The Australian Wine Annual 2012 Jeremy Oliver **** NEW ******

The Five Star Wines - Australia's Wine Elite

Mike Peterkin is a leader among Australian makers of chardonnay. While Pierro's has traditionally been one of the country's more opulent and poweful chardonnays,since 2002 it has acquired additional dimensions of tightness and silkiness. The LTC, essentially a blend of semillon and sauvignon blanc with a dollop of chardonnay, is one of Margaret River's benchmark wines.

2009 Pierro Chardonnay 96 points

A wine that slowly reveals its length, shape and balance.

Smoky, faintly meaty aromas of peaches and white flowers, ginger and cloves,backed by suggestions of grapefruit and grilled nuts reveal hints of nougat and struck match. Its intense stonefruit and grapefruit flavours become quite juicy and build towards a powerful crescendo, tightly knit with oak and backed by lingering mineral notes. It's  long and measured, with a fine chalkiness and a fresh, vibrant finish of lively acidity.

2010 Pierro Semillon Sauvignon Blanc LTC 95 points

Likely to age gracefully, revealing a lightly spicy and nettle like bouquet of white and blue flowers, gooseberries and passionfruit backed by nuances of white peach, chalk and mineral. It's initially juicy and generous, then becomes long and tightly focused down the palate, delivering a pleasing lenght of gooseberry, lycees and cassis-like flavour underpinned by fine chalkiness. It finishes quite dry and vivacious, with lingering sherbet-like notes and vibrant acidity.

 2011 Pierro LTC 

Consistently one of the best white blends released in WA -

in Australia for that matter. It's predominately semillon with sauvignon blanc and a light touch of chardonnay. The result is a wine that has a lightness of touch, a fresh youth and has the capacity to mature into something richer and more evocative. Superb fruit shows through at the moment with some tropical grassy edges and a little melony zip. Crisp fine acid and a very long finish. You couldn't want any more than this in a blended white. 95/100   WEST WEEKEND OCT 8-9 2011

Ray Jordan The West Australian Wine Guide          

2009 Pierro Chardonnay

One of the most immediately complex and intriguing of all the Pierro chardonnays released to date.  The nose shows some light toast, butterscotch and the fruit of white peach.On the palate the richness and intensity is soon evident. Immensley powerful and tightly framed -in fact one of the tightest - it shows its deep and amazing length and power that carries so effortlessly to a long finish. It's a wine I would like to drink over the next four years. Score 96/100

The West Australian Wine Guide 2012           Ray JordanReview from eRobertParker.co

The 2009 Chardonnay offers intense notes of fresh grapefruit, white peaches and golden delicious apples with nuances of meal, lightly toasted cashews, fresh cream and acacia honey plus a whiff of crushed stones.

The medium to full bodied palate has a gorgeous silken texture plus plenty of rich, ripe fruit layered-in with toasty / meal-like notes and refreshing acidity. The finish is very long and harmonious. Delicious now, it should mature gracefully, cellaring to 2019+.

Aug 2011 Points 94+Review from eRobertParker.com

INDULGE YOURSELF

Pierro Chardonnay, Margaret River 2009.

Light- medium yellow with green tints,indicating freshness. A very youthful, vital, clean and zesty chardonnay that leaps out of the glass. The palate is energetic and driving, bright and long. An outstanding chardonnay that will age superbly.

Drink now to 2019 95/100

4th October 2011 Sydney Morning Herald  Huon Hooke

This pricey Margaret River tour de force has evolved in complexity and refinement over the years. The 2009 is still powerful with rich peach and melon-like fruit at the core  but elements of nutty and buttery complexity have increased in importance.

The palate is creamy in texture, full-bodied and firm with a long finish.

Food ideas: Salmonwith creamy tarragon sauce, roast chicken with apples.

Ralph-Kyte Powell, Epicure, The Age August 2011 5 Stars.

Pierro are renowned for their Chardonnay and I reckon this is the best I’ve tasted yet. Bright yellow/gold with green glints it’s exceptionally pure and silkily focused with great line and length of ripe Sicilian lemon and white peach fruit. Discreet oak brings a subtle play of nougat to the finish. Very good. Love the texture.

Sarah Ahmed The Wine Detective August 2011

Very consistent style of absolutely delicious Chardonnay, gently blending fruit, yeast lees and oak to make a glowing silky wine brimming with complexity.

