Reviews
2024 Riposte, The Pinot Noir, Adelaide Hills, South Australia
Matthew Jukes
Back in January, I was extremely honoured to be sent a barrel sample of 2024 Riposte THE Pinot Noir. This wine is now bottled, and Tim and his son Nick have very kindly sent me another, now finished, sample.
Retracing Nick’s words about this spectacular wine, “2024 marked Tim’s 63rd consecutive vintage, an almost Goldilocks year for Pinot Noir in the Adelaide Hills with low crop levels and a long, gentle ripening period. Without bullshit or hyperbole, this year produced the best parcels of Pinot Noir fruit we have seen in 20 years. To celebrate an exceptional year and Tim’s winemaking career, we wanted to produce something very special: three barriques of what we believe to be the finest expression of 2024 Adelaide Hills Pinot Noir. The wine will not be released onto the market as part of the established range. It will be sold by preorder and released on the 22nd of October 2025, which is not coincidentally Dad’s 80th birthday.”
And now it is bottled, having finished its élévage, I can finish this note I made in January.
This wine lives up to and, to my mind at this stage of its evolution in barrel, perhaps eclipses any other Pinot I have tasted from the Adelaide Hills. In a global context, this is a staggering tour de force for a man and his son to stand alongside, no doubt bursting with pride while remembering all the blood, sweat and tears expended in pursuit of their winemaking dreams. As you will know, I do not award scores to unfinished wines outside of my annual EP bonanzas, and I feel there is more to come during this wine’s élévage, but suffice it to say, this is a near-perfect drop right now, so you can expect to see a glass ceiling shattered come its release in ten months. In terms of its perfume, flavour and deportment, I apologise for using Burgundy tropes to inform you of its character, as there are precious few wines to compare it to in the world outside of the Côte d’Or. Masterful in every respect, much of the action is hidden from view on first tasting. The aromatics are sensational, hinting at a much darker palette of fruit notes than Knappstein’s portfolio Pinots. The oak is firm, buttressing the flanks of flavour but stopping short of intruding on the majestic waves of fruit. From a textural perspective, we enter a different sphere altogether. Where one might expect trademark silkiness and gloss, the flavours retain immense succulence while adding epic skin and earth striations, giving it an unmistakable Adelaide Hills identity and a subterranean glimpse into the elemental engine room that powers the root systems for these vines. It’s like watching a blockbuster and then being given an access-all-areas pass to see behind the scenes and meet the cast. Goodness knows what will happen in the final months of its slumber in oak, but my first impressions are unshakable. Tim and Nick have done what they have set out to achieve: to make a wine that sums up the integrity and determination of this family in just one bottle.
Today, this wine feels complete. The fringes of flavour that were untucked and unruly six months ago are now ordered, formal, and filed in the appropriate sensory pigeon-holes. It shows more rigour and control than I expected, hinting at a longer life than I recognised in early 2025. THE Pinot Noir embraces the time-honoured rubric of this expressive variety while retaining an indelible sense of decorum. In this respect, it departs from The Sabre’s openness and spontaneity. And this is precisely what you might desire, even if it might seem out of reach, for a wine with this legend. I can assure you it measures up to its promise. Earlier today, I tasted a 16-year-old Mornington Pinot, and it was still fresh, bright and accurate. It is a mistake to think that top-flight Australian Pinot does not have the propensity to age in the same manner as the more powerful and structured red varieties. Given the detail, energy, and distinction exhibited in 2024 Riposte THE Pinot Noir, I do not doubt for a second that it will not make old bones. And not just hanging on either. The engine here will drive this wine forward with confidence and élan. I noted it was near-perfect, and I stand by this thought today. And now it is bottled, I can register my enthusiasm with a score. As I wrote, back in January, Chapeau. 19.5+/20
Matthew Jukes
30 July 2025
Erin Larkin
This is a pre-bottling sample of a new wine for Riposte, the 2024 The Pinot Noir. On the nose, this is drenched in an abundance of spicy red berries, and in the mouth, it has layers of chalky tannin. I am beginning to understand the excitement surrounding the 2024 vintage in parts of South Australia. The intensity of the fruit here is matched and supported by a swathe of tannin that feels fully resolved and pliable, while the length of flavor through the finish tells another story as well about final fruit quality. This is a great wine here, and I'm looking forward to seeing it as a finished product.
Erin Larkin
Robert Parker - The Wine Advocate
14 March 2025