Stonier Pinot Noir 2025

The 2025 release sees Stonier reach a new high. Now the estate's second vintage under Julian Grounds and its refocused, new-ownership farming, this Pinot shows red to blue fruits with noticeably more density and depth than previous Stonier releases, yet stays instinctively true to the estate's lifted, aromatic style. The fruit is drawn from mature vineyards scattered across the Mornington Peninsula, with a focus on the region's cooler south around Merricks, where the winery sits.

Aromas of wild strawberry, foraged pine mushroom, florals and warm earth lead onto a palate that is full and brooding through the mid-palate, finishing with svelte, fine-grained tannin and lively acidity. It's the palate where this vintage shines—generous yet perfectly poised between juicy drinkability and tension.

Small-Batch Detail

• Region: Mornington Peninsula, Victoria

• Vineyards: Mature sites across the Peninsula's cooler south (Merricks)

• Alcohol: 13.5%

• Closure: Screwcap

• Farming: Refocused viticulture under new ownership

• Style: Light to medium-bodied, aromatic, red-fruited

• Cellaring: Delicious now, with the balance and tannin to reward short-to-medium-term cellaring

Vintage Note — 2025
Widely tipped as one of the great Mornington vintages of the last 25 years: a warm spring and early-summer rainfall gave way to an extended warm, dry spell without severe heat spikes, with all fruit in the winery before April. Stonier reports a notable lift in colour and colour stability in its Pinot this year.

Expert Reviews
⭐ 95 Points – Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front

“Buy this, cellar it, drink it… this is the best release that I've tried. It's complex, it's cohesive, it's balanced and it feels authentic… It's cherried and strawberried and plummy and sweet spiced, with soil or undergrowth notes interwoven. Tannin profile is top notch… this year's releases take things up again.”

⭐ 95 Points – Jane Faulkner, Halliday Wine Companion

“There's volume, there's flavour, there's definition, there's delight with every sip. Wonderful aromas of florals, autumn leaves, wood spices and warm earth… dark cherries, pips, blood orange zest, chinotto and spicy oak, with textural tannins and lively acidity. There's much more detail coming through this vintage.”

⭐ 95 Points – Melissa Moore, The Real Review

“Deep ruby and fragrant with aromas of baked strawberry tart and bramble over spiced cedar, dried orange peel, clove, cinnamon, and a note of forest mushroom. Plush and enveloping with bright, tangy acidity… fine tannins woven throughout and carrying a ferrous note to the close. Quite the wine.”

FinePinot Note
The strongest ‘standard’ Stonier Pinot in years—three critics at 95 points and a clear step up on the celebrated 2024. Benchmark Mornington Peninsula Pinot Noir: bright, perfumed and thoroughly more-ish. Perfect for grilled salmon, duck breast, or porcini mushroom pasta.

93 points - The Wine Front
“This wine got me a bit excited. The 2024 vintage was Julian Grounds' first vintage at the helm but you'd never know; he just seems to understand the place. The wine: it's lifted and poised and it has layers. It's a wild, exuberant, berried red wine, light and generous at once, you pick this up and think, This is Stonier pinot. It scratches the pinot itch and it scratches the Stonier itch. This isn't the highest-pointed wine in the range, but it's the most exciting. Think undergrowth with spiced strawberries and black cherries rippling throughout. It flows, it seduces and it refreshes.”

94 points - Halliday Wine Companion
"Stonier's bread and butter range and a good 'un this vintage. Fruit off grower vineyards but all managed in-house, which gives a level of quality control. This pops and crackles with vitality, good fruit and varietal flavour. Heady aromas are punctuated by red cherries and blood orange doused in exotic spices and fresh herbs. The palate is on the light side of medium bodied with fine tannins and refreshing acidity throughout. A lovely drink."

91 points - The Real Review
"Medium-light red-purple colour; smoked meaty reductive notes at first sniff (which cleaned up in the glass), then sweet red berries come rocketing through with a delicious succulence. A very slurpy young pinot for pleasurable early drinking."