5 star rating. Among the greatest wines in the world.

Robert Geddes MW Australian Wine Vintages Twenty Ninth Edition 2012

2008 Pierro Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot L.T.C.f.

 Deep aubergine with a lifted and lipsmacking balsamic edge to its juicy blackcurrant and fleshy ripe plum fruit; riper notes of savoury black olive and dark chocolate add depth and layer. With its super supple tannins, though intense, this medium bodied Bordeaux blend (L.T.C.f is a little touch of Cabernet Franc) is hard to resist now.

Sarah Ahmed The Wine Detective August 2011

An elegant wine with excellent texture and structure. The LTCf is code for “a little touch of cabernet franc.”

               -  Weekend Australian Magazine, November 2010

JAMES HALLIDAY’S TOP 100 OF AUSTRALIA’S BEST WINES

Margaret River is exciting for cabernet blends as the wines have a varietal fragrance, blackcurrant to black olive. Here they gain weight and richness each year looking entirely delicious.

5 star rating. Among the greatest wines in the world.

Robert Geddes MW Australian Wine Vintages Twenty Ninth Edition 2012

2007 Pierro Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot Reserve

Top 100 New Releases Gourmet Traveller Wine Aug/ Sept 2011

2007 Pierro Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot Reserve.

Pierro Reserves are ambitious wines. The aromas are funky and swaety to begin with ,extended airing reaping rewards of black fruits. It,s soft., medium bodied and gentle, finishing with a twist of bitterness.

Cellar from seven to nine years.

HUON HOOKE.

Style,class and breeding. Wonderful wine an even style of crunchy red-berry fruit,delicious flavours and fine finishing tannins that's civilised, sensible and extremely food friendly.

5 star rating. Among the greatest wines in the world.

Robert Geddes MW Australian Wine Vintages Twenty Ninth Edition 2012

WHITE WINE OF THE YEAR

2008 PIERRO CHARDONNAY

The consistency of Peterkin’s chardonnay is quite extraordinary. One of the most delicate yet deceptively powerful Chardonnays. Bloody marvelous!

                                                                                                                    -  Ray Jordan’s 2011 Wine Guide

THE BEST WHITE WINE – 2010 PIERRO LTC

RAY JORDAN TOASTS THE TOP 100 WHITES

Mike Peterkin was the pioneer of this style, which is now arguably the most important WA wine. The wine is largely Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc but the light touch of Chardonnay does make an important difference on the palate adding texture and richness. This is one of the best.

       -  The West Australian, November 2010

Top 100 wines.

Finesse and delicacy with fresh citrus and herds, fleshy at first with a very fine detail to the acidity and great length of passionfruit flavours to finish.

4 star rating.Outstanding quality, intensity and length of flavour.

Robert Geddes MW Australian Wine Vintages Twenty Ninth Edition 2012

LANGTONS CLASSIFICATION OF AUSTRALIAN WINE 2010

PIERRO CHARDONNAY – “OUTSTANDING”

Pierro Chardonnay fits in the idiom of grand cru type wine. Highly prized, beautifully pitched and evocative, it is truly one of Australia’s greatest chardonnays. Top vintages: 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 20002

   -   Langtons Classification of Australian Wine 2010

FINANCIAL REVIEW - LIFE & LEISURE MAGAZINE

JOURNALIST ANDREW BURKE WAS SENT TO MARGARET RIVER TO WRITE ABOUT THINGS OTHER THAN WINE

It’s about now that I have to concede that my editor was right. You can come to Margaret River and appreciate it for its natural beauty alone. But then again, there’s no rule that says you have to and surely all this nature would be even better washed down with some of the world’s best chardonnays. Have we got time to get to Pierro before the cellar door shuts?

• Andrew Burke, Financial Review, Life & Leisure, March 2011

RAY JORDAN.... Summer Wine Toasts the Top 100 wines
The West Australian 4th November 2010
THE BEST WINE
Pierro Semillon Sauvignon Blanc LTC 2010
Mike Peterkin was the pioneer of this style which is now arguably the most important WA wine style because of its ability to deliver across various price points good honest, reliable drinking. As often as not, these wines are drunk soon after release yet this is the perfect example of why it is better to hold onto it for a little while. In the few months since I first tasted it, this wine has settled down and is drinking even better. The wine is largely Semillon and sauvignon blanc but the light touch of chardonnay does make an important difference on the palate adding texture and richness. This is one of the best.

