Fonty's Pool Pinot Noir, 2004, Pemberton

I enjoyed this wine last week at a tasting put on by one of my distributors. It retails for about $18.00. When the rep came to me with the wine I was not expecting much in the way of a good Pinot. I mean, Australia doesn't really have a name for elegant wines of Burgundian style. However, I was pleasantly corrected in my thinking by this wine. Fonty's Pool is from Pemberton in Western Australia, all the way across the country from where they make those ultra-ripe high alcohol fruit bombs. That's basically like expecting the same wine coming from California and New York. Anyway, this wine made my head turn. For $18.99 in Georgia I enjoyed it more than many of the $30-$40 Pinots I have had. It is more on the Burgundian side of Pinot Noir thanks to the winemaker Ely Jarvis. It is a joint venture of a famous WA Winery, Cape Mentelle where Ely also works. The color is a dark cherry red. Aromas of forest floor, mushroom, and an undertone of ripe strawberry fill the glass and the wine sits nice and full on the palate with a solid, long finish. It has become one of my favorite Pinot Noirs in the Set and its from AUSTRALIA!
I give it a A.