Warramunda Estate Syrah 2020

And to think there was a time when the Shiraz grape but was all but ignored by Yarra Valley winemakers. The story is very different today, as is, for the most part, the winemaking and occasionally even the name. Warramunda Syrah hails from a nail-biting vintage. Fortunately, fruit arrived safely in the glass, nicely perfumed in sweet red cherry and cranberry fruits with plenty of spice. Good concentration and depth in flavour across the board, with a tightly-coiled core of black fruits and red with a hint of savouriness. Developing texture indicates its youth, as does the firmness of tannin. Plenty of detail here that just needs time to fully reveal. A work in progress with potential to sing with just a few more years under its belt.

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