WINE > Decades, Pinot Noir, 2024, Coal River Tasmania (18/20)

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There are new labels that feel engineered for the market, and then there are those that arrive with the conviction of a long-held idea finally finding its vineyard. Decades is firmly the latter. The 2024 Pinot Noir is a remarkably assured second release from Steve Flamsteed and Brad Rogers: fragrant, sinewy and distinctly Tasmanian, with the Coal River Valley’s cool precision carried through in every detail.

Over the last couple of years the Giant Steps Apple Jack Pinot Noir from the Yarra Valley has become the benchmark for Australian Pinot, developed by the then chief winemaker Steve Flamsteed, the wine developed a cult like following. After 18 years at the helm of Giant Steps it was time to go his own way and develop something new, together with his old friend Brad Rogers.

This is not a Pinot built on overt sweetness or glossy winemaking tricks. It has perfume, density and finely judged savoury complexity, but its essential character is one of restraint. A serious, beautifully composed wine from original 1990 plantings at Tea Tree, and a compelling early statement from a project that looks set to become one of Tasmania’s most important new names.

APPEARANCE >

Medium ruby-garnet with a clear, bright core and a subtly youthful purple edge. It is translucent in the way fine Pinot should be, but this is not a slight wine: rather the deep colour hints at the depth of fruit and concentration to follow.

NOSE >

Aromatic from the first pour, opening on wild raspberry, red cherry, mulberry and darker blue-fruit notes, with white strawberry and lingonberry bringing lift. There is a distinctly Coal River Valley coolness here: crushed autumn leaves, bay leaf, thistle, brown spice and a faintly earthy, bark-like savoury note that gives the fruit shape rather than obscuring it.
The oak is neatly folded into the wine, contributing gentle spice and texture rather than obvious toast. With a bit of air, the perfume becomes more floral and more complex, moving from ripe berry fruit towards dried herbs, forest floor and finely milled spice.

LENGTH >

The palate is poised and quietly powerful. Bright red and blue fruits run along a firm, fresh acid line, while silky but tactile tannins provide real architecture. There is plenty of concentration, though it never turns heavy; the wine stays buoyant, savoury and exceptionally well-defined.

Its greatest strength is balance. Fruit, leafiness, spice, acidity and subtle oak all sit in proportion, delivering a finish that is long, dry and increasingly mineral. Drink now with a generous decant, but there is enough natural freshness and tannin to reward five to eight years in a cool cellar. The 2024 received 96-point reviews from both Dave Brookes and Shanteh Wale, which feels justified by its confidence, detail and sense of place.

PAIRING >

This wants food with savoury depth rather than sweetness. Roast spatchcock with kumquat and five spice would be excellent, as would duck breast with cherries and radicchio, porcini risotto, quail with lentils, or a properly good roast chicken with mushrooms and tarragon.

For a local match, try it with herb-roasted lamb cutlets, beetroot, bitter leaves and a restrained jus. Serve at around 15–16°C; too warm and the fine detail will disappear.

VINTAGE >

The 2024 release follows the inaugural 2023 Decades wines and draws fruit from the original Coal River Valley vineyard at Tea Tree. The site was planted in 1990 and sits on black cracking clay over limestone, a combination that helps explain the wine’s blue-fruited character, its natural tension and its finely structured finish. The vineyard’s long, cool growing conditions favour slow flavour development and preserved acidity—ideal conditions for Pinot Noir of this composed, ageworthy style.

In 2016, Flamsteed was named Gourmet Traveller WINE’s Winemaker of the Year; a decade later, Halliday Wine Companion named him its 2027 Winemaker of the Year.

ONE MORE THING >

Decades is the collaboration of longtime friends Steve Flamsteed—best known for his work with cool-climate Chardonnay and Pinot Noir at Giant Steps—and Brad Rogers, co-founder of Stone & Wood. Their friendship began while studying oenology at Roseworthy Agricultural College in 1991; the name nods to that shared history and their mutual love of Joy Division. It is a charming backstory, but the wine does not need one: the 2024 Pinot is already convincing on its own terms.