Paramoor Heathcote Old Girl Syrah 2023 

‘Named affectionately after one of our winery dogs, Adelaide, a 12-year-old black lab. Wine Australia were against us naming the wine ‘Adelaide’, I did check just in case! 100% hand-picked from block one at approx. 13.5 Baume. Same fruit parcel as the Syrah, although this one was fermented with wild yeast following a short period of semi-carbonic maceration due to 100% whole bunches in open top barrels, pressed after 3 weeks and then transferred to Francois Freres barriques, 20% of which was new. Alc. 14%’.

The girl might be old, but she’s still got an awful lot of life in her. I loved this wine a lot, and while Heathcote Shiraz/Syrah can sometimes be like a big smack to the face with flavour, there’s also some finesse on show. I particularly liked the profusion of fruit characters when smelling and tasting the wine: cassis, blueberry, raspberry, mulberry and strawberry, with the addition of some spicy aniseed and cinnamon. The palate is utterly vibrant and intense (perhaps partly due to the semi-carbonic maceration), with dazzling fruit and long-lasting, concentrated flavours. It’s the kind of wine you can easily and happily sip but it goes swimmingly with a huge range of foods. I foresee this wine becoming even better once some tertiary depth starts coming into play.