2024 Yarra Yering Waterloo Pinot Noir | 96 Point Yarra Valley Pinot

🏆 96 POINTS HALLIDAY | YARRA YERING | A STUNNING EXPRESSION OF YARRA VALLEY PINOT

A New Pinot Noir from One of Australia's Greatest Estates

This is a seriously exciting addition to the Yarra Yering range.

96 Points – Halliday Wine Companion
94 Points – The Wine Front

Yarra Valley, Victoria

RRP $77 a bottle

A New Pinot Noir from One of Australia's Greatest Estates

This is a seriously exciting addition to the Yarra Yering range.

The Waterloo Pinot Noir comes from a dedicated block planted exclusively to the famous MV6 clone in 2016. While Yarra Yering's flagship Pinot Noir combines a number of clones, Waterloo was planted specifically to explore what MV6 could achieve on this extraordinary site.

And judging by the 2024 release, the answer is: quite a lot.

96 points from Halliday Wine Companion and 94 points from The Wine Front for a relatively new wine is an exceptional result.

At RRP $77, this gives Pinot lovers another way into the extraordinary Yarra Yering story at almost half the price of the estate's flagship Pinot Noir.

Tasting Notes

Expect an incredibly perfumed Pinot Noir showing:

• Red cherry and cranberry
• Pomegranate
• Raspberry and strawberry
• Violets
• Rose petals
• Cardamom and fennel
• Savoury spice
• Subtle char
• Fine, gently chewy tannins

This is silky, elegant and beautifully fragrant Pinot Noir.

There's lovely flesh through the centre of the palate, but the wine remains distinctly medium-bodied and refined. Cherry and pomegranate fruit meet spice and subtle char, while fine tannins provide enough structure to carry everything through a persistent finish.

Yarra Yering describes the wine as having a silky, elegant fruit profile wrapped in fine tannin, with both immediate appeal and excellent persistence.

Critical Acclaim

96 Points – Halliday Wine Companion
94 Points – Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front

Halliday reviewer Philip Rich called it an excellent new addition to the range, highlighting red cherry, cranberry, rose, cardamom and fennel characters together with its medium-bodied palate and gently chewy tannins.

Campbell Mattinson was equally enthusiastic, awarding it 94 points and describing the 2024 Yarra Yering releases as some of Sarah Crowe's best work to date.

The wine also received a Silver Medal at the 2025 Yarra Valley Wine Show.

The Waterloo Block – 100% MV6 Pinot Noir

This is what makes Waterloo particularly interesting.

The Waterloo Block was planted exclusively to MV6 in 2016, with its rows running east–west to improve canopy management and drainage.

MV6 is arguably Australia's most important Pinot Noir clone and is particularly significant in the Yarra Valley.

Yarra Yering's flagship Pinot Noir contains a mixture of clones, including MV6, but the estate previously didn't have a dedicated single planting of MV6.

Waterloo changes that.

It allows Sarah Crowe and the Yarra Yering team to explore the personality of MV6 on its own, making this a fascinating counterpoint to the estate's flagship Pinot Noir.

Meticulous Winemaking

As you'd expect from Yarra Yering, the winemaking is beautifully considered.

The fruit is hand-picked and chilled overnight before careful sorting and gentle destemming.

Fermentation involves twice-daily hand plunging, encouraging gentle extraction rather than sheer power.

After pressing, the wine is gravity-filled into French oak barrels, with 20% new oak, and spends approximately 10 months maturing in Yarra Yering's cool underground cellar.

The result is a wine where oak supports rather than dominates the fruit.

It's all about perfume, texture, purity and fine tannin.

Yarra Yering Pedigree at a Brilliant Price

This is where Waterloo becomes extremely compelling.

Yarra Yering's flagship Pinot Noir now sits firmly among Australia's premium Pinot Noirs. Waterloo gives you a different expression from the same remarkable estate and winemaking team for RRP $77.

And it's not simply a lesser version of the flagship wine.

It's a different expression of the vineyard, built specifically around the MV6 clone.

That gives serious Pinot drinkers a fascinating opportunity to taste the two wines side-by-side and explore how clone, site and vine age influence the final wine.

Food Pairings

Perfect with:

• Roast duck
• Peking duck
• Chargrilled salmon
• Roast chicken
• Pork belly
• Mushroom risotto
• Truffle pasta
• Beef tartare
• Soft cheeses

Serve it slightly cool—around 14–16°C—and give it a good Burgundy glass.

Cellaring

One of the attractions of Waterloo is its immediate accessibility.

Yarra Yering describes it as a wine with plenty of youthful appeal, while still possessing the structure to evolve over the medium term. The winery suggests approximately 3–5 years of cellaring, while Halliday's assessment sees potential over roughly five to seven years.

The Wine Front lists a drinking window of 2025–2033+.

I'd happily drink it now for its perfume and vibrant fruit, but a few years in bottle should bring additional savoury complexity.

Why We Love It

This could become one of the most exciting wines in the Yarra Yering portfolio.

You have a dedicated MV6 Pinot Noir block, a legendary Yarra Valley estate and the winemaking of Sarah Crowe, all brought together in a wine that has already received:

96 Points – Halliday Wine Companion
94 Points – The Wine Front

And the RRP is $77.

That's a compelling proposition.

The 2024 Waterloo Pinot Noir is fragrant, silky and beautifully detailed, with red cherry, cranberry, pomegranate, florals and spice wrapped around fine tannins. It's sophisticated enough for serious Pinot collectors but approachable enough to open tonight.

If you've always wanted to explore Yarra Yering Pinot Noir but haven't wanted to spend $140+ on the flagship wine, Waterloo is an outstanding place to start.

👉 96 Halliday + 94 Wine Front + Yarra Yering. Waterloo is a beautifully perfumed, silky and precise Pinot Noir that serious Yarra Valley wine lovers should not miss.