Winemaker Notes
Isolation Ridge Shiraz is brooding yet there is an element of florals on the nose with lifted pepper and spice. This elegant, yet intensely flavored wine has a sweet core of red currant and plum-flavored fruit. This leads into the subtle use of French oak which – along with the fine-grained tannins – gives the wine a presence and length. Savory, briary fruits lead into an enticing flinty note and mineral complexity. The small addition of viognier and Malbec adds to the wines complexity. This fine example of an outstanding vintage in Frankland River is approachable now, but has the structure and finesse to reward long-term cellaring.
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
Blackcurrant, white pepper and attractive earthy blueberry aromas, complex menthol oak beneath. Fleshy oaky plum palate, juic succulent smoky licorice finish.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2015 Isolation Ridge Syrah is outrageously perfumed. It's floral and earthy, bloody and mineral, ferruginous and spicy. In the mouth, the wine is herbal and leafy, with tobacco and dried mint, crushed rocks and brine as well as tapenade. I prefer the aromas to the palate, but there is so much in both that continually draw me in. It suggests that drinking this over a long evening would be most rewarding. I love the restraint here.
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James Suckling
A sleek and spicy shiraz. The nose has pristine red plums and berry fruits, as well as peppery accents. The palate delivers an elegant mid-weight red with a core of sturdy tannins. Drink now or hold. Screw cap.
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Tasting Panel
Polished, lush, and intense with bright, tangy blackberry notes. Lively and long with a deep ruby color.
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.