JAMES HALLIDAY'S TOP 100 …The Weekend Australian 13-14 November 2010
Pierro Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot LTCF 2008
95 points, Screwcap,14% alc
The LTCF is code for ‘’ a little touch of cabernet franc” to accompany the 54% cabernet sauvignon, 33% merlot and 2% petit verdot. Crystal clear crimson-red; an elegant wine, no more than medium –bodied, but excellent texture and structure to its panoply of blackcurrant fruit; quality French oak and fine tannins add to the appeal.

RAY JORDAN…….White Wine of Year
2008 Pierro Chardonnay

The consistency of Peterkin’s top chardonnay is quite extraordinary. Just when you ask if they can get any better, they do. The striking feature of this one is the incredible life and energy on the palate with the zingy acid. But of course the complex maze of cashew, minerals, grapefruit and cereal strike home with compelling intensity. One of the most delicate yet deceptively powerful Pierro chardonnays.
Bloody marvellous.
Ray Jordan’s 2011 WA WINE GUIDE.

LANGTONS CLASSIFICATION OF AUSTRALIAN WINE
November 2010
OUTSTANDING.
Pierro Chardonnay Margaret River.
The fastidious attention to detail, yet apparent laissez-faire winemaking approach seems almost contradictory, yet this encapsulates the philosophy behind Dr Mike Peterkin’s ethereal, superbly consistent and utterly sublime Pierro Chardonnay. It is the glorious “pretender to Australia’s Chardonnay crown”. The Pierro Vineyard, at “Willyabrup” and a play on Peterkin’s surname, is one of the loveliest vineyards in Margaret River. It is tended with extreme care and while not officially organic, low input principals apply. Mike Peterkin was preaching sustainability and equilibrium long before it became fashionable. The style has a been longstanding foil to Leeuwin Estate Art Series Chardonnay. Pierro Chardonnay is vinified in the Burgundian fashion with barrel fermentation in new and one year old French oak. Malo-lactic fermentation, regular lees stirring (battonage) and lees contact take place over a 12-month maturation period. The wine possesses incredible intensity, generosity, complexity, freshness and concentration. Typically they are fragrant and minerally with lemon curd/grapefruit/white peach/cashew nut aromas and flavours, lovely mid-palate richness and underlying new oak: a fresh indelible acidity cuts across the palate giving further dimension. While it is idiosyncratic and utterly Australian, Pierro Chardonnay also fits into the idiom of a grand cru type wine. Highly prized, beautifully pitched and evocative, it is truly one of Australia’s greatest chardonnays.
The wines, however, have moderate cellaring potential.
(Pierro quirkily labels Willyabrup with two l’s)
Top vintages: 2009, 2008,2007,2006,2005,2004,2003,2002

International test match. Review Pierro Chardonnay
http://www.grape.co.za/users/tim_james/blog/2010-08-30-chardonnay_international_test_match.html

Dr Michael Peterkin has an iconoclastic attitude to winemaking and dislikes pigeon-hole descriptions of his winemaking practices and  philosophy. His chardonnay is frequently so rich it almost tastes likechocolate, and with its generally high alcohol, you wonder if it can age - but it does, to a deep and eminently satisfying toasty maturity. His potent cabernets (an impressive five-varietal Bordeaux-style blend) is equally powerful and long-lived. The semillon sauvignon blanc LTC is a fruity, crisp style for early drinking.
- Oz Clarke’s Australian Wine Companion

2008 Chardonnay
The consistency of Peterkin’s top chardonnay is quite extraordinary. Just when you ask if they can get any better, they do. The striking feature of this one is the incredible life and energy on the palate with that zingy acid. But of course the complex maze of cashew, minerals, grapefruit and cereal strike home with compelling intensity. One off the most delicate yet deceptively powerful Pierro chardonnays. Marvellous. 98/100
- Ray Jordan, Pick of the Week, West Australian, July 2010

