It wasn’t quite a defection of the magnitude of Don Bradman leaving New South Wales to become captain of the South Australian cricket team, but eyebrows were raised indeed when James Halliday, a high-profile Sydney-based wine critic and shareholder in the Hunter Valley development of Brokenwood, arrived mid-1980s in Melbourne to establish the Coldstream Hills brand in the Yarra Valley. What lured Bradman was a career outside cricket, while Halliday was attracted by life outside the law (as a profession). Personally, I think Halliday’s motives were the purer of the two. James Halliday wasn’t the first person to have his life changed by pinot noir, and he certainly won’t be the last. And while it hasn’t exactly been plain sailing for Coldstream Hills, which since 1996 has been part of the Southcorp empire, Halliday has certainly succeeded to a vastly greater extent than hundreds of other would-be producers of world-class pinot, whose aspirations handsomely exceeded their resources and ability. The pinot plot is of course one of the most crowded in the cemetery. Nearly two decades later, what we have in the bottle to understand and appreciate Halliday’s inspiration is a legacy of Coldstream Hills Reserve Pinot Noir, which remains principally sourced from the home property’s spectacularly steep ‘amphitheatre’ block. Unlike many other producers who view the term ‘Reserve’ as a matter of course (and well I remember one current maker who released a ‘Proprietor’s Reserve’ wine from a vintage several years before the actual inception of the company), this is indeed a wine that is only ever released when the production team headed by Halliday feel it to be up to scratch. In tough years like 2001 for instance, the entire production was declassified down to the ‘standard’ label. I was recently in Singapore to assist at the Ritz-Carlton Millenia’s New World of Wine and Food Festival, at which James Halliday presented what could in all reality be the very last vertical tasting of Coldstream Hills’ Reserve Pinot Noir, given the increasing scarcity of the 1991 and 1992 vintages. My notes follow. As a tasting, it underlined the importance of viticulture and vintage. Perhaps as I get older I’m becoming less tolerant of what I perceive as greenish and vegetal characteristics in young wines, but while these wines performed very well at a high level, this was the Achilles heel in several of the wines that prevented me from marking them higher. And while the currently available 2002 vintage appeared riper than the previous occasions on which I have tasted it, this remains the area in which Halliday’s opinion on the wine and mine still differ. He is confident that this is the best wine yet released under the label, while I am rather more cautious. Time, of course, will tell. By some distance the biggest surprise on the day was the 1998 vintage, a wine that I had always marked well, but never quite as highly as I did. It’s a firmer, bonier and more savoury style, and as such not only stood out as being somewhat disparate from the house style, but as a wine of undoubted longevity, strength and structure. Coldstream Hills Reserve Pinot Noir 1991 Medium to full red with brown edges. Developed and now drying out; with meaty, musky animal-like scents of prunes, plums, currants and dates. Very assertive, earthy palate whose spicy, undergrowth-like expression of mature pinot flavour overlies nuances of sweet leather and a hint of varnish. (Yarra Valley 17.0, 90/100, 1996-1999+) Coldstream Hills Reserve Pinot Noir 1992 Medium to full red with some browning. Beautifully developed, but still a vital and vibrant pinot with some distance to travel. Complex dusty, meaty and leathery aromas reveal a hint of musk and funkiness with a whiff of dark chocolate oak. Its core of rich pinot fruit and underlying nuances of herbal and undergrowth-like complexity are neatly framed by fine, supple tannins. (Yarra Valley 18.7, 95/100, 2004-2012) Coldstream Hills Reserve Pinot Noir 1994 Medium to full red crimson, browning. Supple, sappy, but slightly green-edged pinot whose dusty perfume of game meats and bell pepper precede a lightly herbal but willowy and supple palate of weight and generosity. Pleasing length, brightness and texture, but a little herbal for a higher score. (Yarra Valley, 18.2, 93/100 2002-2006+) Coldstream Hills Reserve Pinot Noir 1996 Full to medium fiery red. Dusty, floral and under-developed, with cherry and plum aromas underpinned by sweet cedary oak and capsicum-like notes of tobacco and bell pepper, this supple and very primary pinot is unlikely ever to fully mature. Pleasing enough, but rather confectionary and herbaceous, framed by sappy green-edged tannins, it’s peaking now. (Yarra Valley, 18.0, 93/100, 2001-2004+) Coldstream Hills Reserve Pinot Noir 1997 Medium to full bright red. Sumptuous, weighty Yarra Valley pinot with a meaty, evolved and dusty, but simultaneously vibrant bouquet deeply scented with sweet red and black cherries, plums and spices. Its penetrative palate of pristine fruit is handsomely balanced by sweet creamy chocolate oak. Voluptuously charming and harmonious, it has plenty of development ahead. (Yarra Valley, 18.7, 95/100, 2005-2009) Coldstream Hills Reserve Pinot Noir 1998 Medium to full crimson red. Structured, savoury and robust Musigny-styled pinot with a slightly confectionary perfume of floral, herbal and peppery notes over sweet oak and earthy undertones. Its firm, bony palate reveals meaty, robust qualities before finishing with strength and length. Impressive indeed, if not my favourite style of pinot. (Yarra Valley, 18.6, 95/100 2006-2010+) Coldstream Hills Reserve Pinot Noir 2000 Moderately deep fiery red. Powerful, plump and juicy, this substantial if rather uncomplicated wine offers plenty of richness, floral perfume and flavour. Its intense aromas of raspberries, cherries and sweet vanilla oak reveal floral, earthy and stony undertones of bacon, while the palate is textured, ripe and fatty. (Yarra Valley, 18.0, 93/100 2008-2012) Coldstream Hills Reserve Pinot Noir 2002 Medium to full red with very faint browning edges. A fragrance of raspberries, cherries and confection reveals herbal, greenish undertones and a hint of meatiness. Dusty, long and elegant, but beneath its rich pristine and sumptuous expression of cherry/berry flavours lies a layer of sappy herbal influence. (Yarra Valley, 17.3, 90/100, 2007-2010) Stylistically, the most significant winemaking change over the years has been a reduced reliance and impact in the young wines of sweet mocha/chocolate oak, which were for a considerable time part of its characteristic stamp. Enhanced viticulture has seen a greater emphasis on fruit, which given a reasonable run of future vintages bodes well for enthusiasts of this style. Back in 1996 James Halliday said to me: ‘The challenge we have is to present vertical tastings in five and ten years time which will prove beyond doubt that the quality of Coldstream Hills and Coldstream Hills Reserve wines have improved’. Some tough recent vintages haven’t exactly helped his cause, but tastings like this certainly confirm that the Reserve Pinot Noir deserves more respect than it currently receives.
