2021 The Story R. Lane Vintners Westgate Vineyard Syrah

10% OFF AT CHECKOUT 96 pts
The finest Shiraz produced by Rory Lane from his best vineyard, planted in 1969.

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Sale price$75.00
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Description

Westgate is one of the Grampians’ great vineyards. Planted in 1969, it’s long been the backbone of Rory Lane’s best wines, and in 2021 it delivered something special.

This is Syrah with a European accent – all spice, dark fruit, and finely etched tannin. There’s depth here, but also restraint: plum and cherry woven through cocoa, anise and black pepper, with that classic ferruginous thread the Grampians is known for. The palate is sleek and svelte, the fruit stretched over a framework of firm but beautifully managed tannins, promising a long life ahead.

Winemaking was sympathetic – wild yeast fermentation, 50% whole bunches, time in oak fermenters and then barrel. The result is a wine that balances elegance and power in equal measure. Both Erin Larkin (The Wine Advocate, 96+) and Campbell Mattinson (Halliday Wine Companion, 96) have praised it as one of the finest reds in Victoria – poised, detailed, and built to cellar.

It’s a flagship release for Rory Lane, and one of the most complete Syrahs to come from the Grampians in recent years.

"It's both an elegant wine and a powerful one, and its velvety mouthfeel makes it a joy to hold in your mouth. Bravo. This is beautiful."
- Campbell Mattinson (Halliday Wine Companion)

 Campbell Mattinson

Campbell Mattinson

Halliday Wine Companion 96 Points

This is a stellar red wine. It's so glossy, so svelte, so well flavoured and so well formed. It pushes cherry and plum flavours through peanut and sweet spice, though there are myriad herb and nut characters here, not to mention peppers. It's both an elegant wine and a powerful one, and its velvety mouthfeel makes it a joy to hold in your mouth. Bravo. This is beautiful.

Erin Larkin

Erin Larkin

The Wine Advocate 96 Points

The 2021 R. Lane Vintners Syrah Westgate Vineyard Syrah is the youngest in the vertical that goes back to 2014. It offers a bouquet of sumac poached strawberries, cherry seed, sweet roasted bone marrow, hints of forest floor that come in time, cocoa and anise. This is complex, spicy and so welcome in its splay of iodine, blood plum and brown spice stretched over a rachis of ferruginous tannin. It's still so tightly wound at this point, and it has a long future ahead of it. It underwent wild yeast fermentation, with 50% whole bunches in oak fermenters. 13.5% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.

The Westgate Vineyard, planted in 1969 in the hills south of the town of Great Western in the Grampians, has been consistently and unquestionably our highest quality grape source, and we have made wine from these vines since our first vintage in 2004.

R. Lane Vintners represents the finest wine we have made and is only released in exceptional years. In 2019 it was the 50th anniversary of this vineyard’s planting, and the gods obliged with a season that was moderate and even, ripening steady and consistent, with small-medium crops. We picked on March 23rd, around the recent average, and tannins were ripe and flavours still just on the red fruit side of things. The wine was fermented with ambient yeasts in 1000lt oak fermenters, two destemmed and one all whole bunches. It was pressed after three and a half weeks on skins. The batches were individually matured for eleven months in barrel (a mixture of French puncheons and barriques) before a final ‘best barrels’ selection was blended. In 2017 it comprised 50% whole bunches, and approximately 25% new oak. It was then bottled with no fining or filtration, as we aim to do.

Price Bracket $51 to $100
Type Red
Body Full Bodied
Variety Shiraz
Country Australia
Region Grampians
Australian State VIC
Feature High Score
Reviewed By Halliday Wine Companion
The Wine Front
The Wine Advocate
The Real Review
Critic Score 96
Size 750ml
Vintage 2021
Closure Screw Cap

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