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For enticement and a wealth of information about the remote and fascinating Great Southern region of Western Australia, please listen to this Wine Blast podcast by Masters of Wine and wife and husband Susie and Peter! 

Not quite certain why the winery chose to identify the varietal as Syrah instead of Shiraz for this vintage?  Perhaps it because an excellent “Estate Shiraz” was also produced in 2020? 

My sample bottle of the 2020 vintage displays more structure than the sold out, lithe 2018 Shiraz (see below) and is less nuanced at this time, but the potential is certainly equal.  The tighter tannic grip is well integrated and certainly not a hinderance to the wine’s enjoyment.  The balance structure bodes well for a longer evolution than the 2018.  Wine Advocate’s Erin Larkin reference to the cool clime “rose petal” aromatics would be better detailed by identifying the rose as a spicy, dark scarlet bud just beginning to unfurl its bloom.

“The 2020 Isolation Ridge Syrah leads with lashings of rose petals and loads of red and purple fruits. It is altogether denser and bigger than the wines that have come before it. But I find this does not come at the expense of the tannins, which are chewy, pliable and substantial. It is chalky and fine but significant, with ferrous grip. The rose petals are laced through the finish as well, and they have a real garden rose, wet-from-the-rain character. Drink 2024-2040.” – 95+ Wine Advocate (Erin Larkin).

“The 2018 Isolation Ridge Shiraz continues the theme of 2018 vintaged wines in Western Australia being freakishly good. This is creamy and herbal and loaded with raspberries, plums, strawberries and lashings of spices. I find this wine exciting because, for all the flavor and all the concentration, it isn’t heavy and bulbous—far from it, in fact. While it has a saturation of flavor, it manages complexity and nuance alongside. This is a very cool wine.” – 96 points, Wine Advocate