Winter is a good time to enjoy whites with personality. Pierro’s Margaret River chardonnay never disappoints if you like full- bodied, complex chardonnay. The ’08 has a rich ,potent nose of syrupy melon, pineapple, sweet citrus, notable nutty oak and buttery richness. Tt’s powerfull flavoured depth,persistence , finishing tangy with melony and oaky aftertastes. Four and a half stars.
- Ralph Kyte-Powell, Epicure, The Age, June 2010

The ever-reliable Pierro’s take on a regional dry white, a Semillon Sauvignon with a touch of Chardonnay to tune it up. Smells of citrus and herbs with a touch of stone fruits and tropicals too – a real fruit salad. The palate’s balanced nicely with attractive fresh melon flavours and bright acid. Drink young or age mid-term. 91/100
- Nick Stock, Wine 100, August 2010

This wine is full and rich - honeydew and white peach to the fore. Bourne told us "on the nose, wild honey, pink grapefruit, apples and toffee. Hints of dusty spices and marzipan. Follows through well to a rich palate. A touch of warmth. Complex." I agreed on the warmth from alcohol, but found good restraint too. It's generously flavoured but maintains style. It's ready, yet will still age.
- Peter  Gourmet Traveller Wine, Chardonnay Superstars, Aug/Sept 2010

As Peterkin told me last year, his prestige label's opulent style is influenced by a full malolactic fermentation, though he picks with low malic acid followed by batonnage and time in barrel (12 months in 50% new French oak) to keep the buttery diacetyl notes at bay. It shows perfumed, vanilla pod edged canteloupe and white peach on the nose, with incipient nougat, which impression follows through on the palate, together with some attractively textured pear skin notes. Ample, yet well balanced, this is a beautifully tailored, perfumed Chardonnay, already giving lots of pleasure, but with the concentration and structure to eke out said pleasure factor for a good few years yet.
- Sarah Ahmed, The Wine Detective, 2010 

2008 Fire Gully Chardonnay
 This chardonnay from Margaret River’s Pierro is styled differently to the powerfully built estate wine. Aromas and flavours of grapefruit and white peach are clean and inviting. Oak is a textural, mellowing input, not an aromatic or flavouring agent. Despite high alcohol, it is elegant, smooth , long and satifying. Four and a Half stars.
- Ralph Kyte-Powell, Epicure, The Age, August 2010

Michael Peterkin's other label is sourced from his other Willyabrup vineyard, Fire Gully, which he acquired in 1998. A tight lemony/grapefurity nose and palate with sweet pear skin and ripe white peach typifies Western Australia's Gin Gin clone Chardonnay. Rich yet firmly structured with, as Langton's Andrew Calliard MW memorably puts it, an "al dente" texture, it has presence, indeed a youthful focus. Very good.
- Sarah Ahmed, The Wine Detective, 2010
 
2007 Pierro Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot
One of the best examples of this blend yet from Mike Peterkin. Red fruits dominate the highly perfumed bouquet. An excellent vintage has allowed Peterkin to weave something special here with this excellent Bordeaux-style red wine.
- Ray Jordan, 100 Top Reds for Winter Drinking, Fresh, West Australian, June 2010

2005 Pierro Chardonnay
Has intense peach coulis, really subtle wood, and subtle cream lees too: this is seriously complex. Fruit complex. Gets Margaret River baby pineapple too as it evolves in the glass. Rich and tingly in the mouth, with a fine quartzy acid edge, masses of fruit in the middle, really tight and waiting to unwind. Shows fine oak as well but all is in tune. This is serious.
-Tim White, Australian Financial Review, February 2008

Chardonnay
Chardonnay is so good in Australia at the moment, in fact, that you could say we are in a golden age.
-Tim White, Australian Financial Review, February 2008

Pierro
Pierro’s thrilling chardonnay has never been better. Its other whites are invariably amongst Margaret River’s best, and the reds grow in stature each year.
- Peter Forrestal, Sunday Times Magazine, October,2007

Mike Peterkin continues to stamp class and longevity all over his finest wine. Whilst the earlier vintages of Pierro Chardonnay were notable for their impressive richness and concentration, Peterkin has successfully sought a finer, purer expression of fruit which he has deftly married with oak and underpinned by a superbly textured chassis of chalky minerality. A classic.
Rating: 97/100
- Jeremy Oliver’s 2007 Wine of the Year Finalist, Top 10 Chardonnays

