Paramoor Heathcote Old Girl Syrah 2023
- 95
- $75
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‘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.
Brendan is a Melbourne-based writer, filmmaker, playwright and composer. Since 2013, he has been published in national and regional Australian titles such as Halliday Magazine, Gourmet Traveller Wine, Grapegrower and Winemaker, Gippslandia, Gippsland Lifestyle, Yarra Valley and Ranges and Gippsland Country Life magazines. Brendan was a finalist for 2024 Wine Communicator Awards in the 'Best Published Feature Article or Wine Column' category. He has completed the WSET Level 3 course (gaining a Distinction) and has a passion for small producers of wine, beer and spirits. He is also the co-editor of 'I'm Not a Film Star: David Bowie as Actor' for Bloomsbury Academic.
