Bannockburn Vineyards Serre Pinot Noir 2025
The Wine
Certified organic. Serré is Bannockburn’s most iconic and memorable Pinot Noir. It comes from 1.2 hectares of densely-planted (9,000 per hectare), low-yielding, own-rooted vines that were planted exclusively to the MV6 clone in 1984 and 1986. It is, as far as we know, Australia’s oldest plot of densely-planted Pinot Noir—which helps explain the striking complexity and intense concentration found in this wine. Other key drivers of this power are the naturally low-yielding basalt and limestone-rich soils and the north-south orientation. It’s a special site that produces the Estate’s most powerful, deeply flavoured and long-lived Pinot Noir.
The 2025 vintage was early, marked by a warm, dry growing season and generally favourable conditions through harvest — delivering outstanding generosity and concentration, while preserving good freshness and site character. Expect waves of dark fruit, alluring savoury spice, and herbal complexity. It's a multi-layered and intense release — tightly packed with Serré depth and character. That's the beauty of Serré: a wine full of contrast. Shaped by the depth and generosity of this vintage, the '25 clings to the palate like Velcro. Clearly built for a beautiful life in the cellar, this release will surely go down as one of the finest in Serré's eventful thirty-year history. A remarkable Geelong Pinot of presence and power.
96 Pts Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front ‘This release is both powerful and taut. It’s also noticeably mineral, which helps give it that something extra. It offers a concentrated burst of dark cherry flavour, diving into plum, into rust, ground spice and sweet earth. It’s one of those wines that seems to hold onto you, once you take a sip, such is its grip and its authority. The fruit itself wears a corduroy shirt of cedarwood, slim-fit; the body beneath is guns out; muscular and lithe. This is serious stuff, and seriously good.’
The Details
Variety - Pinot Noir
Country - Australia
Region - Victoria
Sub Region - Geelong, Moorabool Valley
Extra - Screwcap
Year - 2025
Volume - 750ml
About the Wine Maker 
Since its establishment by the late Stuart Hooper in 1974, Bannockburn Vineyards has been at the vanguard of the Australian fine wine story, producing vineyard designated wines of the highest quality from the start.
Stuart’s vinous passion was developed in WW2 Europe where he developed a fondness for the wines of Burgundy. Subsequently, on his return to Geelong and retirement, he developed Bannockburn Vineyards from scratch. Gary Farr (By Farr) became their first winemaker (1978 to 2004), and Bannockburn’s success is a large attributed to his visionary efforts.
Lying 25kms northwest of Geelong along the Midland Highway, the estate is located in the Moorabool Valley sub-region, just outside the township of Bannockburn. Here, Bannockburn’s predominantly mature vines are rooted in one of Victoria’s most unique low-fertility terroirs; volcanic surface debris and ancient sea beds running to richer and darker soils, layered over predominantly limestone bedrock.
Under Holmes’ (current Winemaker) direction there’s been a stylistic tilt in the winery, and with his Chardonnay, he’s steering a racier, more mouth-watering course—with less emphasis on lees and oak and more on vibrant acidity and freshness. Yet it is perhaps the style and quality of Bannockburn’s Pinot Noir in which the changes can be most keenly observed. An earlier-bottling regime and more reticent use of whole bunches are resulting in a purity of expression perhaps never seen under this label.
In the vineyards, Holmes works with Lucas Grigsby, Bannockburn’s viticulturist for over 30 years. Grigsby takes great pride in tending to the vineyards with a strong belief in organic farming practices to maintain the health of the soils and Bannockburn’s vines. Between them, the pair’s viticultural principles are based on a healthy respect for the land and responsible farming, e.g., the use of organic composting and straw mulching to eliminate the need for herbicide sprays and the cultivation of inter-row cover crops to add soil nutrients.
These principles flow through into the winery where Holmes employs minimal additions, wild yeast ferments and low intervention winemaking resulting in wines that are made with integrity and that are distinctively Bannockburn.
