Riversdale Syrah 2023 

This is a heady wine that I always seek out to taste, it’s dense with blackberries, boysenberries and the medley of fruits you’ll find in mixed berry rolls ups. Oak clings to this wine, even though it is usually large format. Sweet cedar notes suit its personality, everything dialed up for inky delights and sumptuous palate weight. It slips and slides down the palate, stopping on a clove or cherry pit, sometimes revealing coffee grinds and mace. Its Coal River richness is matched by a ripe berry intensity and smoother than silk drinkability. Just yum. Drink now or will cellar for another 3-6 years. This could handle bbq meats but for a sweet treat go for a berry ripple ice cream squashed between Oreos. Eaten in one bite obvs.

Shanteh Wale

Contributor at Wine Companion

Shanteh cut her teeth at Sydney’s Award-Winning Quay restaurant where she worked for over a decade and was Head Sommelier from 2018 till 2022. She has been nominated for the Good Food Guide Sommelier of the Year award on three occasions and claims that her experience as a Len Evans scholar as one of the highlights of her career. Shanteh hosts her own weekly podcast ‘Over A Glass’ with the Deep in the Weeds Network and spends her time writing for various publications and judging at numerous wine shows across the country.

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