Tasting Notes
Mari Magno is the new, first-level Pinot Noir label. This year's wine is based on fruit from POCW’s échalas (staked, bush-vine, co-planted) block, topped with fruit from the neighbouring young-vine block. It has had an extra 12 months in bottle because the team wanted to learn what this extra time would bring to a wine from these vines. Now we have the answer: it’s delicious! Expect a bright, juicy wine with layers of sweet fruit and plenty of aromatic complexity from its extra year in the bottle. In the future, Mari Magno will be a label that will allow the team at POCW to experiment and to declassify young-vine parcels, trial ferments, etc., that don’t make it into the top label but still justify bottling under Place of Changing Winds.
On the name: Mari Magno is Latin for rough seas. Those who want to take a deep dive into the inspiration for this label might Google the words Suave, Mari Magno, taken from De Rerum Natura (On the Nature of Things)—that great work of the Roman poet and philosopher, Lucretius. Simply put, the vineyard can at times seem like a ship tossed in wild seas, with nature throwing down challenge after challenge (as depicted by some of the elements on the label). At other times, thankfully, the sailing can be a lot smoother! - Producer Note
Warekilla. The Wurundjeri name could translate as "Happy Place". Or "Place of Changing Winds".
Robert Walters searched for almost five years trying to find a site for his warekilla. He eventually settled on the place, Bullengarook on the southern foothills of Mount Macedon, to establish Place of Changing Winds. Years of experience in the wine trade and visits to the best sites and winemaking practices around the world all culminated in Rob's decision to put down roots around Macedon. The changing winds create a high diurnal difference in temperature, embraced by the Chardonnay and Pinot Noir fruit. Their vines are grown at extremely high density, ten times the norm, to encourage a community or single body of the plants as they develop their collective canopy, and dig their vines deep through the gravelly soils in search of water and nutrients, anchoring them against the wind. Fruit is low-yielding.
And as is the nature of the wind, Warekilla was not the only place to keep Robert grounded; Place of Changing Winds sources fruit from Heathcote for their two cuvées of Syrah and their Marsanne.
| Product Type | Wine Red Pinot Noir |
| Volume | 750ml |
| Country | Australia |
| Region | Victoria |
| Sub Region | Macedon Ranges |
| Winemaking Practices | Minimal Intervention |
| Vineyard Practices | Organic/Biodynamic |