Mike Peterkin’s tiny plots of chardonnay offer individual characters that he fuses through barrel ferment, yeast lees contact and
malolactic fermentation. Peach, rockmelon and cumquat mix with complex flavours. It’s a a triumph of terroir and thoughtful
winemaking.
-Peter Bourne, Qantas Inflight Guide to Wine

Multi-faceted chardonnay of great character that reveals more as it airs and warms in the glass. Hazelnut, citrus and subtle buttery aromas with a balsamic, slightly volatile side. Tightly structured and intense, it has wonderful flavour, balance and more-ish drinkability.
- Huon Hooke, Gourmet Traveller Wine Oct/Nov 2007 Edition

I keep running out of superlatives for this great Margaret River wine. Once more showing stunning power and intensity with a complex rich and intensely flavoured palate. You get new flavours and sensations with every sip. A chardonnay that you can savour to the last drop.
Rating: 96/100
- Ray Jordan’s Guide to Wine 2008

2004 Pierro Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot  Reserve
Margaret River Cabernet Merlot at this level typically shows cassis and black berry concentration more than usually seen in other Australian regions, but there is also some dried fruit/fig and dark chocolate complexity. Margaret River wines of this quality -Pierro’s Cabernets blend, Cullen’s Diana Madeliene Cabernet Merlot, Vasse Felix’s top flight Heytesbury Cabernet and VoyagerEstate’s Cabernet Merlot blend come to mind. -
-Mike Bennie, National Liquor News, June 2007

Margaret River Chardonnay: Australia’s Best
 
It is difficult to argue with the proposition that Margaret River is Australia’s foremost region for Chardonnay, because so many great wines come from within its boundaries. Margaret River Chardonnay manages to combine an almost shocking voluptuousness with iron-clad structure, intensity with generosity, and sweet fruit with flowing natural acidity. The wines age surely, gaining in complexity while not sacrificing varietal character. They lie closer to the realm of Le Montrachet than any other Australian Chardonnays (and most of the rest of the world’s Chardonnays).
- James Halliday - Varietal Wines - 2004
 
It would be an understatement to say that Margaret River is the greatest Chardonnay region in Australia today. It positively romped in, with six wines in the Top 21.
-Huon Hooke - Gourmet Traveller Wine -  2004
 
Margaret River is Australia's premium Chardonnay capital.
-Wine Wise Vol. 26 No 5 - December 2004
 
Further evidence that WA, and Margaret River in particular, is producing the finest array of chardonnays in the land.
- Ray Jordan - The West Australian - November 2004
 
One of the sublime group of chardonnays that mark Margaret River as the outstanding region for this variety in Australia.
-Peter Forrestal - The Sunday Times Magazine - November 2004
 
2003 Pierro Chardonnay
 
Pierro is one of the few Australian wineries that could claim to have established a trend that many others have followed. Since the mid 1980s Mike Peterkin has crafted a Chardonnay of not only monumental power, but of simultaneously smooth and silky delivery. Recent years have seen more refinement and gentility about these wines, as typified by the the exceptionally stylish 2002 and 2003 editions.
-Jeremy Oliver - The Australian Wine Annual - 2005
 
Wonderfully bright, luscious and vibrant chardonnay with rare intensity and concentration of fruit. It’s lightly smoky aromas of ruby grapefruit, honeydew melon and fresh pineapple overlie tightly integrated nuances of sweet, fine-grained vanilla oak. Smooth and juicy, its mouth-filling palate simply explodes with pristine and perfectly ripened flavours of tropical fruits and citrus, tightly underpinned by sweet oak and creamy, lees-derived complexity. It finishes long and persistent, with racy, citrusy acids and lingering tropical fruit flavours. Rating: 97/100. (Jeremy Oliver’s equal highest pointed Pierro ever)
- Jeremy Oliver - The Australian Wine Annual - 2005
 
This smiles like the Hot Club of France at 2am: piquant ginger and nutmeg oak with acrid gunflint twist around sinuous acidity and silky peach and melon flesh in a wicked dance. I even expected a whoof of Gauloise smoke. This is typical of Mike Peterkin’s blockbusting Pierro style.
-The Advertiser - Australia’s Top 100 Wines - November 2004
 
Wonderful aromas of cashew and grapefruit with a rich creamy leesy character. It has great richness and texture with beautiful balance between oak and fruit. There’s freshness on the palate, which is retained to a very long finish. Continues the impressive line for these chardonnays. Rating: 94/100.
-Ray Jordan - Guide to Western Australian Wine - 2004/05
 
