Xavier Goodridge Papa Pinot Noir / Natural / 2025 / 750mL

The Xavier Goodridge Papa Pinot Noir 2025 is a bright, low-intervention Pinot Noir from the Yarra Valley, made in a light-footed style that leans on perfume and drive rather than depth of colour or tannin. Pour it slightly cool and it reads more like a summer red than a cellar wine.

The nose is all red fruit and florals — cranberry, fresh raspberry, a little rhubarb — with the faint yeasty tang and crushed-herb lift that comes with natural winemaking. There is a savoury undercurrent too, something between beetroot leaf and wet stone, which keeps the fruit from turning sweet.

On the palate the wine is light to medium bodied, with juicy acidity running the length of it and tannin that barely registers beyond a light powdery grip. The texture is loose-knit and a touch chewy, the finish tart and clean, and there is a whisper of carbonic crunch in the fruit. Yarra Valley Pinot Noir in this mould is about energy rather than weight, and the 2025 delivers it.

Serve with charcuterie, roast duck breast, mushroom risotto, or a tray of roast chicken and potatoes. It also handles tuna and salmon better than most reds, and it is a good match for a cheese board heavy on soft washed rinds.

Drink from now to 2029.