Pyramids Road Winery is one of a cluster of three vineyards at the southern end of The Granite Belt at Wyberba, just hit the accelerator as you exit Ballandean Village heading south and hang a left when you reach Pyramids Road. Eventually at the top of a small crest you’ll see a sign, go left to Pyramids Road Winery or right to Balancing Rock and Girraween Estate on the Old Wallangarra Road. This time we’re going left!
Impatient though I was and in great need of a wine embrace I had to wait quite awhile for this one to breathe and open up. Beautiful deep earthy red in the glass with only slights of purple at the very edge of the meniscus which is mainly red rose petals. Initially the bouquet comes in reluctant scents, it’s a very young wine for the style, there are waves of black berries, just a little spice, some dark chocolate mixed with liquorice but the greatest redolent feature of this wine is it’s wafting offering of lovely charcuterie/chorizo/meaty aromas, these returned me to the glass with a kind of fervent regularity.
The palate is an expression of balanced gentleness and power. The structure is a major feature of this wine, it will live for years, this is beautiful shiraz … a very classy wine. The usual shiraz black fruits are present but they don’t arrive in a manner that overpowers anything else, some black pepper spice and small amounts of cloves, a little black liquorice, trademark Granite Belt mineral flavours, some earthy qualities and a travel experience in which your taste buds journey through a charcuterie epicurean heaven enjoying jamón serrano, chorizo and aged salami. The tannins are a little ferrous but they are a fine, delicate filigree woven throughout the wine and performing a flavour transporting function that will be forever indelible in your wine memory. The wine harbours a gentle and particularly enjoyable savouriness while also offering just some hints of sweet characters but savoury is the lingering embrace.
For my palate this wine needs years but it can certainly be enjoyed now after a long exposure to air and some enthusiastic swirling. People who have a long familiarity with Warren’s wines will remember the 2005 Shiraz, I think it’s just met it’s conqueror.
Tasted: Friday 29th May, 2020 without food and then with over several hours.
Alcohol: 13.8%
Closure: Screwcap
Price: $35
Suggested Drinking Window: now (if you’re really into primary fruits) to 2040
Winemaker: Warren Smith
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