Circe

The Wine Front – Circe is the pet project of Dan Buckle and Aaron Drummond. This is the label’s Mornington pinot, off three vineyards. It would be fair to say Dan Buckle is an outstanding winemaker. This is more of an enthusiast’s wine than a crowd pleaser – and there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s smoky, sinewy, reductive and meaty. It’s shot with spice. Before we get too carried away I should note that there’s nothing too challenging about it; it presents as seamless and neat, its oak, spice and tannin at one with each other. The heart of the wine here is all beet, earth and forest berries; sweetness and aromatic flamboyance have been largely eschewed. Put your nose near it and you get that ferrous, smokin’ barrels, sulphurous hit. I like it. It’s not showy; it’s a slow burner.

The Wine Front – I love how long and lean this feels at first – but how quickly the flesh builds, the fruit, the sweet-but-grapefruit-accented centre to the coating of meal, flint and spice. It all feels so harmonious, so succulent, so more-ish. It’s a neat, contained and uncomplicated chardonnay and yet there’s plenty worth spying if you’re up for the hunt. It’s a chardonnay to make you marvel, once again, at what a beautiful variety this is.