Altera Terra Sanctus Shiraz 2019
- 96
- $65
- Drink by: 2021-2029
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Wonder what winemaker, Doug Neal, is thinking here with the name, Sanctus? It’s Latin for holy, but what is holy exactly? Is it the Shiraz grape – there are three separate clones employed here – the Canberra wine region or a combination of both? I vote for the latter. Canberra shiraz is kicking cool climate goals and here Doug Neal, an experienced Victorian winemaker, branches out across the border and into some pretty exciting territory.
The colour says so much, a brilliant purple-garnet, coupling youth and concentration. A pure line of clean, fine tannins drive the energy to this wine, and it has energy to burn. Spice aplenty, too. Sourced from Murrumbateman, the bouquet is all lifted black cherry, blue fruits, baking spices, pepper. Structured yet buoyant, the fruit jumps and shimmies. There’s an elegance here and life, so much life. The spice, pepper component takes off filling the mouth with a delicacy of fruit with a lovely intensity. Spiced plums, lightly toasted vanilla oak from 15 months maturation seal the deal. A most impressive wine with a deep, emerging complexity.
Jeni Port is one of Australia’s top wine communicators. Based in Melbourne, Jeni created the first wine column in the (then) Sun News-Pictorial before moving over to The Age and becoming that paper’s longest-serving wine writer. Over the years she has written for most Australian wine magazines and these days calls WinePilot home. She is also a Tasting Panel member on the Halliday Wine Companion. She was named Wine Communicator of the Year and Legend of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival in 2014 and in 2018 Legend of the Vine. She is a founding board member of Australian Women In Wine and is the co-deputy chair of Australia’s Wine List of the Year Awards and China’s Wine List of the Year Awards.
