Vasse Felix Syrah (Formerly Shiraz) 2011

Vasse Felix is one of the Margaret River region's oldest and leading wine makers. It's a polished operation, with a simple hierarchy of wines that typically meet all expectations with intense, deeply flavoured and finely assembled expressions of what this region does best. The premier Heytesbury wines continue to evolve stature and longevity. There's much about the style and composition of recent releases of Heytesbury Chardonnay that winemakers all over Australia are trying to achieve with this variety today, in what has been a desperate search for elegance and tightness at the expense of just about everything else. Virginia Willcock deserves huge credit for retaining the inherent depth and purity of Margaret River fruit, while handsomely delivering the kind of balance and finesse others are still seeking. Along with the Heytesbury blend, the red collection has also shifted gear into a more elegant, refined space.