Winemaker Summary

Schoolteacher-turned-winemaker Lindsay McCall has shown an absolutely exceptional gift for winemaking across a range of styles, but with immensely complex Pinot Noir and Shiraz leading the way. The wines have an unmatched level of success in the wine shows and competitions Paringa Estate is able to enter, the limitation being the relatively small size of production of the top wines in his portfolio. Lindsay's skills are no less evident in contract winemaking for others. But time has passed and son Jamie, joined the winemaking team in 2012, after completing a winemaking and viticulture course at the University of Adelaide. He was put in charge of winemaking at Paringa in '17 following five home vintages, and one in Oregon, focusing on pinot noir. Exports to the UK, Canada, Denmark, Ukraine, Singapore, Hong Kong, China and Japan. Winery of the Year, 2007 Wine Companion.

"Lindsay McCall is a magician at work"

Halliday Wine Companion

The Paringa Single Vineyard Chardonnay 2022 For The Paringa, this is a rather tight, almost pared-back style. I like it. It still has a core of stone fruit and lemon/grapefruit with zest, all doused with ginger spice and nuanced cedary oak, but the driving acidity keeps everything on a tight leash. It's invigorating and delicious. Screw cap. Rating 95 To 2032 JF   Estate Chardonnay 2022 A finely tuned offering working off a citrus theme with a fine combo of Meyer lemon, grapefruit and pith, some zest, too. The palate is refined and long with mouth-watering acidity, a little flinty with some lemon-lime and bitters tang and cedary oak superbly integrated. It's savoury, moreish and there's only one thing left to do - pour another glass. Screw cap. Rating 95 To 2032 JF   Peninsula Chardonnay 2024 Very primary and all about youthful appeal, with citrus, fresh ginger and bright acidity alongside a thin layer of texture via creamy lees. This will flesh out in time, but a good drink now. Rating 90 To 2030 JF   Estate Pinot Noir 2022 For immediate appeal, this is my preferred go-to wine. It's gorgeous bright garnet, full of intense flavours - savoury and fruit-driven, as in black cherries. strawberries and fruit compote, then up comes woodsmoke, forest floor and garrigue plus cedary oak with a slight bitter green walnut character. The fuller-bodied palate is bolstered by plentiful tannins yet reined in by refreshing acidity. Screw cap. Rating 95 To 2035 JF   All wines in the 2025 Wine Companion were reviewed by Jane Faulkner. 

The Wine Front

Estate Pinot Noir 2022 This wine crackles along in fine style. It has a mineral aspect and a ripple of grainy tannin and an excellent push of fruit and spice through the finish. It tastes of strawberries and black cherries, Campari-like herbs and woodsmoke, a peppercorn character buried within. It’s firm and serious and yet it has an easy-going complexity. Indeed it’s one of those ‘makes complexity look easy’ wines. It’s good for drinking now but it will improve over the coming years. Rating 95 Reviewed by Campbell Mattinson   The Paringa Single Vineyard Pinot Noir 2021 Cherry and strawberry, cedar and mint, spicy too, with an iron and tea leaf top note. Medium-bodied, all the spice and strawberry, quite firm and ‘mineral’, good depth of flavour, fine graphite tannin grip, a lovely cool feel, bancha twig tea, orange zest, and a long and firm finish of precision and dusty spicy tannin. I’m all about this. Superb wine of uncompromising character and verve. Rating 96 Reviewed by Gary Walsh   The Paringa Single Vineyard Chardonnay 2023 This puts its foot down in flavour terms but it has its hands firmly at the wheel, and feels in complete control at all times. Grilled peaches, woodsmoke and cedarwood characters are the main drivers of flavour though there are grapefruit, apple and pear nuances if you look. There’s texture here, and there’s excellent thrust through the finish. Rating 94 Reviewed by Campbell Mattinson   Estate Chardonnay 2024 This will live and mature – well – for yonks. It’s a direct, linear, complex chardonnay with length to burn. It tastes of grapefruit and grilled peach, flint and steel, cedar and fresh, juicy pears, and while it sits slightly on the lean side at this early stage, it will blossom given time. Rating 94 Reviewed by Campbell Mattinson   Peninsula Pinot Noir 2024 Perfectly turned out. Sweet-sour cherry flavours, into strawberry, into violets, with sweet spice notes strewn throughout. Juicy and accessible but with enough tannin, and indeed oak, to both keep it in sound shape and to give it a bit of spunk. It’s not going anywhere in a hurry but it’s excellent drinking right now. Rating 92 Reviewed by Campbell Mattinson   Robinson Vineyard Pinot Noir 2022 This is a light-but-tannic Pinot Noir with red cherry and red rose characters to the fore. There’s a smoky, reductive element in play too, which combines well with twiggy herb and nut shell notes. This wine is juicy and perfumed on the one hand, and meaty and strict on the other. It needs time to unfold. Rating 92 Reviewed by Campbell Mattinson

