Winery notes (2020 Vintage)
Classic Dreadnought, smoky peat, earthy crushed rock overlaid with blueberry, dark berry, and dried herbs. The palate is athletic with a ripped middleweight physique, an artful display of power and control. The fruit is ripe, coating the core of tannin and acidity, which is supported by a sinew of stem inclusion further balanced by a high quality framework of oak. 2020 Dreadnought continues its run as a unique and unorthodox Syrah from an excellent vintage.
2020 was an excellent year for Syrah, dry during the months of harvest, ripe and low yielding. Our Dreadnought Syrah comes from steep hillside vineyards and is carefully hand-harvested before delivery to the winery. Each vineyard is fermented, pressed, and aged in oak separately and tasted from barrel throughout its life allowing the winemakers every opportunity to understand each site for a particular vintage. All ferments are wild and stay in vat for 30 days prior to pressing with the wines maturing for a minimum of 18 months prior to blending."
Reviews for the 2019 vintage below…
5 Stars & 95/100 Bob Campbell MW, The Real Review, August 2022 (2019 Vintage)
"From four evocatively named steep hillside vineyards: Mad Mans, 20 Tonner, Niko Face and Lunatics, which give some clue to the difficulty involved in tending the vines and picking the grapes. Hand harvested and rigorously sorted. A rich, warming syrah with blackcurrant, blackberry, dark cherry and plum flavours plus a suggestion of spice/anise and oak flavours. Although it is accessible when first released it will develop well with bottle age."
Rated Excellent & 94/100 Cameron Douglas MS, July 2022 (2019 Vintage)
"Ripe, varietal, smoky and complex. A complete wine with a core of baked raspberry and soft black currant fruits laced with dusty pepper spice. There’s a wood smoke quality with cinnamon and baking spices adding complexity and charm. As the wine touches the palate a sweet fruit and savoury contrast each other with an abundance of tannins and acidity pulling the attributes together. Flavours of wood and red berry fruits, there’s fine field mushroom and dried herb quality adding length. A lovely wine with best drinking from day of purchase through 2028+."