How good is Australian Pinot Noir?

Send us Fan Mail Ten glasses, one blind tasting, and a question that's been quietly dividing Australian wine for years: are we still trying to make Burgundy, or have we finally found our own voice with Pinot Noir? On this episode of The Wined Up Podcast, Trent sits down with returning guest Marc Malouf of iHeartWine for a genuine celebration of Pinot Noir, not a ranking exercise. They kick off with a round of Pinot specific icebreakers, including the 2012 Comte Georges de Vogüé Musigny that Marc calls the most gorgeous Pinot of his life, and a dinner with United Cellars that ran through nine vintages of Mascarello Monprivato Barolo. From there the conversation gets into the real substance. Marc is honest that Australian Pinot doesn't quite reach the heights of Shiraz or Chardonnay yet, but argues that isn't really the point. Where Burgundy has had centuries to map its soils down to the individual row, Australia is still working it out, and Marc makes the case that chasing a Burgundian blueprint might be the wrong goal altogether. Sites like the Yarra Valley grow half a dozen varieties side by side, which makes the kind of granular classification Burgundy is famous for a genuinely different challenge here. Then comes the main event: ten Pinot Noirs poured blind, head to head across two glasses at a time, with the loser pushed out and replaced until only a favourite remains. Whole bunch versus destemmed, carbonic maceration, oak tannin versus stem tannin, and the way colour gives away a wine's story all come up as Trent and Marc work through bracket after bracket, laughing at how genuinely hard it is to choose between wines that are all, in their words, unfairly good. The reveal at the end is the twist. The wine that very nearly won the whole tasting turns out to cost around $60, a reminder that some of the best Pinot in the country doesn't need to cost a bomb. Marc also hands over a genuine gateway recommendation for anyone new to the variety: an independent Geelong producer punching well above its price point. It's an honest, occasionally chaotic and thoroughly enjoyable look at where Australian Pinot Noir actually stands right now, and why that might be something worth celebrating rather than comparing. 👉 Subscribe to @thewinedup and tell us below: Which Australian Pinot region do you think deserves more attention? Drop it in the comments 👇 Go check out Marc's site: https://iheartwine.com.au/  🎙️ Clip from The Wined Up Podcast 📺 Watch full episodes on YouTube or listen wherever you get your podcasts. Follow us on Instagram @the.wined.up, @iheartwineaustralia and @wineworthwritingabout 🌐 Visit https://www.thewinedup.com.au   📩 [email protected]   #pinotnoir #australianwine #marcmalouf #bromleywines #TheWinedUpPodcast #wedrinkwetrywelearnweconnect   We Drink. We Try. We Learn. We connect. Drink Responsibly. 🍷 YouTube Chapters 00:00  How Good Is Australian Pinot, Really? 01:04  The Wined Up Ice Breaker Questions 04:49  Fun Facts Even Wine Lovers Miss About Pinot 07:12  Marc's Favourite Australian Producers 08:39  Chasing Burgundy Without the Centuries of History 13:29  Ten Wines, One Blind Tasting Begins 20:37  A New Bracket and a Total Change of Personality 39:10  The Reveal and a Surprise Under $60 41:17  Final Reflections and Advice for New Pinot Drinkers Follow Us on YouTube (@TheWinedUp), Instagram (The.Wined.Up), Tik Tok (@TheWinedUp), Spotify (The Wined Up), Amazon Music ( TheWinedUp), and Apple Podcasts (The Wined Up).  Visit our website https://www.thewinedup.com.au or email us at [email protected].    Drink More, Try More, Learn More.