Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine & Spirits
Graceful, delicate and charming in its cool stony feel, as well as its scent of roses, rosemary and cracked black pepper, this wine seems to set everything right in the world with the very first sip. It has the brightness Syrah expresses in the best sites, lifting right out of its substantial black tannins so the final impression is vibrant and light. This would be delicious with a grilled pork chop, or alone just to contemplate on its own. The Smith-Cullam family started planting this vineyard on an ironstone ridge in 1988, a mix of gravel and loam over clay – soils they sustain with the help of their flocks of guinea fowl and sheep.
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Wine Enthusiast
Meaty and intense, this Shiraz is loaded with scents and flavors of cracked pepper, pungent coffee, roasted meat and ripe blackberries. It’s full bodied yet never seems heavy despite a sensation of warmth on the long, richly textured finish. Drink now–2020.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Deep garnet-purple in color, the 2009 Isolation Ridge Shiraz gives notes of black cherry compote and warm blueberries with nuances of violets, nutmeg and black truffles. Medium to full-bodied, it offers a taut structure in the mouth with a medium level of grainy tannins and enlivening acid, finishing long. Drink this one now to 2017+.
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Wine Spectator
A vibrant style, with lacy acidity adding lift to the blueberry and black currant flavors, revealing shades of smoke and pepper as the finish lingers.
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.”
Quite remote and unequalled in beauty, the wine regions of Westerm Australia promise endless physical and climatic diversity. From the coolest, seaside vineyards to the hottest inland zones, Western Australia is the source of some of the country’s most sought after wines.