2022 Place of Changing Winds Syrah No.2

WINEMAKER: Robert Walters
REGION: Heathcote/Harcourt, VIC
VARIETY: Syrah
VITICULTURE: Organic

This wine is a blend of Heathcote (66%) and Harcourt (34%) Syrah. Even though this is our least expensive wine, it gets the same attention to detail as all our other cuvées, and even here, the wine has serious intensity, good tannins and ageworthiness. We think it’s a bargain. About 70% whole bunches were used, and the wine was matured in a range of casks (primarily large Stockinger) for the first year before resting in tank for the rest of its maturation. It was bottled in late December 2023. It’s a spicy, cool Syrah/Shiraz that will drink well young but can be aged with confidence.

The goal since the beginning for Place of Changing Winds has been to establish a vineyard and a system of practice that can stand comparison with the world’s greatest estates. The aim has been to answer the question, “How much of a difference to style and quality does this type of extreme practice make?” The 2021s seem to be answering that question.