Lots to love here - this is the starting point for the suite of Pinot Noirs from Bass Phillip, and is a wonderful introduction. Bright red cherries, blood orange, cassia and nutmeg spice all abound. It's fine, with beautifully polished tannins. Needs some air to show its best, but plenty to enjoy. Big glasses please.

Australia’s always been a land with a brave and pioneering spirit - from building settlements in the desert, to the national pastimes of crocodile wrangling, shark punching and perhaps most dangerous of all, Aussie rules football. It is with this national taste for adventure and new sensations that Bass Phillip was founded in Victoria, a winery which takes its name from two explorers who first mapped this part of the country. For about twenty years, Bass Phillip has been on the front line of the ‘new Australian’ wine scene. Phillip Jones, the founder, has recently stepped aside, but the wines remain as strong as ever, in part thanks to the input of Jean-Marie Fourrier, a famed Burgundian winemaker. Bass Phillip is regularly cited as being ‘outstanding’, and is way up there with the other big names of Australian wine production....this doesn't look like changing any time soon. What’s the secret to Bass Phillip’s success? Phillip Jones used to claim it has a lot to do with the location of his winery. The vineyards are nestled deep in the beautiful cool climate sub-region of Leongatha in Gippsland, where the deep blue waters bring calming breezes - perfect climatic conditions for slow-ripening, finicky Pinot Noir grapes. However, fans would be quick to point to the farming techniques, which do away with irrigation, pesticides and other such interventions, allowing his top-quality fruit to do what it does best.