2016 Onkaparinga Syrah

The most savory of the Clarendon Hills offerings this year, the 2016 Onkaparinga Syrah offers up scents of espresso, roasted meat and black olives, all entwined with subtle herbal nuances. Full-bodied and supple, it's a big, expansive wine but easy to drink and marked by a long, lingering finish that hints at caramelized plums.

Côte Rôtie-like white pepper, salted meat, dried flowers, and both red and black fruits emerge from the 2016 Syrah Onkaparinga Vineyard, another vibrant, complex, singular wine in the lineup. It has a more cool climate-like vibe as well as complexity, yet it still bring beautiful depth and richness, ripe, silky tannins, and one heck of a great finish. It's going to benefit from 2-4 years of bottle age, but it’s drinking incredibly well today with a decant and, as with the other Syrahs here, promises a solid two decades of longevity.

Ironstone and shale on a west-facing site that overlooks Onkaparinga Gorge. The nose has black olives as well as intense white pepper and some young, meaty notes across ripe blood plums, black cherries and licorice. The palate has such smooth, long, licoricy fruit flavors, together with plum pudding, some raisins and black-fruit paste. Really intense, long and spicy palate. The tannins are smooth, yet dense. Wow. Try from 2024.