Pinot Noir can be hedonistic and captivating purely on its aromatics, despite its colour. This is one wine that focuses more about its aromas than its mouthfeel. Its just so captivating to smell. The best Pinots in the world have this exact ability to draw your head into a glass where it simply doesn't want to leave. So much charm. Our friends at Circe have purposefully selected with this French influence in mind. We can see where this style of Pinot Noir is going... it wants to be 'pretty' and far from the richer expression, you'll find chinese five spice and stalk before any coffee or vanilla. A Pinot that plays with you, it's a little edgy and angular at first, but it fleshes out. A hedonistic, and very serious Pinot. This is what Pinot discovery is all about.

Circe is a partnership between friends who grew up on the Mornington Peninsula, inspired by a shared love of Pinot Noir. Winemaker Dan Buckle and Aaron Drummond met at famous Grampians winery Mount Langi Ghiran in 2007. Dan catapulted 'Langi' to fame with his knack for whole bunch fermentation, and creating incredible spicy, aromatic and highly distinctive Shiraz. Like a fashion designer, Dan has a 'style', and if he weren't making fragrant wines, we think he could make a great perfumer! With the friends growing up on the Mornington Peninsula, they were keen and curious as to what they could do with Pinot Noir from such great soil, and so Circe was born. The name 'Circe' derives from Homer and is a nice metaphor for the seductions – and perils – of Pinot Noir. Dan is an incredible wine brain, heading up the wine operations as Chief Winemaker at Chandon, but is singularly focussed on making pretty wines with compelling aromatics, without concern for colour, power or weight. He wants people to be captivated by the nose of these wines. The 'special soils' are the Hillcrest Vineyard - leased from Paul and Louise Coronel, who planted the 3 acres in 1993. Given Paul’s engineering background the vineyard is, not surprisingly, meticulously set up. It is dry-grown and managed for quality. As such, yields are kept low, to encourage fruit of great flavour complexity. A lot of time is spent by both Aaron and Dan in the vineyard, and as they say “there is no substitute for footprints in the vineyard”.