I’ve got a friend and he said to me,

"Remember Pinot? several years ago you didn’t dare turn up at a Balwyn dinner party without a bottle, every he-trendy in Melbourne had to have several bottles in his cellar, no she-trendy would come across for anything else [I’m sorry, that’s the way my friend speaks, M.]. It was the mobile phone of the mid-eighties. I guess you Central Victorian people had more sense."

"The trouble with Pinot is that it’s a bloody top drink if it’s been well made and pretty pissy if it hasn’t [I’m sorry, that’s the way he speaks, M.]. From a winemaker’s point of view it’s a buggar [Isttwhs, M] - the grapes only produce the goods in cold climate and yet in a too cold year the sugar levels never make the grade. To get real fruit and colour you can’t crop over 3 ton per acre and even then it’s a fussy bitch [...] to work with in the winery. Some bastards [] even used to trick it up with Shiraz pressings to try and get some body and colour into it. I’ve seen Pinots that seem to be top shelf at release and yet after not much more than 12 months in the cellar they’ve collapsed in heap of vinegar and bitter tannin."

This week at the Campbell we have (in addition to the regular reds) a single bottle of Paternoster 1993 Pinot, by the glass at the standard price. The right climate (Emerald, Victoria), the right cropping level, the right treatment and some cellar age suggest that this is a drink well worth trying. However in the light of my friend’s comments you may be wary of a Pinot with 7 years on the clock. In my humble opinion, with some independent local confirmation, this Pinot:

• is just about to go over the edge,
• is right on the edge or
• has just gone over the edge.

But I can assure you of this - it’s not wimpy - there is something there to taste.