Follow the fairies to get to roots of shiraz

Avani Syrah is the kind of place you wish the wine fairies would spirit you away to.

Avani Syrah is the kind of place you wish the wine fairies would spirit you away to, a dream of a winery on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula. If you need to get there yourself, though, you’ll have to travel south on the whimsically named Tubbarubba Road, down into Red Hill where you’ll find the small homestead surrounded by pine trees, stud farms and the smell of horses and summer. There’s a sun-splashed porch overlooking rows of syrah grapes that slope down to a quartz-rich creek. It’s ambrosial here. It’s enchanting.

Before we get back to Avani, I have a confession to make. I’m sure it will have an angry mob wine professionals calling “Sacrilege!” and demanding my head on a vine post. But here it is: until recently, shiraz (or syrah) had never done it for me.

Maybe it was a case of over-saturation in my formative years, a case of what-kind-of-food-should-we-match-this-big-red with? A blind tasting with my stepfather still invariably looks like this:

“Is it Australian?” I’ll say, sighing.

“Yes.”

“Is it from SA?”

“Yes.”

“Is it shiraz?”

“Yes!”

All this before he has even poured the wine, mind you.

But at Avani Syrah, chatting with winemaker Shashi Singh, sipping her shiraz, I can’t help but be tantalised by this wine. Her enthusiasm for the grape is infectious.

Singh and her husband, Devendra, have worked this peninsula for more than 30 years. She has a degree in viticulture and oenology from Charles Sturt University and more than eight years’ experience working with the legendary Phillip Jones of Bass Phillip.

Their 4ha site was once a “fruit salad”, including pinot, merlot and cabernet, but in 2006 these vines were ripped out. The site is now entirely devoted to syrah. The density of these vines was increased to 4000 a hectare.

The word Avani comes from Sanskrit. Meaning “the earth”, it reflects Singh’s commitment to biodynamic practice, which she embraces as a truly scientific pursuit. The guidelines focus on creating a uniquely fertile and self-sustainable site, and while they are strict, she claims they have led to a marked increase in the health and vitality of the vineyard and its grapes. The results, she says, speak for themselves.

In the winery, non-interventionist practices are employed to retain the expression of this carefully nurtured site. Fermentation is undertaken using wild yeasts. There is neither filtration nor fining of the wine. The Singhs are in the middle of vintage and things are looking good. In the meantime, I’m looking forward to tracking down more great shiraz.

2014 Avani Syrah, Mornington Peninsula ($65)
At only 11.6 per cent alcohol the 2014 syrah is a more restrained expression of the grape, with vivid red and purple-fruited aromatics and a tinge of flavours (mountain herbs, pepper, charred meat) associated with the grape’s home, the northern Rhone. The tannins are fine and graceful gliding into a concentration of fruit that emanates from the back palate.

2015 North Run Shiraz, Bendigo ($35)
Lincoln Riley is another winemaker I urge you to look out for. For years he worked as a sommelier in some of Melbourne’s finest establishments and has now moved back to his birthplace in Bendigo where he crafts shiraz and runs a restaurant (Harvest Rotisserie) with his partner, renowned pastry chef Marsha Busse. Granite soil and 30 per cent whole bunch pressing give the wine a generosity of fragrance; aromatics of sweet spice, blue florals and crunchy red fruits spill off the lip of the glass. There’s a juicy hit of concentrated fruit on the attack that slips into a polished graininess of tannin. Cool climate at its best.

Domaine de Coulet, Matthieu Barret Petit Ours Brun 2015 ($35)
“If you go down to the Rhone today be sure of a big surprise …” Winemaker Matthieu Barret’s syrah straddles an area between Cornas and St Joseph in the northern Rhone and has a glittering teddy bear on the label. And if that doesn’t immediately sell, then how about this: aromas of lush dark fruit, pepper and smoky earth? Tight, tensioned tannin that lingers and flows. There’s a balance between something slightly bloody and juicy and something slightly pretty and perky. This is biodynamic, hands-off syrah that gives a fine expression of the northern Rhone.