Winemaker Notes
Deep ruby color and a rich nose of blackcurrant leaf and blackberry pastilles, fragrant violets, licorice, black pepper, cloves and nutmeg. More red fruited on the palate, with plum, red berries and a touch of the spice notes from the nose. The tannins are firm but fine and are in happy balance with some tangy red berry acidity. The finish is long and juicy.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
This is a highly characterful and quite medicinal bottling from this top Morning Peninsula estate. There’s heady whole-bunch notes that evoke Campari bitters, flower stalks and fruit cake. It’s mid weight, silky and ultrafresh, with supple, herb-smudged tannins and a lovely tang to the finish.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2018 McIntyre Vineyard Shiraz is fermented wild with whole bunches in the ferment, which goes a long way to explaining the exotic spice nose and structured palate. There is rosemary, thyme, raspberry licorice, cracked pink peppercorns, red apple skins and some kind of luscious, vibrant underpinning of fruit and supple tannin. This is gorgeous—it's modern, spicy and mid-weight. Shiraz from Mornington Peninsula has its lovers and its haters, but here is a gorgeous example of 100% whole-bunch wine from a good vineyard.
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.”
Extending into the sea from just south of the city of Melbourne to form Port Philip Bay in the southern state of Victoria, the Mornington Peninsula grape growing region naturally has a cool, maritime climate. A wide range of soils and topographic variations support a large diversity of wine styles within the small headland.