Pierro and Leeuwin have consistently dominated the Margaret River Chardonnay scene for 20 years. In terms of structure, this is full, sturdy, dense and long. In terms of texture it has Margaret River’s dry viscosity which it sheds with the years to reveal the cascading layers of flavours that this region’s greatest aged Chardonnays are famous for. The superb fruit and subtle texture combine to give an almost sumptuous, balanced, incredibly long mouthful of youthful chardonnay pleasure. This will age till 2012 or 2015 and is amongst Pierro’s best three to date in our view.
-Invinity Fine Wine Brokers - 2004
 
The role model for so many of Australia’s more opulent and hedonistically proportioned chardonnays, this stunning expression of Margaret River Chardonnay by Mike Peterkin is now becoming more elegant.
-Jeremy Oliver - The Australian Wine Annual 2005
 
2002 Pierro Chardonnay
 
Pierro is Margaret River’s most powerful chardonnay. It’s become a bit finer in recent years, but it is still a wine of majestic proportions. The acme of style: a fabulous, faultless wine that Australia should be proud of.
-Ralph Kyte-Powell & Huon Hooke - The Penguin Good Australian Wine Guide 2004/05
 
A remarkable follow-up to the superb 2001. Complex and beautifully weighted, with a lingering, mealy grapefruit and nutty flavour mix. Peterkin adopts a full malolactic regime in the pursuit of palate texture and it’s perfectly demonstrated here. Retains a fine elegance despite the full malo.
-Decanter Magazine UK 2004
 
Australia’s Best White Wine
-Uncorked Magazine, Sydney Morning Herald and The Age - Spring 2004
 
Fine melon and cashew; long and intense; more refined and tight than the usual Pierro blockbuster. Rating 94 (Wines 94 - 100 Considered outstanding and of the highest quality, usually with a distinguished pedigree.
- James Halliday - Wine Companion 2005
                                                                               
Pierro is consistently the most powerful of Margaret River Chardonnays and quite delicious in the right circumstances. The ‘02 is right in style, with rich nose of peach, melon, cashew and smoky oak. The palate is full-bodied and ultra-smooth with complex flavour that lasts and lasts. Excellent.
- Ralph Kyte-Powell - The Age - April 2004
 
Another Margaret River producer with a superb record, whose wines have become more refined and stylish, and much more consistent thanks to the move to screw caps from 2002. The ‘02 is both retrained and tightly knit, showing marvellous compactness and finesse. Peaches and cream, grapefruit zest, said Forrestal. Grilled nuts, lemon curd, steely acidity, said Caillard. Rating: 96/100.
- Huon Hooke - Gourmet Traveller Wine - Summer 2004
 
One of a sublime group of Chardonnays that mark Margaret River as the outstanding region for this variety in Australia. Mike Peterkin can be proud of the continued refinement of this outstanding vineyard. A thrilling wine.
- Peter Forrestal - Sunday Times Magazine - November 2004
 
 
2001 Pierro Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot
 
My favourite of this trio is the complex, St. Julien-like 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot. It’s dark ruby colour is followed by a big, sweet perfume of cedar wood, tobacco leaf, black currant and vanilla. Elegant, medium-bodied, and well concentrated, it is ideal for drinking over the next 7-8 years.
- Robert Parker Jr - The Wine Advocate - October 2004
 
A peak vintage for this Margaret River five-way blend, which includes cabernet franc, malbec and petit verdot. Dense, concentrated, fleshy fruit and extract, gutsy yet elegant. The aromas are more of red berries than black, sprinkled with leafy herbal notes. Best now to 2020.
- Huon Hooke - Sydney Morning Herald - June 2004
 
A sumptuous, modern well-ripened cabernet blend with some slightly reductive and meaty complexity. It’s delicate perfume of small red berries and sweet vanilla/cedar oak precedes a plush, very smooth and rounded palate whose intense small berry flavours are married to an assertive combination of oak and firm, fine tannins. Jeremy Oliver - The Australian Wine Annual 2005
 
Stylish and elegant, spare, slightly savoury frame, but a core of delicious red and blackcurrant fruit; fine tannins. Rating: 93
-  James Halliday - Wine Companion 2005
 
