William Downie is one of Australia's foremost Pinot Noir specialists, working out of Gippsland in Victoria. The Bull Swamp bottling comes from a dry-grown vineyard planted in 1981 on old red volcanic soils at around 150 metres elevation. It comprises four separate Pinot parcels: two north-facing blocks of MV6, a block of the Abel clone, and a more sheltered south-facing block of MV6. Dry-farmed and low-yielding, the mature vines give concentrated but finely detailed fruit; the 2024 Gippsland vintage produced a deeply aromatic, structured wine with blackberry, dark cherry, plum and wood spice.

In keeping with Downie's whole-bunch, low-intervention approach, fruit was hand-picked and fermented with a high proportion of whole clusters using indigenous yeast in open vessels, worked gently to preserve perfume and fine tannin. Following fermentation on skins the wine was pressed and matured in French oak, favouring older barrels to keep the fruit and site to the fore. The result is a richly flavoured yet very finely structured Pinot Noir, approachable young but with plenty of potential for ageing.