Paramoor Heathcote Syrah 2023 

‘100% hand-picked from block one at approx. 13.5 Baume. The top row fruit has a distinct blue character and a quality that Steve Flamsteed noticed and demonstrated to me by walking the site trialling and testing fruit prior to harvest. This fruit was destemmed, cold soaked, wild yeast fermented in open top barrels and transferred to Francois Freres barriques, 20% of which were new. Alc. 14%’

It was interesting to see the differences between this Syrah and its ‘Old Girl’ sibling, as they came from the same parcel and underwent pretty similar winemaking yet the end result was distinct. The Syrah was more red-fruited on the nose to begin with (raspberry and strawberry) yet some oxygen brought out the cassis and mulberry, then later some spice and a slight shoe polish note. Like its sibling, the Syrah is rich, concentrated and flavourful, although with a touch more silkiness in the mouth. And also like the ‘Old Girl’, I think it’ll improve even more with some bottle age and reward one’s patience.