Purple Palate

The rich, smoky, black forest bouquet of this powerful, Gevrey-esque Yarra Syrah is haunted by white and purple flowers, as well as more reluctant Autumn spices, burned nectarine, cinnamon and vanilla bean. Profoundly elegant, it unrolls and recoils its bitter-tickled pith across a sappy, complex palate of baked red apples, liquored pears and cherries, an enigma of salty, cooked meats and curious hints of fish oil. In its wake it leaves a warm skeleton of sticky, spicy green-leaf tannins that only really begins to show its peppery underlining as the fruit slowly eases into memory. - NT