Anti-Hero Waybourne Shiraz 2025
- 94
- $35
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Gorgeous from the outset. Brambly blue fruit tumbles out of the glass alongside freshly picked blueberry, red berries, a little savouriness and pepper, so fragrant and lightly built that, tasted blind, I could imagine somebody wandering briefly toward dark-fruited Pinot before realizing it is Shiraz.
At 12.5% alcohol there is no shortage of fruit. Lower-alcohol Syrah can sometimes verge on too lean at the expense of pleasure; here, it is simply delicious. The palate is tucked proportionally where the fruit remains generous, moving through blue, red and black registers while bright acidity and fine-grained tannins keep everything in line.
There is a slightly herbal edge underneath it all, then black tea, bay leaf and blood orange begin to appear as the primary fruit settles. The tannins are so smooth, and the wine has energy all the way through, and no alcohol warmth accumulating at the back end, which keeps this bright and easy to finish a bottle of in one sitting.
This is exactly where I want cool-climate Shiraz to sit: not starved of ripeness in pursuit of delicacy and not inflated to prove the variety can still deliver power. James once removed Shiraz from the original Heroes vineyard because the Otways could only ripen it convincingly in around half the seasons. That history makes this wine more interesting. He won’t force Shiraz to succeed where the season proved difficult for the site, so he looked elsewhere.
The result is wonderfully persuasive: fruit everywhere, alcohol barely noticed, pepper and herbs beginning to tug at the edges, and a wine that drinks faster than its concentration suggests. Of these five wines, this is the one that disappeared from my glass quickest.
Liinaa Berry is a Melbourne-based wine critic and consultant with over a decade of experience as a sommelier and wine buyer across Australia and around the world where she has built award-winning wine programs and championed independent producers with conviction. Now focused on reviewing and writing, Liinaa brings a floor-trained palate and commercial insight to her assessments. She is also the Melbourne Ambassador for Star Wine List and serves on the committee of Sommeliers Australia. An advocate for site-driven wines and thoughtful farming, Liinaa is particularly drawn to producers who articulate a clear sense of place. Her tasting philosophy centres on structure, balance and context — always asking not just how a wine tastes, but why it matters.