The Real Review

Peninsula Chardonnay 2024 Bright lemon yellow hue. White peach, jasmine and struck flint aromas. Powerful on entry, lovely concentration of white peach fruits with lemon blossom and oyster shell complexity. Acidity rides high, keeping it driven and tense with a drying focus into the very long finish. This is serious chardonnay at a very reasonable price. 94 Points Reviewed by Stuart Knox   Estate Chardonnay 2024 Straw yellow shines through the glass. Ripe peach, roasting nuts and flinty mineral aromatics. Bright, powerful and well defined across the palate with peach fruits, lemon zest and a creamy nougat centre. Great length, acidity is well integrated, working to drive it without poking out as it runs very long and finely detailed at the finish. 95 Points Reviewed by Stuart Knox   The Paringa Single Vineyard Chardonnay 2023 Pale straw yellow colour. Grapefruit, baking sourdough and a hint of cashew aromatics. There's density and focus here, still showing primary characteristics but the harmony between citrus, apple and cashew is pitch-perfect. Wonderful length and precision, everything is fine tuned and not a hair out of place while it travels the long road to the finish. 95 Points Reviewed by Stuart Knox   Peninsula Pinot Noir 2024 Deep red-purple colour, bright in the glass. Smoky, broken rock, struck flint and toasty barrel aromas, smoked charcuterie, the palate softly fleshy and of medium intensity, with black-cherry flavours. There's a directness and nice touch of firmness at the finish. Good value. 90 Points Reviewed by Huon Hooke   Estate Pinot Noir 2022 Medium ruby red hue. Plush and inviting nose of black cherry and cola spices. Mouth fills with dark cherry, there’s layers of anise and cinnamon spices, hints of clove as it runs along. Great length, everything has intensity and concentration yet never sits heavy with both acid and tannins in harmony along the flow to a very long and precise finish. 93 Points Reviewed by Stuart Knox   The Paringa Single Vineyard Shiraz 2021 Deep red-purple colour with a lifted and steely/metalllic aroma, a suggestion of volatility, while the palate is quite firm and full-bodied, solidly built and begging for more time. The VA is a minor issue. The wine is powerful enough to handle it. But it needs time. A shiraz worth cellaring. 93 Points Reviewed by Huon Hooke   Estate Shiraz 2021 Youthful, vibrant red in the glass. Really pretty, lifted and evocative aromas of blueberry, dried herbs, sarsaparilla, white pepper, Asian spice and violets. Deliciously bright, crunchy and textured on the palate. Lashings of blueberry, blackcurrant, spice, clovey oak and cola. The tannins are firm and shapely and the acidity delivers ping and zip. A wonderful example of cooler climate shiraz. 96 Points Reviewed by Aaron Brasher

