Apsley Gorge Pinot Noir 2024

The Wine

2024 marks a return to more normal vintages after several very wet and challenging years. The vineyard is located away from the coast nearly 10 kilometres drive inland right beside the Douglas Apsley National Park just north of Bicheno. Here the cool air spills out of the hills from the Apsley River which runs around the western side of the property. In warm vintages this helps to keep the nights fresh and enable harvesting later than much of the state as Brian looks for full phenolic ripeness before picking. Owner/winemaker Brian Franklin feels this is one of his best vintages yet.

‘On pouring the first thing you notice is the colour. A deep ruby red, full of promise. This wine is not fined or filtered, yet it is bright and crystal clear. The nose, mysterious and deep with underlying ripe pinot fruit. No bracken or green character here. The palate has a textured entry, mouth filling and rich. The long, persistant  finish has just enough acid to really make this wine sing. Sit back and enjoy the performance.’ Brian Franklin, Owner and Winemaker.

The Details
Variety - Pinot Noir
Country - Australia
Region - Tasmania
Sub Region - Bicheno
Extra - Screw Cap
Year - 2024
Volume - 750ml

Established in 1988 this tiny vineyard is planted to Pinot Noir (5.5 hectares) and Chardonnay (1 hectare) and is located several kilometres inland from the coast near the entrance to the Apsley Gorge national Park north-west of Bicheno. The vineyards unique situation near the entry to the gorge brings breezes in the afternoon which have a distinct cooling effect which means this vineyard is typically one of the last to harvest in Tasmania with harvest usually being around the first week of May. This micro-climate is unique for the east coast. Since 1999 winemaking has been undertaken by owner Brian Franklin who also does vintage each year in Burgundy with Philippe Charlopin (himself mentored by his friend Henri Jayer) in Gevrey Chambertin, and is helped here in Tasmania by young French winemakers including Philippe Charlopin's son Yann. Including vintages undertaken in France Brian now has almost 40 vintages of wine-making experience in both France and Australia.

Always aiming for full phenolic ripeness the style of wines produced are rich and intense wines characterised by fully ripe fruit made using Burgundian know-how with texture and finesse and excellent natural acidity, without excessive extraction or heaviness. Produced very naturally with only a small percentage of new oak (maximum 30%) each year these are very individual wines of great class and structure that drink very well when young yet also age and evolve over a decade or more for the Pinot Noir. The single-minded Brian Franklin at Apsley Gorge has rendered himself half Burgundian with annual work immersion in Gevrey, and his courageously restrained winemaking combined with a warm, dry East Coast site results in Pinot of unusual breadth but great subtlety and allusiveness too. Andrew Jefford