Former Chef Duncan Cook is based on the slopes of Mount Canobolas in Orange. The ‘Allotment’ range is the starting point for the wines. 12 months maturation in French oak.

Cooks Lot, Allotment 1111, Pinot Noir, Orange, 2025

Pale garnet with a pigeons eye edge. Sappy and herbal: with forest floor, cherry juice, bitter orange negroni, green raspberry leaf and cedar oak spice. Medium to full body. Waxy phenolics wrap tart cherry and strawberry fruit. Pinot Noir’s savoury veins show with umami beef stock punctuated with oak spice.  Short through the tail, but we are talking a $25 Pinot Noir here. Goes okay in the value stakes.

RRP: $25
Alc: 13.3%
Rating: 90/100

Wine sample courtesy of Cook’s Lot and Define Wine