WINE OF THE WEEK: Ad Hoc Cruel Mistress Pinot Noir 2024, Pemberton, Western Australia

£14–£17.95, Ellis Wharton Wines, Hay Wines, NY Wines, Noble Green Wines, Vinvm, Taurus Wines, Hennings Wine, Just in Cases

Kicking off with a very good value Pinot Noir has to be a positive way to start any new year. It should also be a welcome one if you want a lighter red after the heavyweight festivities, or if you want to hunker down, but with thoughts of summer rather than Storm Goretti. And if you're in Australia, you'll be enjoying summer anyway.

Ad Hoc Cruel Mistress Pinot Noir 2024 is a soft, juicy Australian red with a sunny, confident attitude – flowing, friendly and brimful of fragrant, strawberry fruit shaded with subtle spice, a nip of juniper berry and a succulent finish. Sheer pleasure.

It’s made by the talented Larry Cherubino with grapes from vineyards in Western Australia's cool-climate Pemberton region – although in a notably warm vintage – and it's fermented partly with wild yeasts and partly with selected yeasts before being aged for six months in one to three-year-old French oak.

The 2023, which I last tasted in the autumn, was just as good, so if that’s what you find on the shelves (in Booths, for example) don’t hesitate.

It’s not a red wine that demands food, but it does demand respect with regard to temperature, so pop it in the fridge or outside in the cold for 30 minutes, as necessary. You’re aiming for 16ºC at the highest.

While it doesn’t need food, it pairs well with roast chicken, mushroom pasta, citrus-and-spice salmon, seared tuna or duck with pomegranate seeds, or, as I served it recently, with duck breast with redcurrants and roast butternut squash dusted with smoked paprika (a recipe from Amber & Rye by Zuza Zak). 13.4%. Empty bottle weight: 540g

Larry Cherubino Ad Hoc Cruel Mistress Pinot Noir 2024, Pemberton, Western Australia

£14, Ellis Wharton Wines; £14.69, Hay Wines; £14.95, NY Wines; £14.90 mix 6/£15.90, Noble Green Wines; £15.40, Vinvm; £16.99, Taurus Wines; £17.95; Hennings Wine; £92.40 for 6, Just in Cases. 2023 vintage: £14.45, ND John; £15.95, Secret Bottle Shop; £16.50, Booths

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