Wow this is good wine.
The July 31 issue of the Wine Spectator magazine has a feature article on the 'best of Australia'. Unless I missed one, not a single Mornington wine was listed, definitely nothing from Ten Minutes by Tractor, Kooyong, or Merricks Creek, which all produce great Pinot Noir. Most people in the US if they think of Pinot Noir from the southern hemisphere think of New Zealand not Australia. Too bad, because Mornington Pinot Noir is excellent.
I thought the 2007 TMBT McCutcheon Vineyard was balanced but powerful. Sometimes I find wine that is described as 'balanced' means all the edges have been rounded off to the point that the emotion in the wine is gone. This Pinot was a little lighter than what I often favor, possibly a little less dense. However the flavors are rich and powerful. Floral and perfume notes are very strong relative to the more typical fruit. I saw another review that described the flavor as 'forest berry' - I am not sure what a forest berry is, but the combination of forest aroma and berry taste evokes the right idea in my mind. We drank this with a wood grilled steak, but I could see it going very well with cured meats as well, or possibly a grilled fish. I would give this a 4/5 on my scale - RFG.
Ten Minutes by Tractor also publish an unusually informative (for the genre) wine news letter, linked here.
This is an excerpt of a review of the 2007 McCutcheon quoted in the news letter:
2007 McCutcheon Vineyard Pinot Noir
This has a forest berry smell to it, with flinty smokiness and mintiness too. There's plenty of tangy, pippy fruit on the palate, and powerful chewy tannins that pull everything together. This is serious, structured pinot.
Tim White, The Age Melbourne Magazine, February 2010