Nailing the ripeness in early picked reds is hard. Go too early and you get thin, lean, sometimes green wines. Go too late and it’s not early picked anymore, and you miss all the fragrance and acidity you were aiming for in the first place. Thankfully, this Steels Gate Pinot Noir 2018 is bang on – another well-handled Pinot release from Brad Atkins & Matt Davis.

It’s light, limpid fresh and clean, the style bony, deliberately light, but with an effortlessness that makes it more about beauty than trying too hard, the 20% whole bunches add passing spice, the fruit unadulterated, pure, clear. I like. I like the grace, I like the packaging, I like the price. Best drinking: now to four yearsish. 18/20, 93/100. 12.5%, $32. Would I buy it? Yes.