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Battle of Bosworth 'Expat' Pinot Noir 2023

The Wine Companion

As always, organic (since '95) estate fruit, with this seeing about 10% whole bunch and maturation in older French oak. There wouldn’t be many, if any, growers planting pinot noir in McLaren Vale, but Joch Bosworth has vines over 30 years old and he’s remaining loyal. As with the equally ill-suited chardonnay, he is also making very good wines from them. Bravo, I say. A cool year is obviously ideal, and '23 delivered that. This is varietally on song, supple, silky and red fruited, with red cherry – a little black cherry, too – pomegranate and redcurrant notes, fringed with a little twiggy spiciness. This goes well.

91 Points, Silver
Marcus Ellis
The Wine Companion

Battle of Bosworth

Battle of Bosworth 'Expat' Pinot Noir 2023

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Expat is a rare beast – a 100% McLaren Vale Pinot Noir. Treated gently in the vineyard and winery, it is made like a Beaujolais – it’s a light weight luncheon wine with red fruits and a hint of strawberries on the nose; bright with a touch of spice.

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Tasting Notes

Expat is a light and bright red wine - a classic Pinot colour. The nose is bright and pretty, with light red fruits, and these characters translate directly onto the palate. Our Pinots always seem to have a delicious perfume to them a result of both nature and nurture. The wine finishes nice and tight, with a lovely length. The gentle, silky tannins in Expat can more than handle 30 minutes in the fridge if the weather is warm. This wine goes very well with cheeses, chicken dishes and charcuterie. Vegan Friendly

Battle of Bosworth 2023 Expat Tasting Notes

Vintage

Vineyard Notes

We had a very wet winter (between June and September) and a cool wet spring, which tested the mettle of our in-house viticulturist/ vigneron, AKA Joch. As a result of these trying conditions, vintage started later than in previous years (we picked Chardonnay on the 15th February in #v2023) and we had much smaller volumes than in 2022 or 2021. We had a few warm days in January and February and picked the whites quite quickly, then about 10mm of rain in early March which settled the dust and stopped picking for a little while. Despite the smaller vintage, the quality of grapes was excellent across both red and white varieties.

Winemaking

Winemaker Notes

We have had Pinot Noir planted in our vineyards since 1987 when the young Joch Bosworth was press-ganged into helping plant the vines. Battle of Bosworth has always been a family business! Â There was a decent amount of Pinot Noir in McLaren Vale in the 80s and 90s, but there are only a couple of vineyards left now. Joch's parents sold the grapes to various winemakers over the years. We made our first Pinot Noir under the Battle of Bosworth in 2011, an auspicious year in many ways it was a pretty wet vintage. The aim is always to make a lighter style of Pinot Noir and to make this happen, we throw in a small amount of whole bunches into the ferment (all the other grapes are crushed after being picked), which adds perfume and texture. The Pinot is picked quite early and after fermentation goes into older oak before bottling early.

Reviews & Awards

Awards

The Wine Front: I’m known to be something of an aficionado of Pinot Noir from places where it probably shouldn’t be grown. In part, this is because they taste different and offer an alternative expression of the grape variety, and in part, because I’m a strange cat. Red fruit, rhubarb, iodine/tar, a little cedar, orange peel too. It’s medium-bodied, has a light dusty tannin grip, some distinct amaro flavours here, again with that blood orange and dried herb, with a dry finish of solid length. It’s a curious wine, but I like it. Point of difference is a positive. 90 Points, Top Value Wine Gary Walsh

Other Vintages

Battle of Bosworth 2023 Expat Tasting Notes

The Wine Companion

91 Points, Silver
Marcus Ellis
The Wine Companion