2014 Jamsheed Winery Beechworth Syrah Warner Vineyard 750 ml

New-Wave Australia Channels the Greatest Wines of the Northern Rhône

Gary Mills has shot to the top of the Australian winemaking pecking order since his first vintage at Jamsheed Wine in 2003. The market and critics agree, with The New York Times’ Eric Asimov ranking Mills’ Jamsheed among “Australia’s Best Reds Trickling to the United States.” That was in 2013; now it seems every critic with an Old World palate can’t stop raving about Jamsheed. Wine & Spirits not only selected the Jamsheed as one of its Top 100 Wineries for 2014, but this Beechworth Syrah off Warner Vineyard was one of just four bottles selected for the magazine cover. James Suckling awarded the same wine in the remarkable 2014 vintage with 95 points; his former home, Wine Spectator, was close behind at 94.

For those of you lucky enough to have a stash (or a friend with a stash) of older Australian Shiraz (from at least the early 1990s or ‘80s, before the mad rush towards ultra-concentration set in) know that these wines have huge potential for aging, and can stand up to the greatest Northern Rhône Syrahs. Never mind the over-oaked Chardonnays that taste like a 2x4, or the Port-like fruit bombs that littered the world’s wine shelves from the late-1990s to the mid-2000s — a new day has dawned in Australia wine production, one that channels the great wines of France’s Old World.

If not everyone had caught on to the transformation Down Under, Antonio Galloni’s Vinous changed that in March, calling the New Australian wine industry “among the most dynamic in the world right now” in an article appropriately headlined, “Australia Rediscovers Its Mojo.”

Gary Mills has led that transformation, and he learned from the best. Before launching Jamsheed, Mills worked alongside California’s elder statesman, Paul Draper of Ridge, for two years, and he learned his lessons well. Mills also cites the living legend of Cornas, Thierry Allemand, as his principal inspiration when crafting his Syrah.

Mills took a page right out of Draper’s script on sourcing fruit — go where the best fruit is, even if it’s a little inconvenient to get there. Jamsheed’s winery is in the Yarra Valley, just outside Melbourne, but he drives all over Victoria to secure the best vineyard sites, including the Warner Vineyard, in the foothills of the northeast Victorian Alps.

At more than 1,600 feet above sea level, this high-altitude vineyard remains cool throughout Australia’s blazing-hot summer months, and the decomposed granite soils — similar to those in the Northern Rhône — allow great Syrah to flourish. The 48-year-old vines in Warner Vineyard, surrounded by sheep and cattle pasture, eke out just 2 tons per acre — less than most of Napa Valley’s most coveted vineyard sites.

Again following in Draper and Allemand’s illustrious footsteps, Mills lets natural yeasts off the vineyards kick-start whole cluster fermentation, fully extracts color and tannin over a 40-day maceration, then ages his Syrah in one- and two-year-old large French oak puncheons. Mills bottles in a screw cap, but one with higher oxygen permeability that allows the wine to age as naturally as possible (after all, Australia is a leader in screw-cap technology).

The 2014 Jamsheed Beechworth Syrah has a purple/black core, fading ruby at the rim. Lavish aromas of pristinely ripe brambly fruit, jerky, black pepper, and olive tapenade. Elegant and mouth-filling on the attack, dense but with plenty of levity provided by fine-grained tannins. Raspberry fruit leather, marionberry, and blackberry stand out next to beef bouillon, violet potpourri, herbes de Provence, and licorice. These heady, high-toned flavors accompany a long and lingering finish driven by acid, rather than alcohol.

Suckling praised Mills’ “handle on the deep, brooding and powerful potential of Beechworth syrah,” and the 95-point “brilliant” 2014 easily landed among Suckling’s Top 100 Australian wine of 2016. 94 points from Wine Spectator. The Jamsheed Warner Vineyard Syrah is a MUST-BUY for any lover of Syrah, or anyone who wants to taste the very best of what the new Australia has to offer.