Innocent Bystander Syrah 2021 ~ Victoria, Australia

Bronze - Philip Rich, Halliday Wine Companion
91/100 James Suckling (2018 vintage)
95/100 Wine Front (2015 Vintage)
95/100 James Halliday (2015 Vintage)
93/100 Wine & Spirits Magazine (2015 Vintage)

5 star winery - James Halliday
TOP 100 AUSSIE WINNER
Wine Rank: #12 of 27 - 2021 Shiraz from Yarra Valley

Silver - Royal Adelaide Wine Show
Bronze - Royal Queensland
Bronze - Royal Adelaide Wine Show (2019 vintage)
Gold - Victorian Wine Show (2018 vintage)
'Top 100 Australian Wines' (2018 vintage)
Bronze - Royal Adelaide Wine Show (2018 vintage)
Bronze - International Wine Challenge (2018 vintage)
Bronze - Langtons Yarra Valley Wine Show (2018 vintage)
Trophy - Best Shiraz at Yarra Valley Wine Show 2016 (2015 Vintage)
Gold, Melbourne Wine Awards 2015 (2015 Vintage)

Aaron Brasher "Dark red, youthful in the glass. Really pretty and fragrant, full of blue fruits, spice, white pepper, dried flowers, sarsaparilla and cedar. The palate has real brightness and drinkability: midweighted, full of cherry, redcurrant and nutty oak. A lovely cooler climate shiraz and top value"

Philip Rich, Halliday Wine Companion "A deepish crimson purple. This really needs a decant at present but behind the reduction lies some dark fruits and a little spice. Compact and quite firm on the palate, time will be tell if this fleshes out and becomes softer."

Matthew Jukes - Top 100 Australian Wines "I am a bona fide fan of this wine and it has featured in previous editions of 100 Best. This is because it is one of the juiciest and most lustrous of the ‘lightweight’ syrah brigade. This is a style of wine which few people have experienced but I know that legions of wine lovers will adore its flavour stance on their palate. Char and earth notes puncture the plummy core, but this is not a slow-moving, ponderous wine. Far from it, this is a plush number with a slippery texture and it bounces along gleefully across the palate, urging you to take another sip. While I love wines which are designed to swirl and contemplate, and there are many in this tome, this is a wine for drinking at speed with good mates and food you eat with your hand!” (2019 vintage)

Ralph Kyte-Powell – Australia's The Age Newspaper Wine Column “A deliciously harmonious, fruit driven shiraz. Dark plum and lightly spicy aromas lead through a palate of easy texture and good length. So drinkable that a bottle can disappear with unseemly haste, so beware!” (2019 vintage)

James Halliday ".....gold medal Melbourne Wine Awards, trophy Best Shiraz Yarra Valley Wine Show. Made in that trademark Will o' the Wisp style patented by Innocent Bystander, red and black fruits, fine sesame tannins, spices of all kinds, and a kiss of textural oak. Obvious drop dead bargain." (2015 Vintage)

Multi-award winning, Innocent Bystander has a reputation for delivering some of Victoria's famous Yarra Valley’s most consistent, over-performing, affordable, varietal wines.

Using 100% hand-picked fruit, wild ferments and gravity-flow winemaking techniques, Innocent Bystander wines are made with minimal filtration and fining, and reflect the climate, soil and topography of the Yarra Valley.

The owner, Phil Sexton came to wine via beer. He started Little Creatures, a favourite of Aussie hopheads, in Perth (Western Australia).

Yarra Valley is a region with a cool climate, best known for its Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Yarra Valley is an hour’s drive east of Melbourne.