"90pts... An elegant rendition, the delicately fragrant bouquet shows spiced cherry, dark plum, floral and roasted beetroot characters. It is gently weighted and finely textured on the palate, and displays juicy mouthfeel and supple tannins, leading to a persistent savoury finish. At its best: now to 2020." Sam Kim Wine Orbit

"Dark, deep ruby-red colour with youthful purple hues.  The nose is tightly bound and elegant in proportion with a core of black-berried and blue fruits along with black mineral and floral lift, unfolding lusciousness and richness in the glass.  Medium-bodied, the palate possesses full and rich, concentrated flavours of ripe black and blue berried fruits, along with black plums.  The fruit sweetness and richness forms a deep and powerfully dense core that has fine-grained tannin extraction and vibrant and lively acidity to balance the fruit.  The mouthfeel has presence, energy and drive, with positive grip, and the structure carries the wine to a concentrated finish of black fruits, spices, minerals and earthy elements.  This is a powerfully packed Syrah with richness match by plenty of structure and grip, and acid energy.  Match with game meat and semi-hard cheeses over the next 6-8 years.  Chave and MS clone fruit from the ‘Lyons and Stewart’ vineyards, adjacent in the Bridge Pa Triangle, indigenous yeast fermented to 13.0% alc., the wine aged one year in barrel, with 19.5% new 300 L hogsheads, the remainder barriques, hogsheads and puncheons" Raymond Chan

A complex savoury nose with fruit characters of blueberry and cassis. Barrel ferment notes contribute nuances of coffee and fresh game. A suggestion of Chinese five spice gives additional interest to the aromatic profile.

The palate is full bodied and rich with a toasty, meaty complexity. The spice notes are from both the fruit and the newer barrels. An umami like savouriness (beef stock and soy) comes from a long maturation time on yeast lees. The texture on the palate is from supple front palate grape skin tannins. These tannins help balance the fruit richness and give the wine structure without contributing hardness.

Enjoy this wine with grilled or braised red meat dishes.

All fruit was hand-harvested and destemmed to open top fermenters. The grapes were ‘cold soaked’ for seven days before undergoing a quick fermentation with natural vineyard yeasts. After fermentation the young wine was pressed to tank before draining to French oak barrels (19.5%-three new hogsheads). Malo-lactic fermentation was completed in barrel and the wine  left to age on full lees. After 20 months of aging the barrels were blended and the wine bottled.