In early January, Fraser McKinley hit send on an email to Sami-Odi’s allocation list.
“Our online ordering system is now open,” he wrote, “and if this year’s wines appeal, I’d recommend that you place your order and transfer your funds at your nearest convenience. Whilst 2023 was a generous growing season throughout much of South Australia, there are only minimal quantities available and regrettably many will miss out.”
For Fraser – easily one of the sweetest and most affable winemakers in the country – it's a necessary, if genuinely regrettable, heads-up. The Halliday-award winning winery's annual release is among the most anticipated in the vinous calendar, and with an average annual production sitting at a tiny 1000 cases, an allocation list oversubscribed at 1550 members, and a waiting list now at a staggering 31,000, the wines move lightning-fast.
“It would be most appreciated if you could please refrain from requesting additional bottles to your allocation below,” he added. “We kindly request that you do not forward this offer onto others, please.”
Fraser McKinley.
Sami-Odi’s annual release includes three wines: the Hoffmann Dallwitz Syrah; a multi-vintage blend called Little Wine; and, since 2020, the Our Hill Syrah. The first two are made with fruit from legendary Barossa grower Adrian Hoffmann's ancient Ebenezer vineyard, and the Our Hill comes from Fraser’s own Angaston vineyard, which he and wife Andy planted in 2016 with shiraz cuttings propagated from some of the Barossa’s best growers.
Just 108 cases of Our Hill were released this year, from the 2023 vintage, but that volume is expected to double from the 2024 vintage onwards now that the latest plantings have started to fruit. “Next year we’ll likely have two small bottlings of Our Hill,” Fraser says. “One from the 2024 harvest and one multi-vintage blend from 2025, 2024, 2023, 2021 and 2020.”
All three wines are 100 per cent syrah, and their differences are testament to the influence of site and season – as well as Fraser’s skill at blending. While the cool 2023 vintage produced wines that were suppler and gentler across the board, the Our Hill was particularly so, compelling Fraser to include the following caveat in his description: “A word of note here; this wine speaks in whispers and sports a hypothetical feel of grenache meets pinot noir with a nebbiolo rinse. It is not a wine of impact, more one of mood and texture.”
The Our Hill vineyard at Angaston.
Below are Dave Brookes' reviews of the latest releases. And if you missed out on a bottle, a handful of retailers around the country (including Halliday taster Mike Bennie's Sydney-based P&V) will have limited quantities of Sami-Odi wines available from February.