It’s just starting to evolve; it will be interesting to see where it ends up. |
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2016 Pinot Noir
95 Points - Patrick Eckel, Wine Reviewer
A blend of D5V12, D4V2 and 115 Pinot Noir clones with the Abel clone an addition to the blend in the coming years. The wine has really benefited from time in bottle, one of the challenges of Pinot Noir in the Macedon Ranges is the need for bottle age for the wines to really show their best. The cool climate region produces wines that can be tightly coiled in their youth but become beautifully fragrant and complex in time. The wine itself is a light red with great clarity, the nose is of rhubarb, spice and sullen dark cherry fruits with the faintest sous boys characters starting to fold through. The palate enjoys a textural baseline of tannin that’s gets a sheath of richness from the inclusion of quality new oak; fruit is on the black side of the cherry spectrum with a mix of understated cardamom and bay leaf like spice that adds considerable interest. The finish is kept in line by textural acidity and unsweetened cherry cola. Continue to watch this wine unfurl. 89 Points - Toni Paterson, The Real Review Gorgeous restrained fruit with faint nutty oak. An open, light, ethereal palate. |
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2015 Pinot Noir
95 Points - James Halliday, Wine Companion
Estate-grown clones D5V12, D4V2 and 115, open-fermented, 14 days on skins, matured in French oak (33% new) for 16 months. Bright, clear crimson-purple; an altogether impressive wine, all its parts in alignment; the fragrant red flower aromas presage a red cherry, damson plum and spice palate. The wine glides along and across the mouth, fruit to the fore, but cedary oak makes a quiet statement as it joins with superfine tannins on the finish and aftertaste. 93 Points - Patrick, Eckel Wine Reviewer A great follow up release to the inaugural 2014 release from this small Macedon Ranges producer. The wine gives a beautiful light red in the glass that is characteristic of the region. The nose shows dark cherry and rhubarb with a gentle minerality which is a nod to cool climate viticulture. A tightly bound wine at this point of its development with pristine dark cherry working alongside earthen notes and sage like spice. The palate is medium bodied with drying, sappy tannins that have just enough oak spice to provide richness and underwrite a long cellaring life. Finishes with tight, drying and long-lived dark cherry fruit, as well as dusting of spice. 89 Points - Campbell Mattinson, Wine Front Macedon Pinot Noir from vines now 20+ years old. It’s no shrinking violet and in varietal terms it has a real sense of impact. It’s essentially cranberried and red cherried though there’s a sweetness, almost a redcurrant note, which musky oak picks up and runs with. Mint notes play a role too, almost into spearmint. It’s a convincing wine if not quite an irrepressible one. |
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2014 Pinot Noir
94 Points - Patrick Eckel, Wine Reviewer
This is the first release from Lyons Will Estate, and it’s impressive. A medium red in the glass with lighter hues towards the rim, on the nose you are met with cherry and rhubarb that benefits from subtle herbaceous and earthen notes, aromatic baking spices leave a lasting impression. The acid structure is impeccable and combines with fine and drying tannins to set this wine up for the long haul. In terms of fruit it sits on the dark cherry spectrum with touches of rhubarb and a savoury edge providing no end of interest. If this was the first attempt, i can’t wait to see future vintages. 90 Points - James Halliday, Wine Companion From a 1.2ha estate vintage with three clones, hand-picked, crushed and cold-soaked before fermentation, matured in French barriques (35% new) for 15 months. A very powerful pinot with black cherry and plum fruit still in embryonic form, needing time. |