Place of Changing Winds Heathcote Syrah 2021 750ml

This wine is now released with an extra year’s aging. Our Heathcote Syrah comes from an east-facing plot of 20+-year-old vines rooted in the red Cambrian soils of the Mount Camel Range in Heathcote’s north. Although we believe that this sub-region can produce Heathcote’s most refined wines, it is still an area that lends itself to growing powerful Syrah. Hence, we give it an additional year in cask. The 2021 spent its first year in a range of Stockinger cask and concrete tank before being blended to one 2,000-litre Stockinger cask for the remainder of its maturation. It was bottled at the end of November 2023 after 33 months’ aging. It is a gorgeous, dark-fruited expression of this famous region. At 13% alcohol, it is in no way heavy and, in fact, is quite the “refreshing” contrast to many wines released from the area.

“A wild card, a surprise package. A wine of energy, febrile tension, freshness and drawl. It’s all wild, brambly red berries, dusty, fine tannin, blood orange (pleasing) sweet-bitterness, fine, dark chocolate mellow qualities and faint game meat savouriness. It feels decidedly light and bright, sure, complex, layered, some intensity, but the vim and vigour here is undeniable. This will slake a thirst. 94 points, Mike Bennie, The Wine Front