2020 Coates The Syrah

Awarded an MW of wine in 2020, winemaker Duane Coates is by his own admission, a 'heart over head' winemaker. Inclined to make wine from almost any interesting parcel of fruit made available to him, he tends to make accountants wince. For Duane, making great wine is not about business decisions; it’s about curiosity, passion, and a little bit of folly. His wines marry Australia’s richness of  fruit with the savouriness and complexity of the old world.

A Sophisticated Syrah that combines a rich fruit profile and supple texture with refinement and complexity.

Matured for 18 months in 20% new French oak. Dense inky black colour with a very deep dark red black hue. Alluring spicy dark plum, liquorice and provincial herb like scents show excellent intensity with notes of vanillin cedar, dried meats and pepper ensuing. Rich and fleshy yet only medium weighted the palate is flush with red to dark plum and liquorice fruits which overlay a spicy cedar, dried herb and peppered meat back drop. Smooth fine grained tannins with a long refined finish that’s layered with peppery red to dark fruits.
Drink over the next 5-6 years.
Alc. 14%

Other Reviews….
McLaren Vale. The, THE, Syrah.
Oof. Strong game meat and white pepper scents, very aromatic, dark cherry, salted plums, black olive, liquorice. Whiffs of the best. Medium bodied. Silky texture, supple too, dark fruited, rippling with dark cherry and that plumminess but with so much spice in there too, oh, and black olive, briny minerality and graphite stuff. Wow. It’s unreal. Has an authority to the wine. Warming but balanced. Lushness and freshness, super syrah here with character lavished onto a drinker. Serious stuff.
Drink 2022-2030+
95 Points
Mike Bennie – The Wine Front