Place of Changing Winds Harcourt Syrah 2022
Place of Changing Winds Harcourt Syrah 2022
This is our second release from Harcourt. It comes from a very specific plot in Victoria’s Bendigo G.I., on the foothills of Mt Alexander (about an hour’s drive north of our cellars). With its pure granite soils and mild climate, we believe Harcourt has one of Australia's most exciting terroirs for Syrah. This fermented with 50% whole bunches, and the wine underwent almost two years’ maturation. The initial period was in older 600- and 1,500-litre Stockinger casks, with the final eight months in 2000-litre Stockinger. It was bottled in late December 2023. It’s a wine that combines lifted perfume and finesse with excellent depth and fine structure.
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“50% whole bunch; two years in oak. An intense and utterly compelling wine, driven by the spice and outright perfume on the nose; then the elegant and medium body, with a minimum of 30 years riding on its superfine tannins and balance; the rare granitic sands are the key. 2642 bottles, 60 magnums produced.” 96 points, James Halliday, The Weekend Australian
“Deep and bright purple-red colour, with nutmeg and assorted spices on the nose, the palate medium full-bodied and smoothly textured, with a slight ferrous bitterness on the aftertaste, and a slight dip in the middle, accentuated by the grip on the finish. This is young and somewhat undeveloped: it promises more if cellared a while.” 94 points, Huon Hooke, The Real Review
“Highly perfumed, red berries, some cranberry zestiness, wild scree and herbs in a pepper-meets-alpine greenery kind of whiff, some aniseed, touch of clove. It sits at medium weight, slinks along all pretty within a web of lacy, talc-like tannin and finishes with lightly puckering dryness. Almost dart-shaped and feels good for it. Flavours match the bouquet, per se. It’s delicious, fine and right.” 93 points, Mike Bennie, The Wine Front
“[Rory] Lane had this amongst his six favourite wines of the tasting. “A slightly leftfield example here, that took some time to emerge from the glass. A lighter, more delicate but in no way simple syrah, that caught my eye for the intriguing gunsmoke/flinty/positive sulphide character, which is a hard thing to get right! With air, wholebunch nutmeg and ginger spices, pink peppercorn and pink berry fruits appear, and they are backed up by some very fine but persistent savoury tannins that balance the crisp acidity really well. the net effect gets the saliva flowing and draws you in for another sip. A precise and multi-layered wine that shows a very deft hand.” Young Guns of Wine, younggunsofwine.com