Riversdale Estate Syrah 2021

Another refined, fine-edged wine from the Coal River Valley. The super cool, southern sub-region of Tasmania is kicking goals, especially so with the new kid on the block, Shiraz (aka Syrah). Here, we see the grape in all of its spice-fuelled, red fruited glory, nicely balanced with some noticeable – but not too much – cool climate leafiness. It arrives in the glass with a lifted display of dark cherries and berries, blueberry, plum with bay leaf, cardamon, fennel seeds and stems. Sounds exotic? It smells divine. Medium-bodied with a pinot-like sinewy edginess, a big part of the attraction is the fine, puckering tannins and acidity. It’s got the right amount of bite.  And then you have that pepperiness which works so well with the spice. Tassie Syrah has arrived and is definitely here to stay.

Jeni Port

Wine critic at Winepilot

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.

Wine writer and critic