An exceptional wine for its price and one I’d drink at virtually any time. It’s charming, briary and has an enticing Rhône-style scent with spicy, floral and peppery aromas, while blueberries, cassis, and blackberries knit with restrained cedary oak. Soft and supple, it’s juicy and spicy with charcuterie undertones and a fine, loose-knit spine of powdery tannins. It finishes quite savoury and there’s plenty of length, peppery nuances and a fresh acidity.
It opens with light, clean red fruits and musk on the nose, followed by a light, savoury and super-dry palate with a lovely core of red fruits and mouth-watering acidity. The epically scented syrah with a buoyant palate unlike any traditional aussie syrah/shiraz. The haunting aroma and velvety texture make this wine flow across the taste buds in style.
Throw some fish, particularly richer types such as salmon, or some pork or chicken on the barbie to go along with this savoury rose, which shows red cherry and spice on the nose and palate and a clean, crisp finish.
Accolades and Awards:
2015 Vintage: 95 Points - James Halliday, Wine Companion "Serial winner, vintage by vintage, of show awards, this winning gold at the Yarra Valley Wine Show '16, matured in French oak. It has very good hue and depth, it gets your attention from the first whiff, the first sip. The black fruits have special texture and structure, demanding you take the next mouthful before you have finished the first, the tannins also add to both flavour (spicy) and texture (fine, persistent). Great value."
2015 Vintage: TROPHY - Best Shiraz and Shiraz Dominant Blend, Yarra Valley Wine Show 2016 GOLD - Yarra Valley Wine Show 2016 GOLD - Perth Royal Wine Show 2016 GOLD - Royal Melbourne Wine Award 2016 SILVER - Royal Adelaide Wine Show 2016 SILVER - Great Australian Shiraz Challenge 2016 BRONZE - Australian Cool Climate Wine Show 2016
2014 Vintage: 95 Points - Campbell Mattinson, Wine Front "Trophy winner for Best Shiraz at last year’s Yarra Valley Wine Show. It’s fermented wild with plenty of whole bunches. It’s savoury, spicy and peppery but the fruit grunt is there to match; always the crucial point. This is a steal of a wine, its best days still well and truly to come, its crackles of tannin and riddles of spice setting a dramatic scene for the swell of berried flavour. Immaculate."
From the Winery
100% hand picked fruit. This wine is principally from the Sexton and Tarraford Vineyards. With a contribution from Lone Star Creek Vineyard on the Upper Yarra basalt soils. Whole bunches were used on batches at varying percentages based on fruit structure and source. The overall blend incorporates 40% whole bunches to bring out perfumes.
Don't Pay: $25.00
WBW Rating: 94/100
Closure: Stelvin
Region: Yarra Valley, VIC
Winemaker: Geoff Alexander
Drink now until: 2026
Alc/Vol: 14 %
