Our Wine Reviews

2017 Chardonnay

95 Points, Gary Walsh, the Wine Front – Tip Top Tipple
“Good to check in on the Epis range again. Don’t try them often, but always enjoy. Now comes sealed with a screwcap for extra pleasure.

It’s bold in flavour, but tight with acidity; two wonderful things when it comes to Chardonnay. Stonefruit, citrus, honey oatmeal, cool fresh mint and floral perfume. It has flesh and grip, a tangy and juicy core of acidity,a fine powdery texture, and remarkable intensity and persistence through the finish. A top-shelf release from Epis.”

2017 Pinot Noir

96 Points, Gary Walsh, the Wine Front – Tip Top Tipple
“Bottle image is cork, but now screwcap. Epis not one of those wineries that keep bottle images up-to-date, I guess. More concerned with making good wine.

It has rare delicacy for Australian Pinot Noir, and a beautiful thing it is. It’s red cherry, floral perfume, cool mint, sweet clod earth and spice. Light-bodied, but flavoursome, and just so lacy and fine. Gentle brush of emery tannin, squished strawberry, a subtle stony/earthy thing, and bell-clear length and acidity. Effortless. Very fine indeed, as some English types might say.”

2015 Pinot Noir

Campbell Mattinson:
Epis 2015 Pinot Noir 95/100 Gold
“Epis Pinot Noir right in the zone. First sip and I was hooked. It’s one of those forget the price I want me some wine”

Jeremy Oliver:
Epis 2015 Pinot Noir 96/100 Gold
“Spotlessly made this brambly and musky Pinot Noir slowly unfolds a floral perfume of red cherries and raspberries. It’s highly knit with tight cedar oak.”

Wine Showcase Magazine 22/3/17:
Epis 2015 Pinot Noir 95/100 Gold
“Congratulations on a solid result your wines were tasted blind and were very well received by the tasting panel. You have had a great result.”

Jeremy Oliver – Review 2012 Wines

Epis is a small Macedon Ranges producer that specialises in silky, perfumed Pinot Noir and austere, mineral Chardonnay from its meticulous estate block near Woodend, plus a finely crafted and potentially long-living Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot from the mature Williams Vineyard near Kyneton, that was initially developed by central Victorian wine pioneer, Laurie Williams.

The 2012 vintage releases from the Woodend estate are exceptional for their intensity and elegance. I have revised my rating of the 2011 Chardonnay, which I originally tasted shortly after bottling and a significant sulphur addition. Time has since done its work! 94/100

Pinot Noir
Vintage 2012, 2024-2032
Tasted just after bottling, this fine, supple Pinot of rare flavour and quality reveals a heady, floral perfume of dark cherries, rose petals, briar and blood plums backed by musky notes of exotic spice. Its medium-bodied palate delivers a pure, deeply layered and slightly sour-edged expression of translucent cherry, berry and plum-like fruit supported by smooth, silky and fully ripened tannins, finishing with exceptional length, persistence and tightness, plus a lingering hint of mineral. Should develop remarkably well.
Jeremy Oliver’s Pinot Noir of the year!
EPIS……96/100

Chardonnay
Vintage 2012, drink 2017-2020+
A lean, focused and beautifully balanced, Macon-like chardonnay likely to flesh out over the years. A pure, spicy fragrance of grapefruit, peach, melon and nectarine backed by notes of minerals and lemon rind reveals hints of cashew and tight-knit vanilla oak. Its piercing, penetrative flavours of citrus, melon and stonefiuit is backed by a fine, dusty undercarriage and tightly wound by an entirely natural cut of brisk, refreshing acidity, finishing with exceptional length and purity.
95/100