Pierro cabernet comes from Willyabrup, the very best place in Margaret River for Bordeaux red varieties. Always a more savoury Willyabrup cabernet blend than some of its illustrious neighbours, Pierro continues in that mould in 2001. It has black and redcurrant fruit on the nose along with clean earthy, herbal and light smoky-barrel aromas. A marvellous wine that is so close to the top it almost doesn’t matter.
 Ralph Kyte-Powell and Huon Hooke - The Penguin Good Australian Wine Guide 2004/05
 
I have watched the development of this wine over the years to the point now where it stacks up against some of the best cab merlots in the district. This is clearly the best yet. The wonderful fragrant fruit with slightly perfumed red berry, plum and dusty savoury oak is beautifully appealing. The palate is brilliantly constructed with ripe firm tannins and silky fine fruit that builds powerfully to an awesome finish. Great wine. Rating: 94/100.
- Ray Jordan - Guide to Western Australian Wine 2004/05
 

2004 Pierro LTC Semillon Sauvignon Blanc
 
As my absolute favourite from Margaret River, the Pierro has all the crispness required, with an extra element of complexity from LTC. Which, just quietly stands for a “little touch of Chardonnay”
- Ray Jordan - Guide to Western Australian Wine 2004/05
 
The LTC tends to be a blend of 50% semillon (some of which is matured in oak), 45% sauvignon blanc (which sees no oak) and 5% chardonnay (which may or may not be oak influenced). To add complexity, there are usually about 10 components of the blend, including those with or without malolactic fermentation, without oak or with new or old oak. The 2004 Pierro LTC has restrained spicy oak and nutty, leesy characters with some new-mown hay, lots of finesse, and a powerful refreshing finish. (Rated in the top 22 SBS blends in Australia).
-Peter Forrestal - Gourmet Traveller Wine - Autumn 2005
 
Stylish, flavoursome and vibrant white Bordeaux blend of translucent brightness and vitality. Its fresh grassy aromas of gooseberries and passionfruit, plus its juicy, vibrant palate of tangy fruit are enhanced by suggestions of butter and citrus from a subliminal addition of chardonnay. Long and refreshing, it sits neatly above a fine, powdery backbone of chalky phenolics. Excellent shape and balance.
- Jeremy Oliver - The Australian Wine Annual 2005
 
Pierro has long made one of the best blends in the Margaret River. They have always claimed their secret weapon is their LTC - Their Little Touch of Chardonnay. And they might be right. This wine has an excellent mouth-feel, a wonderful fresh acidity and the complexity some of the lesser styles lack. Scrumptious with whiting or flathead or snapper, or marwong, or wahoo or a yahoo...stop Stuart, not funny.
-Stuart Gregor - Australia’s Best Value Drinking 2005
 
An elegant, savoury and nutty blend whose delicate, lightly smoky, grassy passionfruit aromas reveal nuances of herbs, melon and citrus. It’s long, elegant and refreshing with a reserved cut of fruit appropriately given a measured treatment of vanilla oak, before finishing clean and dry. Drink 2000-2008+
-Jeremy Oliver - On Wine - April 2004
 
A crisp and penetrating youngster with everything put together expertly for easy refreshment. There’s a green/grassy, lemony aroma with more of the same on the palate. A pleasantly soft mid-palate with good length and evolution of flavour, ending in dry, zippy finish.
- Ralph Kyte-Powell and Huon Hooke - The Penguin Good Australian Wine Guide 2004/05
 
The green-tinged, pale straw colour of the 2003 Pierro LTC looks youthful in the glass. It’s nose is fresh and intensely tropical with pineapple, passionfruit and grassy-herbal scents. The palate is fresh and youthful, too, with a  touch more richness than many WA dry white blends and good intensity of lush tropical, tangy fruits balanced by zesty acidity that finishes dry and fresh. It’s drinking well now and will continue to do so over the next couple of years.
- Divine Food & Wine - Autumn 2004
 
A perfect example of high-quality “classic” style. Exceptional, intensely flavoured fruit is the first part of the equation. It’s been brought together and then a little dollop of Chardonnay has been added for mid-palate structure and weight. It works a treat. Great intensity on the finish. Consistently one of the best.
- Decanter Magazine U.K. - 2004