Domaine A Pinot Noir / 2019 / 750mL

The Domaine A Pinot Noir 2019 is a structured, savoury Tasmanian Pinot Noir from the cooler end of the Australian spectrum, built for the table rather than for early gulping. Coal River Valley fruit in this style tends towards dark cherry and earth instead of sweet red berry charm.

The aroma leads with black cherry and satsuma plum, then turns more savoury with dried thyme, forest floor and a twist of black tea. There is a faint smoky, iron-like edge underneath that gives the bouquet some seriousness.

On the palate the 2019 is medium-bodied and firm, with fine but insistent tannin and the bright acid line Tasmania delivers almost as a matter of course. Fruit sits in the darker register — morello cherry, damson — and the finish is long, dry and a little austere, closing on beetroot and spice rather than sweetness.

Pour it with duck breast, mushroom risotto, roast quail or a slow-cooked lamb shoulder. It also handles harder cheeses better than most Pinot Noir, and rewards a decant of half an hour if you are opening it young.

Drinking well from now through to around 2035, with the acid and tannin structure to hold the back end of that window comfortably.