Epis & Williams Cabernet Sauvignon
Vintage 2010, drink 2022-2030+
A supple, elegant and very finely structured Cabernet Merlot off 37 year old vines with fragrance and focus. An alluringly floral perfume of cassis, dark cherries and aromatic cedary oak reveal nuances of dried herbs, raspberries and a hint of blood plum. Its long, fine-grained palate of faintly minty cassis and red cherry-like fruit is tightly wound around a spine of firmish, powdery; tannins. It’s smooth and seamless, finely balanced and savour.
95/100

What they said about our ’10 wines:

Campbell Mattinson:
Chardonnay – 95 Points
"Cracking chardonnay from Epis. Deliciously persistent and deliciously flavoured. Lemon and powdered milk, green melon and oak-spice. Terrifically well balanced and energetic at once. jumps with life. Takes complexity in its stride. Deadset winner of a wine."

Campbell Mattinson:
Pinot Noir – 94 Points
"Epis pinot noir has been on an astonishingly good run – though the sad news is that there will be no 2011 version, due to the horrors of the season. All previous releases of Epis pinot noir have been made by Stuart Anderson; this 2010 is the first vintage to be made entirely by Alec Epis himself. By the taste of this, it’s been a seamless transition. Beautiful pinot noir. Not particularly dense, but it doesn’t need to be. It’s sappy, plummy, chalky and black cherried. There are some mint, rosehip and menthol notes too, and cedary/tobaccoey characters, but its main charms come from its elegance, and its length. Fresh, appropriate acidity helps give the wine energy and verve. The contents of the bottle disappeared at disturbing pace."

Campbell Mattinson:
Cabernet Merlot – 90+ Points
"This cabernet merlot from Epis is made from vines that are now 36 years old. There’s good quality fruit on show here. It’s curranty, mulberried, sappy and pure. It’s a wine that seems beautifully fresh and clean in the mouth – it almost has a boysenberried tanginess to it. Eucalypt flavours are strong – it’s not a wine for the eucalypt-averse – though the finish is curranty and bright. I’d expect time to be kind to it."

What they said about our ’09 wines:

Campbell Mattinson:
Pinot Noir – 94/100
"Epis Pinot has had a fantastic run over the last decade. It’s fantastically consistent – Rare in Pinot Noir circles."

Chardonnay – 94/100

"Epis in Macedon Ranges makes beautiful chardonnay and I always look forward to tasting/drinking it."

Cab/Sav/Merlot – 93/100
"Epis Chardonnay and Pinot Noir (Quite rightly) attract all the attention, but when the Cabernet Merlot is good – it’s very good and this release is very good!"

Jeremy Oliver:
Pinot Noir – 96/100
"From the Macedon Ranges comes this deep, dark and spicy Pinot Noir of strength and length – It’s deep flavoured but silky and fined grained."

Nic Stock WBM Magazine June 2011:
Pinot Noir – 94/100
"Captivating, complex spice with red musky florals, ripe red cherry and hints of fresh turned undergrowth – an essay in red, length, poise, drive and a flurry of fine tannin through the finish. One of the region’s finest."

More Testimonials

Andrew Caillard MW, Langtons:
“Domaine Epis belongs to a small agenda-setting club of outstanding small producers in the Macedon Ranges. Along with Bindi and Curly Flat, Epis has captured the imagination of sommeliers and critics for its poetic and beautifully poised Chardonnay and gorgeous silky Pinot Noir.”

James Halliday, Wine Companion:
“Three legends are involved in the Epis and Epis & Williams wines, two of them in their own lifetime. They are long-term Essendon guru and former player, Alec Epis, who owns the two quite separate vineyards and brands; Stuart Anderson, who makes the wines, with Alec Epis doing all the hard work; and the late Laurie Williams, the father of viticulture in the Macedon region and who established the Flynn & Williams vineyard in 1976.”

Jeremy Oliver:
“Combine the abilities and passion of the ‘Odd Couple’ like pairing of winemaker Stuart Anderson and viticulturist Alec Epis and you have an irresistible recipe for tiny amounts of high-class Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Cabernet Merlot”.