The Wine Advocate

The Paringa Single Vineyard Chardonnay 2023  The 2023 The Paringa Single Vineyard Chardonnay is highly aromatic, and the palate matches with an intense score of fruit, spice, saline acidity and fine phenolic structure. This lingers and curls across the palate and streaks out to the long finish. It has penetrating flavour and is really good—unreal, in fact. 95 Points   Estate Chardonnay 2024  The 2024 Estate Chardonnay is concentrated and intense, full of salted nuts, flowers and saline acidity. There is plenty of wine here—i.e., it is full of flavor and long through the finish—and yet it manages restraint as well. This is a classy wine, very attractive. 13% alcohol, sealed under screw cap. 93 Points   Peninsula Pinot Noir 2024 The 2024 vintage feels like it was appropriately one second ago, but perhaps time goes faster as I get older. Here we have the 2024 Peninsula Pinot Noir that leads with cherry and star anise, raspberry and red licorice, strawberry and tapenade. In the mouth, the wine has a smoky edge to it, coupled with the creamy flow of fruit and tannin. This is a lovely wine: joyful, straightforward, delicious. All wines reviewed by Erin Larkin for the Wine Advocate.

Wine Pilot

Estate Chardonnay 2024 A free wheeling, generous Chardonnay in the Paringa style, but underneath the sunny exterior there is an underlying structural power. Brings the scent of the beach with saline, sea spray notes and ripe peach, pear, nectarine and citrus – very summery and bright. A balanced palate, delightfully citrus and upfront in stone fruits with background lightly spiced, vanillin oak, quince and a quince skin savouriness awaits. Brisk acidity nicely controls the obvious richness and delivers one smart, enticing wine. 94 Points   The Paringa Single Vineyard Chardonnay 2023 By any measure, a luxurious Chardonnay densely packed in summer stone fruits and lively citrus that speaks of its maritime, cool climate. Textural and spiced filled, it’s all about the quality of the fruit. Nectarine, peach, melon, lemon oil and zest with vanilla peach custard and mineral saline notes, it brings a quince tartness and white peppery spice to the finish. The delivery is clean and long across some super juicy, tangy acidity. Plenty to sink your teeth into and plenty left in the tank. 95 Points   Estate Pinot Noir 2022 A deep, vibrant crimson purple. Paringa Estate Pinot is never short on colour or flavour and from the outset, the ’22 is all business with scents that work both the earthy, herbal side of the grape and the pure fruited. Ripe, poised, balanced and long, it’s one serious Mornington Peninsula Pinot Noir. Offers a generous but balanced mouthful, one that is texturally strong across the middle palate with a core of black cherry, red plum and loganberry fruits, tomato bush and leaf, vanilla and a touch of savoury intrigue against a background of fine, firm tannins. Can be enjoyed now or later – the best of both Pinot worlds. 95 Points   The Paringa Single Vineyard Pinot Noir Top of the Paringa Pinot tree and everything steps up a notch; structure, fruit concentration and tannins, adding to the wine’s overall ageing potential. Dusty beets, earth, dark chocolate, black cherry and cedary toasty oak light up the aroma. Solid, well-built and coiled, it does a slow reveal delivering layers of red and dark fruits, earth, dark roasted spices, savoury tapenade and roasting pan juices. Crushed herbs build on the middle palate and gain momentum closing with leafy green characters on the finish. Well positioned for a bright and long future. 95 Points All wines reviewed by Jeni Port for the Wine Pilot.

