Winemaker Notes
Deep crimson in color with hints of purple at the rim. Intense lifted aromas of ripe red berries play with notes of violet, pepper and dark chocolate. Full-bodied with complex forest fruits, plums, spice and velvety tannins leading to an elegant, long finish.
Professional Ratings
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Australian Wine Companion
Matured 12 months in mostly older French oak puncheons. The winemaker believes a wild ferment brings complexity and texture to a wine. Set against a particularly peppery background, the 2020 Wild Ferment shiraz delivers on both counts. Black pepper, five spice, woody spices, aniseed, blackberry, black cherry and earth. The palate is the thing, velvet-like in density, layered in concentrated Rhône-like spice-filled flavour, and finishing with its now signature long, pepper-dusted finish.
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James Suckling
Distinctive cool-climate aromas of charcuterie, dried kelp, peppercorn and clove. The aromas are thoroughly convincing, strongly reminiscent of, say, a good Crozes-Hermitage. Plenty of floral lift and buoyancy. The tannins are a tad drying, yet there is a sinuous elegance to this finer-boned shiraz that deserves attention.
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Vinous
The intriguing 2020 Shiraz Ladies who shoot their lunch Wild Ferment is a more elegant style, offering vibrant aromas of peppery charcuterie and blackberry lifted by bush mint and well-integrated oak. It has good composure and holds its line of peppery, meaty flavor well aided by sinewy tannins through to a fresh finish.
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Wine Spectator
Juicy and fresh, offering a mix of wild berry, blood orange and cranberry flavors, with an appealing firm edge to the tannins and aromatic accents of thyme, sage and white pepper on a sleek frame. Drink now. 2,500 cases made, 600 cases imported.
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.”
Nestled into the tip of its southeastern coastline, Victoria is Australia’s smallest mainland state, second most populous and third largest wine producer. Victoria includes the cool regions of Yarra Valley, Mornington Peninsula and Geelong, made famous mainly by impressive Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.
The more inland Heathcote and Bendigo lead the way for complex and textured, full-bodied reds. Rutherglen’s fortified wines compete among the best on the planet.