This wonderfully elegant Shiraz shows intense, pristine, blackberry fruit and ripe, silky tannins. It almost has a Pinot Noir elegance to it and, luckily, the quality of future vintages will only be getting better too as Voyager's new clones come on line.

Rich in red fruits, cherry and strawberry with delicate oak aromas on the nose. A structured tannic wine. Aromas of blackcurrant buds and vanilla. Remarkable freshness with notable and refined tannins to due long oak ageing. Crozes-Hermitage can be considered the gateway to the red and white wines of the Northern Rhône Valley. The reds, which are the majority of production, have wonderful warm flavors of red and black fruit, and typical Syrah (Shiraz) pepper, spice and savoury notes. They are more approachable than their highly revered cousins in Côte-Rotie and Hermitage, with an appealing freshness that makes them drinkable early in life.

Swinney Farvie Frankland River Syrah To achieve this, the grapes are hand-harvested from 1997 planted Syrah. The fruitof which about half is whole bunchis sorted, then gravity-fed into a vat and a brace of 600L demi-muids, all French oak. Wild fermentation follows and this is evidenced in the structure, complexity and aromatic nature of the wine. There is a week and a half of time spent on skins after which the wine is basket pressed directly into large format French oak, about a third new. With just a pinch of sulphites, the unfined wine is given a little filter and is then ready for bottling. 'ground-breaking syrah from Frankland River.'- Ray Jordan Shop Swinney