The 2016 Pinot Noir Gestalt Block, aged 12 months in 30% new French oak, has a medium ruby-purple color and is slow to open on the nose. With time, it offers crushed stone, grapefruit peel, potpourri, blueberry and floral nuances over a core of red currant, cranberry and red cherries. The palate is medium-bodied and absolutely explodes with juicy, bitters-laced red fruits. It has a firm, very finely grained frame and mouthwatering acidity on the long, layered finish that begs you to take another sip. Yowza! This will benefit from another couple of years in bottle. 350 cases produced.

Pale to medium ruby-purple in color, the 2015 Pinot Noir Gestalt Block is youthfully shy on the nose, opening out to aromas of baked red cherry, cranberry sauce, black cherry and blackberry with nuances of fresh tobacco, forest floor, tree bark, toasted coconut and blue fruit preserves—there are lots of layers here. Medium-bodied, it packs in the black, red and blue fruits in the mouth with tons of spicy and earthy accents and some baking spice coming through. It’s structured with firm, wonderfully grainy tannins and juicy acidity to counter the density of fruit/earth/spice. This has the substance to blossom beautifully over the next 2-3 years.

Pale to medium ruby-purple in color, the 2014 Pinot Noir Gestalt Block has a singular nose of crushed granite, violet and lilac over a core of blue fruit preserves and warm black cherries with notes of baking spice, dried leaves and salted licorice—still very tightly coiled. Medium-bodied and very silky in the mouth, it gives concentrated black and blue fruits with exotic spicy accents and a wicked line of crushed rock minerality. It’s framed with fine, grainy tannins and great freshness carrying the long, layered finish. This needs time in bottle.

The 2013 Pinot Noir Gestalt Block was picked on 25 September and matured for 12 months in 35% French oak. There is plenty of damp moss/sous-bois infusing the black fruit here - wonderful definition and focus, an appealing herbal edge emerging with time. The palate is medium-bodied with grainy tannin, well-judged acidity, grippy in the mouth with a briny finish that evokes images of a windswept wintry sea. What a sophisticated and compelling Pinot Noir, a sensorial delight, but at the same time intellectual. This comes highly recommended.

The 2012 Pinot Noir Gestalt Block comes from sedimentary soils over young intrusion basalt. It was picked October 10 and aged for 13 months in French oak, 27% new. It has a broody bouquet, a little denser than the Basalt Block: blackberry and briary first, then a touch of violet coming through. The palate is medium-bodied with a touch of burnt toast infusing the black fruit on the entry. Very harmonious, reserved in style with a masculine, reserved finish, this is another refined Pinot Noir from Brittan Vineyards to enjoy over the next 6-7 years.