2021 Coates The Garden of Perfume and Spice Syrah, Adelaide Hills

Duane Coates likes to say that he applies a heart-over-head approach to winemaking, but his deep technical expertise is undeniable. His emotional instinct is backed by exacting standards and a highly deliberate approach: the use of indigenous yeasts and the avoidance of fining agents and filtering are all choices that require care and attention to detail in the cellar.

The range of wines on offer under his negociant label has grown slowly over the years, through relationships with South Australian growers cultivating vineyards that for Duane express the purity of flavour and clearly articulated regional characters he is looking for.

The Garden of Perfume and Spice Syrah is an expression of a single vineyard in Kuitpo, at the southern end of the Adelaide Hills. From the excellent 2021 vintage, it was fermented over a period of three weeks in open fermenters with a 15% whole bunch inclusion. A single racking was the only time the wine was disturbed during its 16 months in French oak barriques from a variety of cooperages, 35% of which were new. Unfined and unfiltered, bottling took place when the tannin and oak balance felt right, and the wine rested a further 12 months in bottle prior to release.

The nose fans out with an array of lightly floral blue fruit, laced with warming black pepper, nutmeg and cloves. Delicious freshness runs through the flavours that spill over from the nose: a wine singing the same tune from the first note to the long, silky finish.

Open on a weekend afternoon when starting dinner preparations and finish the bottle in good company with the meal: master stock braised duck legs would be a treat, as would slow-roasted lamb shoulder rubbed with baharat.