2024 Decades Pinot Noir.

£296 per case (6*75cl) in bond
*Only 20 cases available

Every so often a Pinot Noir comes along that completely stops us in our tracks. Decades 2024, from Tasmania, is one of those. 

Dave Brooks 96 Points: "The dance between bunchy nuance and fruit purity is bang on here as the wine finishes complex, long and enduring” 

Three impressive facts:

  1. Steve Flamsteed is the winemaker - one of Australia’s most respected and best known for his long spell at Giant Steps.
  2. It is a single-vineyard project using original vines planted in 1992 in Tasmania’s increasingly popular Upper Coal River Valley.
  3. This is only the second vintage, and has already won major critical acclaim and as you'll see below with very high critic scores.

We opened a bottle in the office, and here is our thought:

Luke Flunder - Seckford Communications Guru
"The label design might be minimalist, but the nose is anything but. Bright berries leap out of the glass instantly, letting you know you are in proper Southern Hemisphere Pinot territory. The fruit is youthful but not in a clumsy way and is just so full of life. Whilst tasting bright, big, juicy red berries dominate, there is a subtle earthy edge in the background. Then it has one key factor that takes it to the next level: a marvellously long finish. All the best elements remain a comment that was made by everyone in the team who tried it. I tried it over three days, and the evening it was opened, it was at its peak. This is a triumph to the senses, which I'm sure will evolve beautifully over the coming decade, but if you like young Pinot, it can certainly be enjoyed right now."

Vintage Overview

The 2024 season was long, and cool with a good amount of spring rain, where a few warm days resulted in a healthy, consistent flowering.

Summer was mild and long. Ripening was slow, which meant the grapes achieved physiological ripeness with good phenolic structure and firm acidity. Shoot thinning was done in December, and there was some leaf removal on the eastern side to allow some dappled light intervention through the ripening season.

Harvest took place in the last week of April, taking two days for both Chardonnay and the Pinot Noir.

 

Tasting Notes

96
Erin Larkin, March 2026, RobertParker.com
“The 2024 Pinot Noir is the product of an excellent vintage in a cool region. Some producers have described the season as warm, while the Decades team (Brad Rogers and Steve Flamsteed) describe the season as mild and long. The nose leads with plush red fruit, blood plum and raspberry, cherry pip and tapenade. In the mouth, the tannins are silky and spacious; they create seamless flow across the palate and shape the way the fruit performs. The acidity, typically high in Tasmania, feels juicy and integrated. This is a very impressive second release and, perhaps more importantly, a very impressive Pinot Noir. I like it so much and look forward to seeing how this will evolve over the years ahead. The 40% whole-bunch aspect of this wine feels invisible until the very last; a lingering sense of chinotto, licorice and blood orange through the finish quietly encouraged me to check the production details. This is one of the few wines I have tasted in recent times that comprises a good proportion of whole bunches but doesn't appear to. And this is the best amount of whole bunches, if you ask me. It is, when used sensitively, a tool that opens up the palate, adds to textural and flavor complexity and brings a sense of capaciousness to the wine”
Drinking Date: 2018 - 2038
96
Ryan Montgomery, September 2026, JamesSuckling.com
“A fabulous bottling with so much vibrancy and flair in its youth. Aromas of red and black cherries, crushed blueberries, sweet spice, floral lift and a lovely earthy character. The palate is bright and fresh with finely tuned tannins, balanced acidity and a refreshing, fruit-driven finish that should not be mistaken for simple, showing complexity, earthiness and nuance. A classy Tassie pinot”
Drinking Date: 2018 - 2038
96
Dave Brookes, November 2025, WineCompanion.com
“A supple and spiced pinot noir from Tea Tree in the Coal River Valley, on black cracking clay over a calcareous Triassic sandstone. Dark cherry, wild strawberry and dark plum mesh seamlessly with underlying hints of amaro herbs, medina spice, Campari, sandalwood, pomegranate, raspberry coulis and turned earth and leaves. There's a beautiful flow and presence to this wine, the ripe fruit travelling with grace and fine detail. A flair of powdery, silty tannins provides support and a bright, minerally cadence drives the wine forward. The dance between bunchy nuance and fruit purity is bang on here as the wine finishes complex, long and enduring”
Drinking Date: 2018 - 2038
95
Angus Hughson, July 2026, Vinous.com
“The 2024 Pinot Noir is complex and highly engaging yet understated, with aromas of undergrowth, dark cherry and spice bazaar with a sappy whole-bunch edge. Fleshy, sweet cherry flavours with riper licorice tones are underpinned by an attractive underlying tension that supports a lingering, velvety finish”
Drinking Date: 2018 - 2038
94
Huon Hooke, October 2025, RealReview.com
“Deep, bold, promising purple colour, very young and intense. The aroma is full-on bold black cherry and dark plum, fruit driving it. There are some background notes of straw/hay and flake tobacco, the palate intense and bright, bold and full weighted, with plenty of neatly tailored tannins which are fine and subtle. The aftertaste is all bold blood-plum fruit and the wine cries out for time in the cellar: it is very primal and somewhat unready. This has potential and it would be a shame to open it under two years from now. (vineyard at Tea Tree, Coal River Valley. 40% whole-bunch, 15% new oak)”
Drinking Date: 2018 - 2038
93+
Campbell Mattinson, October 2025, WineFront.com
“This is a structural Pinot Noir with ageability written all over it. It’s surly right now, and backward, but long chains of minerally tannin and abundant undergrowth-y complexity suggest that it will age handsomely. Stewed cherries, loads of spice, boysenberry and earthen, ashen, forest floor characters make a distinctive impression. Smoky oak is present here but so well integrated that it presents as a textural element and little else. Tuck this away for a few years. Patience is this wine’s best friend”
Drinking Date: 2018 - 2038

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