Longview Macclesfield Syrah 2021
- 94
- $45
- Drink by: 2022-2032
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The fruit for this cracker comes from a single vineyard, exposed and wind-swept, with low yielding 25-year-old vines. Selection is done by way of tasting – it is the flavour which qualifies a parcel of grapes for inclusion in the wine. Three tonnes goes to open fermenters, and half that undergoes carbonic maceration. The two parcels are blended before malo and then spend ten months maturing in old French oak puncheons before bottling unfiltered. Vibrant purple in colour, the wine is both ripe and rich as well as focused and refined. With good length, the wine maintains its focus and intensity for the full journey before a slow fade with silky tannins. Notes of animal hides, leather, chocolate, aniseed, coffee grinds, blackberries and cassis to finish – impressive early complexity. Anyone who thinks good Shiraz stops at the border of the Barossa/McLaren Vale needs to adjust their parameters.
Ken was born and bred in Brisbane, Queensland. He had a non-trendy, perfectly happy childhood, in a family convinced alcohol meant instant condemnation to Hades. But a break fishing on the Great Barrier Reef, and some good wine, started a serious obsession that eventually took over. It did not stop Ken being chastised later for drinking Pol champagne, disgusted he’d drink anything made by a Cambodian dictator. Now, Ken mostly writes on wine, champagne and spirits for various newspapers, magazines and books, but is perhaps best known for his work in The Courier Mail. He also has a little sideline writing on cigars, fishing, travel and food. When not writing, fly-fishing for trout in NZ or bonefish on the flats of Cuba, travelling or smoking cigars, he is no doubt following a variety of sporting teams – the occasionally glorious Queensland Reds rugby, the dysfunctional Washington Redskins, the dodgy Arsenal and especially revels in the world restored to its proper axis with the return of the Ashes to their rightful home.
