2021 Chaffey Bros Evangeline Syrah, Eden Valley

This is only the second Eden Valley Shiraz to fight its way to our Best In Show selection, and its emphatic, show-stopping character underlines how well this slightly higher-altitude zone is suited to South Australia’s favourite red variety. The wine’s opaque black-red colour tells us that generosity is on the menu, and the first sniff shows that not only is its black-cherry-and-plum fruit prodigiously aromatic, but also that the wine has had more than a year in oak. The plunging fruit – blackberry and blackcurrant – dominates the palate with the oak providing a little extra upholstery; and there’s a haunting citrus-and-lavender perfume on the palate, too, which does as much to structure the wine as the ample, gentle tannins and the curranty acidity. It’s an enjoyable and stylish wine which won’t require a long wait

97 points Decanter World Wine Awards 2024

Evangeline presents and elegant cooler climate expression of Shiraz distinct from its Barossa Valley brethren with its lifted perfume and delicate structure. Cool blue fruits are intertwined with silky tannins and subtle oak influence from 18 months maturation in fine grain French oak puncheons and hogshead barrels. Perfumed. Confident.