Winemaker Notes
Unrivalled in its height and breadth of structure, this brooding and multi-dimensional cuvee demands a minimum of 15 years in a cold cellar to begin to emerge from its hermit shell. Viscous in concentration and mouth feel but progressive in respect to character illumination, it has presence and aristocracy but sadly requires many years to develop and emerge.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2008 Piggott Range Vineyard Syrah has a very deep garnet-purple color and intensely minty, ripe blackberry and fresh black currant aromas plus some forest floor, cinnamon and kirsch. Very crisp, very rich and concentrated, it gives a high level of fine-grained tannins and very long seductive finish.
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Wine Spectator
Firm and chewy, with dark, brooding licorice and blackberry flavors welling up into the generous finish. Shows surprising transparency, but needs time to sort itself out.
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Wine Enthusiast
This is a potent, rich Shiraz. It’s full bodied and thickly textured, with aromas and flavors of mocha, asphalt and plum. The overall impression is somewhat chunky and inelegant but undeniably concentrated. Give it five years or so to smooth out some of the rough edges.
Marked by an unmistakable deep purple hue and savory aromatics, Syrah makes an intense, powerful and often age-worthy red. Native to the Northern Rhône, Syrah achieves its maximum potential in the steep village of Hermitage and plays an important component in the Red Rhône Blends of the south, adding color and structure to Grenache and Mourvèdre. Syrah is the most widely planted grape of Australia and is important in California and Washington. Sommelier Secret—Such a synergy these three create together, the Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre trio often takes on the shorthand term, “GSM.”
Known for opulent red wines with intense power and concentration, McLaren Vale is home to perhaps the most “classic” style of Australian Shiraz. Vinified on its own or in Rhône Blends, these hot-climate wines are deeply colored and high in extract with signature hints of dark chocolate and licorice. Cabernet Sauvignon is also produced in a similar style.
Whites, often made from Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc tend to be opulent and full of tropical, stone and citrus fruit.