Tasting Profile
April 2025
This single-block wine is sourced from 0.79 ha of gently sloping 26-year-old vines. These vines naturally produce low yields due to a combination of unique orientation, free drainage, and high exposure. Together with this, the soil has a far greater prevalence of ironstone pebbles than any other part of the vineyard and delivers wine with great concentration and savoury tannic presence.
The fruit was gently destemmed with a small amount of whole bunch inclusion (7%) to a concrete vessel, the ferment occurred spontaneously with ambient yeasts and was pumped over and plunged daily over a 16 day period. Following fermentation, the wine was pressed and racked into French oak barriques (16% of which were new) and underwent indigenous malolactic fermentation. The wine was racked only once, with a total maturation period of 12 months. It was then bottled without fining or filtration.
The 2023 Ferrous is expressive and quietly complex, with aromas of red cherry and pomegranate at its core, layered with hints of citrus peel, caper, and a thread of fresh spice. Gentle earthy tones and a touch of fresh herb lend savoury interest, while the faintest flicker of blue fruit and violet adds lift and elegance. Subtle oak remains in the background, offering support without distraction.
The palate is vibrant and focused, built around bright red fruit with a delicate floral note. Powdery, mineral-edged tannins provide structure and texture, contributing to the wine’s graceful, almost understated charm. Finely balanced and thoughtfully composed, Ferrous is both intriguing and approachable in its youth, with the potential to evolve further with time in bottle.
13%
Tasting Profile 2023
Tasting Profile 2021
Tasting Profile 2020
Reviews
Jancisrobinson.com, March 2025
Tamlyn Currin
From a 0.8-ha parcel within the Ferrous block which is low-yielding, very exposed and has a high prevalence of ironstone pebbles. Fermented in concrete ‘to lean in and amplify the characteristics of the vineyard’. This Pinot tasted remarkably more mineral and earthy than its stablemates. Cranberries with a blackberry underline. Very exciting; thrilling intensity that builds on the finish. So much earth and tile and earthy spice and Sichuan pepper. Yet it still has the delicate, see-through, petal-textured finish that I find on all these Kooyong wines. This one, though, more than the others, is all about the feel.
17 points
Wine Pilot, July 2025
Jeni Port
There is something about Ferrous pinot. Year in, year out, it offers such complexity, natural balance and stunning flavours. Maybe it’s the percentage of ironstone pebbles – higher in this single block than anywhere else on the vineyard – or maybe the naturally low yields? Whatever it is, the ’23 has IT. Enjoy those stunning aromatics, so lifted, so intense and intriguing in violet, lavender and rose with black cherry, red plum, spices and blood orange zest. The wine-scape widens on the palate, the flavours expand with the introduction of an earthiness, undergrowth, dried leaves and fungal notes against a strong showing of concentrated red and blue fruits with cassis and that touch of wild raspberry that gets the tastebuds even more excited. Complex and beguiling dressed in svelte velvety tannins. So good.
96 points
The Real Review, July 2025
Huon Hooke
Medium-light red with a purple tint in the rim. Black cherry, mint and raspberry aromas, rusty nails and briar later. A very subtle hint of oak. The wine is medium weight and quite complex, with fine powdery tannins and good length. There is a touch of richness in the mid-palate—a wholly satisfying glass of pinot.
95 points
Matthewjukes.com, August 2025
Matthew Jukes
From an ironstone pebble-strewn block that delivers its message, straight-backed and with clipped tones. The fruit is linear, crystalline, angular and sleek, with a slightly darker fruit palette than Meres, but with no more weight or power. The result is a rapier-like sense of drama with a stunningly long finish and such clean fruit it takes the breath away. Drinking now, but with so much development ahead of it, this is a fascinating Pinot, and while it yearns to be rigid and unblinking, the fruit is just too gorgeous to get away with this pretence.
18.5 / 20
The Vintage
The Vineyard
The Kooyong vineyard is located on the Mornington Peninsula at Tuerong, on Miocene sedimentary soils. Our wines are made from domain grown, handpicked grapes and aim to manifest terroir: the integration of our geology and soils with the macroclimate of our region, the mesoclimates of the various sites within our vineyard and the weather of the annual grape growing season. Our cultural operations in the vineyard and practices in the winery endeavour to articulate these unique characteristics diligently, respectfully and without artifice.