Wine Review: Salomon Estate's Fabulous Fleurieu Syrah

They have a well–earned reputation as one of Austria’s top wine producers and anyone that has tried their range of Grüner Veltliner and Riesling wines will know exactly what I’m talking about. The lovely thing is Bert Salomon and his wife Gertrude have a soft spot for South Australia.

They travel here each year to escape the clutches of the European winter, producing wines from the Finniss River region on the Fleurieu Peninsula with the help of ex–Penfolds winemaker Mike Farmilo. It’s produced as a tip of the hat to the Côte Rôtie wines in France’s Northern Rhone Valley. A blend of Syrah (95 per cent), typically co–fermented with a small parcel of Viognier (5 per cent) affording the deep, resonant Syrah fruit a slight floral lift and delightful multi-faceted savoury shape in the mouth.

Medium red/purple in the glass, there is a certain European sensibility to the aromas that come out of the glass. Less full–throttle, upfront fruit and more subtle, savoury nuances. Fruit aromas of plum, cherry and blackcurrant with hints of Asian spice, violets, tobacco, polished leather, licorice and gentle oak. Hints of black licorice, earth, purple flowers and tobacco mesh in with the subtle vanillin oak notes admirably.

It sits in medium–bodied territory, its plushness of fruit reined in by a fine, quite energetic line of acidity. The supporting tannins are fine and gently tug on the palate on the finish which is medium–length, savoury and dry, trailing off with flavours of spiced plums, licorice and citrus rind.