Pierro LTC SBS 2025
The Wine
A classic isn’t just something that is famous or distinctive from a past era. It’s something that continues to be relevant and useful outside the specific time it was created. In 1979 Mike Peterkin produced Australia’s first Semillon Sauvignon Blanc. Working at Cullen’s at the time, the wine went on to win a trophy at the Perth Royal Show. He never claimed any originality for the idea, he simply borrowed it from the French. In 1980 he was so convinced of the blend’s potential in Margaret River he devoted a third of the Pierro plantings to the varieties. The L.T.C. has been judged over the last 40 years as not only the first, but as the one of the best in its class. A wine of place, of time and of the people who brought the style to Australia. In the words of Coco Chanel: “Fashion fades, style remains”
Pierro
2024 Vintage Reviews
95 Pts Ray Jordan 'Year in and year out, this remains one of my favourite sauvignon blanc sémillon blends, albeit with an important inclusion of chardonnay and chenin, which completes what is always an impeccably made wine. It has structure, fruit intensity and tremendous appeal, with lots of lovely, crunchy tropical fruit on the nose and through the palate. It was a warm year, yet well-managed fruit in the vineyard has resulted in a wine that stacks up well and, as always, delivers exactly what you want from the style.'
94 Pts Gary Walsh, The Wine Front 'This vintage is 55% Sauvignon Blanc, 21% Semillon, 13.5% Chenin Blanc and 10.5% Chardonnay. So a little touch of two Cs here. Not Les Trois Cuvées, rather Les Quatres Cuvées.
Lime and grapefruit, a little cut grass, green tea, fennel and spice. It's bright and has some lime and grapefruit tang, though it also has some macadamia nut richness to it and kiwi fruit juiciness. Texture is a little powdery, and it finishes with good length and sort of gin and tonic bite. A very good and interesting wine. As an aside, it looked better after being open for a day.'
The Details
Variety - Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, Chardonnay
Country - Australia
Region - West Australia
Sub Region - Margaret River
Extra - Screwcap
Year - 2025
Volume - 750ml
About the Wine Maker 
Pierrot, the original sad clown, is a much loved character of European pantomime. Forever chasing an impossible dream, Pierrot is in love...
The wines of Piero are the culmination of passion, innovation, location, climate and time. Wherever Piero wines are enjoyed around the world today they invariably impart a tangible trace of their idyllic place of origin – warm southern climes, ancient soils, healthful vines and years of skilled hands-on viticulture and winemaking. For over four decades, Piero have striven to fuse these elements to produce superior wines of singular extraction, character and elegance. The quest for heightened quality continues with each passing vintage.
Pierro was the original high-density vineyard planting in Margaret River and also one of the first in Australia. Vine density ranges from 4,000 to 5,500 vines per hectare, compared to a conventional Australian vineyard of 1,900 per hectare. This was to make the vines more competitive, balance their fruit yield and promote flavour intensity.
The soils are moderately deep laterite gravel with interspersed granite, over ancient base rock with friable pink clay merging into a shattered rock layer. These granite soils are some of the most open, warm and well drained of our viticultural soils, allowing great root penetration and exploration.
The winery and winemaker are inextricably linked to the relatively short but remarkable history of Margaret River wine and today form an integral part of that narrative.
A medical practitioner as well as a fully qualified viticulturalist and winemaker, Mike juggled the two demanding vocations for 25 years. Only recently did he finish up with his duties as a country doctor to devote his energies full-time to perfecting his wines. Yet in some ways it was the a mixture of the two callings that lead to the birth of Pierro, which today is among the most acclaimed small wineries in Australia.
After graduation in medicine from the University of Western Australia in 1973 at the age of 24, Mike Peterkin decided that his love of wine and winemaking could not be ignored any longer. As if a degree in medicine wasn't enough, he attended South Australia's respected Roseworthy Agricultural College in 1976 and 1977 and gained a Diploma in Oenology.
From 1978 to 1981, he made wines at Enterprise Wines at Clare, Cullen Wines at Margaret River and Alkoomi in Western Australia's great southern region. But he had not forsaken medicine and in 1982 completed a postgraduate degree in obstetrics, gynecology and postgraduate work in anaesthetics.
Through it all he harboured a deep desire to one day produce fine wines from his own vineyard be that where it may. Margaret River was a particular interest due to some very promising wines starting to emerge from this little-known south-west corner of his home state.
