Chatto Bird Pinot Noir 2023

Jim Chatto is one of the best winemakers in Australian wine today. He’s also one of the busiest. Jim was made Chief Winemaker for the McWilliam’s Wines Group in 2013. In 2017 he also took on the role of Chief Winemaker for Kreglinger/Pipers Brook in Tasmania. He now oversees the entire Group’s winemaking efforts. He works closely with the team at Mount Pleasant, providing style direction and mentoring teams, but it’s a less hands-on role. That’s given him energy to focus on his own wine brand, Chatto Wines, which he and his wife Daisy started in 2000 while living in the Hunter Valley. Pinot Noir is Jim’s current obsession. He and Daisy live on their own vineyard in Huon Valley in Tasmania’s far south – a cold and very different climate from the warmth of Hunter Valley. Theirs is a “tiny vineyard making serious Pinot fun” and in a short amount of time, Jim’s produced extraordinary wines that have won critical acclaim. His 2017 Pinot Noir sold out in record time. 

Often it’s left to the younger generations to challenge the status quo and forge new paths. But not in Jim’s case. This experienced winemaker and senior wine show judge has been helping to define modern Australian wine for years, and he’s not slowing down any time soon. Jim Chatto believes ‘every time you produce a wine you’re putting yourself out there, and that’s a very strong driver to produce the best wine you possibly can.’