Winemaker Notes
Pair with steak or rack of lamb seared over coals.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Medium to deep garnet-purple, the 2012 Shay’s Flat Vineyard Pyrenees Shiraz opens with a slight whiff of reduction over a core of red and black currants, loam, sage and Szechuan pepper. Tight, muscular and with a just a tad too much extraction detracting from its savory appeal ever so slightly, it finishes long and earthy. Rating: 91+ Points.
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Wine Spectator
Taut, focused and distinctive, showing a balance of ripe fruit and distinct mineral layers, with stony notes adding to the cherry and black olive flavors. Finishes with tension. Best from 2017 through 2022.
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.