James Suckling

The Paringa Single Vineyard Chardonnay 2023  The extract and sheer intensity of this youthful, medium-bodied chardonnay is palate-staining from the impact of nectarines, mandarin peel and white peaches. There is crunchiness and a touch of flintiness, cashews and preserved lemon bitterness at the core and in the long finish. A real crowd pleaser. 93 Points   The Paringa Single Vineyard Pinot Noir 2022 Dark cherries, plums, lilacs and crushed musk, with an undertone of dried herbs and orange zest. This medium-bodied pinot is juicy and savory rather than excessively sweet, with well-shaped tannins. While it’s more savory than most California pinots, those who like that style may well relish this. 93 Points   Estate Pinot Noir 2022 This is an edgy, mid-weighted pinot that is not bereft of tannins. For the better. Edgy and jittery, moving across the gums and taking position, nobly, at the cleft of the palate. Immensely pleasurable already, with red pastille, bing cherry, dried lavender and sarsaparilla rolling long and vibrant. Drink or hold. 93 Points   Paringa Estate Robinson Vineyard Pinot Noir 2022 A tautly wound, medium-bodied pinot. No lack of tannins, both stem- and grape skin-derived. Still a little reductive. But this should age very well. Rhubarb, red cherry pits and orange zest notes with the salty grit of tannins. Delicious. Drink or hold. Screw cap. 93 Points   The Paringa Single Vineyard Shiraz 2021 Possibly the finest syrah (err, shiraz) out of this cooler, maritime region to date. That sounds like an underhanded compliment. Succinctly, this is excellent! Clove, black pepper grind, tapenade, violet and blood plum. The tannins, gritty and granular, yet finely wrought. Balletic, while straddling the gracious line of fruit and herb, glimpsing the excessive side of neither. The finish, excellent, with a dusting of Indian spice lingering long. Extract, freshness and savory drinkability in spades. Very Rhone-like. Drink or hold. 95 Points Ned Goodwin MW for JamesSuckling.com   Peninsula Shiraz 2021 Tasting the shiraz from this table of late is a revelation. Taking the wind out of pinot's sails, perhaps. Mid-weighted, crunchy, lithe and spicy. Nothing monochromatic. Mace, clove, cardamon, and smoked charcuterie. The finish, detailed and thoroughly convincing if the Northern Rhone is the barometer of quality. 93 Points Ned Goodwin MW for JamesSuckling.com

Jancis Robinson

The Paringa Single Vineyard Chardonnay 2023 Smoky nose, deep nectarine sweetness, crystalline acidity, bitter lemon. Pomelo. Richer and more intentional than their Peninsula Chardonnay. Smoke threading in and out of dramatic lemon (and lemon-zested-curd) fruit. Sliced arcs of acidity. Focused to the marble-hard, long edges”. 16.5/20 Tamlyn Currin with Jancis Robinson   The Paringa Single Vineyard Pinot Noir 2022 Hawthorn berry, coffee-bean notes, coffee-bean savouriness but it also has red-bauble shininess and brightness of fruit. Coruscatingly juicy and bright but well within the context and restraint of elegant structure and very fine, long tannins. 17/20 Tamlyn Currin with Jancis Robinson   Estate Pinot Noir 2022 Beautiful leafiness, red fruit seeping through layers and layers of sweet herbs: fresh oregano and bay leaf, peppermint. Spicy! Really vibrant red fruit and well-delineated by the gentle rasp of the tannins. Springs out the glass. So lively. 16.5/20 Tamlyn Currin with Jancis Robinson   LJM Pinot Noir 2022 Absolutely singing with electric energy – a line of energy running from the back to the front, vibrating with energy. But it's a pretty serious wine, clenched with white-knuckle tension, masses of minerality, chalk and chew. Dried tarragon and dill. Cherry sherbet and dried cranberries and vanilla-pod dust. Blood orange, pomegranate. Cherry stem and cherry stone bring layers of herbs and minerality. Complex, thrilling and with substantial length. 17.5/20 Tamlyn Currin with Jancis Robinson   The Paringa Single Vineyard Shiraz 2021 Bright mid crimson. Aromatic with violets, black fruit and a top note of red-fruit freshness. Elegantly fine tannins, notable acidity, scented on the palate. Fresh and just medium-bodied. Mouth-watering from both acidity and tannins. 16.5/20 Julia Harding MW with Jancis Robinson