Modestly following in the footsteps of Brian Croser, Claudio Radenti et al, Pipers Brook Vineyard’s supremo Andrew Pirie has released a new entrant in the Australian premium sparkling stakes, labelled simply as ‘Pirie’. The wine is a mature, crackly and complex product of the 1995 vintage, a pinot noir-dominant blend with chardonnay in the proportions 70:30. A large percentage of the wine was fermented in barrel and was then matured ‘sur lie’ for several months, helping to develop its long, creamy texture. A proportion was also given a secondary fermentation, although the finished wine is not overtly expressive of malolactic influences. Deliciously harmonious, fragrant and assertive, its vibrant sweet cherry and raspberry fruits are presented in a background of almost meaty, mushroomy evolved yeast-derived complexity. The wine is soft and fleshy, yet finishes with creamy, yet zesty acid punctuation. Its mousse is fine and persistent, its concentration of flavour quite explosive. In all, Andrew Pirie has made a very fine wine on which to plaster his name. I rate it at 18.7 but suggest that even while it’s drinking in fine style right now, I’d be very keen to hang onto some for just a year or two.
