Fallen Angel 667 - 2022 Pinot Noir

Fallen Angel 667 — 2022 Pinot Noir Adelaide Hills, Single Clone

Every devil was once an angel. This one just had better taste.

Clone 667. The Burgundian. The brooding one. Sourced from Dijon in the 1980s and quietly making its way into the world's finest Pinot Noir programs ever since — because winemakers who know, know. It runs cooler than its siblings, ripens a little later, and produces smaller bunches with tighter structure that reward patience in both the vineyard and the cellar.

We didn't choose 667 because it was easy. We chose it because it was right.

Grown at elevation in the Woodside valley on a single site that has no business producing fruit this good — cool nights, ancient soils, and an aspect that catches morning light and holds it just long enough. Planted at 7,000 vines per hectare, a density that would make most Australian vignerons nervous and every Burgundian nod slowly in approval. Crowded roots compete, dig deeper, and stress in exactly the right way — concentrating flavour, building complexity, and producing the kind of yield that keeps the accountant up at night and the winemaker very, very happy.

The 2022 vintage in the Adelaide Hills delivered the kind of growing season that makes restraint easy and ambition justified. A cool, measured summer with well-timed rainfall built slow, even ripeness across the site — no scrambling, no compromise. 667's naturally late ripening was a virtue in a year that rewarded those who waited. Hand-harvested at peak. Whole bunch fermented in part, because 667 has the backbone to carry it. Aged in French oak, a third new, for twelve months. Bottled unfined.

In the glass, a deep and luminous ruby with a little more development at the rim than its younger sibling — a sign of a vintage that has already begun to show its hand.

The nose is serious and layered, with the 2022 season written all over it. Dark cherry, black plum, and a thread of violets open first, giving way to smoked meat, warm earth, and a fine graphite minerality that is unmistakably cool climate, unmistakably Adelaide Hills. Two years in bottle have started to knit everything together beautifully. There is nothing accidental here, and nothing left to prove.

The palate delivers on every promise. Tightly coiled tannins — fine, precise, and beginning to soften at the edges — frame a core of dark fruit with a savoury, spiced edge. The whole bunch ferment adds a subtle forest floor lift and a structural complexity that sets this apart from anything blended or compromised. Long, dry, and commanding on the finish. The 2022 has arrived, and it brought everything.

This is not a wine that needs your approval. But in 2022, it earned it anyway.

Cellar a further 4–8 years for full redemption. Drink now if you simply cannot wait — we understand, and we forgive you.