# Dr. Mayer Pinot Noir (2025)

- **Producer:** Timo Mayer
- **Colour:** red
- **Type:** still
- **Grapes:** Pinot Noir
- **Region:** Victoria, Australia
- **Style:** Natural
- **Alcohol:** 13.5%
- **Average price:** €55
- **Vegan:** Yes
- **Contains sulphites:** Yes
- **When to drink:** Now or Later
- **Serving temperature:** 14–16 °C
- **Aromas & flavours:** strawberry, cherry, violet, black pepper, herbaceous

## About this wine

Timo Mayer, originally from a German winemaking family with over 400 years of viticultural heritage in Württemberg, established Mayer Wines in 1999 on the steep slopes of Mt Toolebewong near Healesville in the Yarra Valley. Sourced from an east-facing slope at 200 metres elevation on the rocky volcanic soils of the Bloody Hill vineyard, the Dr. Mayer Pinot Noir represents his flagship, most structured, and boundary-pushing cuvée.

## Interesting facts

- Winemaker Timo Mayer pioneered 100% whole-bunch fermentations in Australia, famously calling his philosophy 'giving it the full beans'.
- Timo Mayer comes from a family with over 400 years of winemaking heritage in Württemberg, Germany.
- The grapes are grown on steep, rocky volcanic soil at 200 metres elevation on the Bloody Hill vineyard.
- This flagship cuvée uses zero new oak, maturation taking place entirely in seasoned French oak hogsheads.

## Food pairing

The lively acidity and fine-grained, skeletal whole-bunch tannins cut effortlessly through rich meats like duck, pork belly, and lamb. Meanwhile, the wine's savoury stalk inclusion and herbal spice form a seamless bridge to earthier dishes like wild mushroom risotto.

## Wine making process

Harvested by hand approximately one week later than the standard Yarra Valley bottling, this wine undergoes 100% whole-bunch fermentation utilizing ambient wild yeasts with minimal intervention. Matured entirely in seasoned French oak hogsheads with no new oak used, it preserves raw stem expression and varietal clarity before being bottled unfined and unfiltered with minimal additions of sulfur dioxide.