Curly Flat
Star Cellar Door
Phillip Moraghan’s hungry wine brain demands constant feeding. He keeps stats and figures, charts and photos detailing every aspect of his grape growing and winemaking going way back to the start in 1989. He even takes photos of wine bugs in his lab analysis as they appear under the microscope. “So we can compare them with next year’s,” he says. This is a rare dedication to the minutiae. The wines of Curly Flat reflect it: precise, intriguing, balanced. Pinot noir is king here. Moraghan lets it have its head, each vintage release is a forceful individual, and rarely are two vintages the same. In the more esteemed years, scents of cardamom and exotic Indian spices rise from the glass. Lovely. The second label for pinot, Williams Crossing, is undoubtedly one of the best value for money pinots going anywhere.
Chardonnay lines up as weightier and more intense than many and the winemaker doesn’t mind encouraging savouriness. Lacuna, the junior chardonnay, is super fresh with citrus dominating. A textural, spiced apple pinot gris also deserves your attention.
While only open to the public at weekends, Curly Flat has a most devoted group of followers who regularly attend Sunday lunches hosted at the cellar door, presided over by top chefs such as Andrew McConnell and Nicky Riemer. JENI PORT
OUTSTANDING WINE: 2014 Curly Flat Pinot Noir, A$52