2024 Forest Hill Estate Shiraz, Mount Barker

Supple, soft, savoury and rippling with mixed forest berry fruitiness. Dark cherry, raspberry, cranberry drink, some dusty cinnamon, a touch of cola, some dark chocolate and dashes of mint. Almost a syrah-like feel here, and quite upmarket in its overall quality of fruit and mesh of savouriness. Very lovely. Drink to 2031.

93 points (Special Value) Mike Bennie for Halliday Wine Companion, June 2026

Complex aromas of spiced plum, blackberry, charred meats and liquorice lead into a richly flavoured, savoury palate layered with dark berry fruit and plum. Dense, gravelly tannins provide structure and persistence without oak weight.

This will alongside food that celebrates gamey umami, roasted herbs, and wood-fired char. Try with charcoal-grilled Xinjiang lamb ribs with cumin and mint-garlic oil, or a classic Cottage Pie rich in beef and root vegetables, topped with crispy buttered mash and fresh thyme.

More about this wine

The 2024 started well after good winter rains. The summer months were dry and hot, leading to accelerated ripening and an unusually early harvest.

This wine is a blend of fruit harvested by hand and with a selective harvester. A small portion were kept as whole bunches, but most of the fruit was de-stemmed into a combination of open fermenters, maintaining a high proportion of whole berries. The ferments were pumped over, or plunged by hand, twice a day. The wine matured for 12 months in a combination of 500-600L Burgundian oak barrels and 3000L and 2500L oak foudres.

About Forest Hill

Forest Hill Vineyard is a family-owned business established in 1965 by Betty and Tony Pearse with guidance from the WA Department of Agricultural. It was the first commercial vineyard to planted in the Great Southern, laying foundations for a region that is today widely recognised for wines of elegance and purity. The current owners have been custodians of the historic property since 1996.

Located in the subregion of Mount Barker, the vineyard sits at 220m to 240m altitude approximately 40km from the coast. This part of the Great Southern enjoys long, temperate growing seasons with significant diurnal temperature variations, and sits at the northern edge of the Nornalup geological complex, a mix of ancient rock types that over time have weathered into deep laterite blankets, leaving ironstone gravel as the dominant soil type across the vineyard. Clay content varies from one block to another, alongside differing concentrations of gravel and loam.

Many of the original dry-grown vines planted in the 1960s continue to thrive today and remain the foundation of the wines produced. New vines are propagated from this heritage and complimented by more recent clonal material. The property is farmed with organic principals and with practical aspects of regenerative farming such as incorporation of grazing livestock, multi-species cover crops and mulch/compost applications: happy vines make good wines.