Burton McMahon Syme on Yarra Vineyard Pinot Noir 2020
- 95
- $40
- Drink by: 2021 - 2028
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Year in, year out, the Syme on Yarra Vineyard remains the pick of the Burton McMahon pinots. In 2020, a difficult year, it continues its run delivering a wine of obvious class. A huge part of the appeal is its cool, high Upper Yarra Valley site which contributes a pinot less immediately fruity and fresh, but rather one that explores deeper varietal reaches. A hot November in the lead-up to the 2020 season – the hottest month on record – affected flowering and reduced subsequent yields. A difficult season to be sure, but it brought added concentration to the finished wine.
Wildly aromatic bouquet in dark cherry, cranberry, tomato leaf and dried herb. Structured and detailed with a firm presence amid the textural tannins, it slowly unfurls in the glass, beautifully, magically. This is why we get excited by the pinot grape.
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.
