Rivulet Cóte Est Pinot Noir 2025

"Pinot noir from an east-facing, ocean-front vineyard at Little Swanport on the lower East Coast; 25% whole bunch, 10 months' maturation in French oak, 20% new. A new wine from Keira O'Brien. It shows lifted aromas of red and dark cherry, dried raspberry and dark forest fruits with hints of smoked meats, exotic spice, pomegranate, mushroom broth, leaf litter, kombu and earth. There's a bright clarity borne of the ocean to this wine. A delineation of aromas and flavours, distinctive of place; its shapely, sinewy and savoury, layered with spice and earthen tones. The tannins are compact and silty, and there's plenty of mineral drive pushing the wine onwards."
- 95 points, Dave Brookes, Halliday Wine Companion

"Pinot noir from the Freycinet Coast, vineyard – overlooking the ocean – planted in 2012. Production of 155 dozen only.

Concentration of berried flavour, silken texture, ripe but generally unsweet, mineral and woodsmoke notes, layers through the mid palate, and a long, textured finish. This is high class pinot noir from start to finish. If you’ve been on the fence about Rivulet then it’s time to jump entirely on board. This is plush and sinewy at once. It’s cracking."
- 95 points, Campbell Mattinson, The Winefront

A debut Freycinet Coast Pinot Noir from Rivulet. 'Côte Est' is a play on Tasmania's early French history and draws from our own Tasmanian ancestry, which includes a mariner who sailed the very same coast. Tasmania's eastern and southern shores were navigated by French expeditions with these explorers lending their names to various landmarks - think Bruny, Baudin, Freycinet, D'Entrecasteaux - before English settlement. In fact, our name 'Rivulet' comes from their maps, used for what would otherwise be called a creek, with this terminology taken forward as the English later expanded upon these maps.

The high soil aridity of the Freycinet Coast, it's low rainfall and southern ocean current influenced climate translates into flamboyantly fruited pinot noir with high colour density and structural tannins. Like all our wines, Cote Est reflects the special place where it is grown, with our winemaking tailored to transparently communicate place and season in your glass.

VINEYARD
Located at Little Swanport at the southern end of Tasmania's Freycinet Coast, this oceanfront vineyard was planted in 2012 and enjoys spectacular views of oyster leases, the Tasman Sea and out to Schouten and Maria Islands. Soils are Jurassic dolerite and red clay loams. Grown on VSP trellis and meticulously managed to produce moderate yields.

VINTAGE
The 2025 vintage was a dream run for most Tassie growers, with plenty of warmth, healthy yields and generous flavours. The sustained warmth of the season produced even ripening, balanced natural acidity and fine tannins along with abundant fruit flavour.

WINEMAKING
Hand-harvested fruit was destemmed without crushing to retain whole berries The generous and vibrant character of East Coast Pinot Noir is framed by the inclusion of 25% whole bunch MV6 clone with G5V15, D5V12 and D2V5 clones destemmed over the top in a single open fermenter allowing for partial carbonic fermentation. 8 days post ferment maceration, then pressed and settled before 10 months elevage in French oak, with 20% new oak.

Total production: 155 dozen
Drink: Now to 2043