D’Anna Middleton Lewis (DML VIN) is a partnership between the D’Anna family, Sam Middleton from Mount Mary and Jordan Lewis. It focuses on single site regional Pinot Noir with the first vintage being released in June 2019.

The 2021 DML Reserve was produced from the outstanding 2021 vintage, which has already been recognised as one of the truly great Pinot vintages of the last decade. The fruit was grown in a prized Mornington Peninsula vineyard. After 16 months of barrel maturation, the three most outstanding barrels from this batch were selected, blended and bottled to produce the Reserve.

It’s a complete wine. It’s so beautifully ripened that it’s difficult to see where the fruit ends and the savouriness begins, so easily does each flow into and through the other. Strawberries and herbs, cedarwood and undergrowth, with perhaps a slight dip into plum. There’s a minerally, smoky, graphite-like aspect to the tannin, which itself is both firm and sheeted, like a hotel bed, everything drilled precisely into place. This is an Australian Pinot Noir that will prove immensely age worthy; everything here speaks of excellence. Tasted: Oct 2022; Alcohol: 13.5%; Price: $120.00; Closure: Diam; Drink: 2026-2035+; Rated: 96 Points; Campbell Mattinson; The Wine Front