Syrahmi (pronounced sira-mi) La La is flagship Shiraz from Adam Foster’s Australian winery, Syrahmi, based in Heathcote, Victoria.
Join us on July 23rd for an exclusive guided tasting experience celebrating the famed wine of SYRAHMI, the La La alongside winemaker Adam Foster. Hosted at Cinder Private Dining Room, this intimate vertical tasting will explore the full lineup of SYRAHMI La La releases, offering guests a once in a lifetime opportunity to experience the evolution, personality, and site expression behind one of Australia’s most exciting modern Shiraz/Syrah producers.
Adam’s path to winemaking started in the kitchen. He trained as a chef, apprenticing at Melbourne’s Continental Café and working through kitchens in Victoria and London, before gradually crossing over into front-of-house roles as a waiter and sommelier. A vintage stint at Torbreck with Dave Powell lit a spark that sent him travelling the world in pursuit of wine knowledge. After leaving his last cooking job in 2002 as head chef at the Lakehouse, he spent about four years working two vintages a year abroad, taking on stints with Chapoutier, Stéphane Ogier, Pierre Gaillard, Mitchelton, Heathcote Winery, and Jasper Hill among others. During this period, roughly 2002 to 2008, he lived in Ampuis in the Northern Rhône and visited Guigal several times. It has been said that the love affair with La La stemmed from this very first love!
It was this time in France that planted the seed for Syrahmi. Adam noticed that fruit from Australian vineyards was almost more pristine than what he was seeing in the Rhône, and reasoned that if French winemakers could make world-class wine from lesser fruit, he could do at least as well back home. He’d also developed a deep admiration for Guigal’s famous “La La” trio of single-vineyard Côte Rôtie wines, La Mouline, La Landonne, and La Turque and that admiration is specifically what drove him to attempt something similar in Heathcote. Syrahmi itself launched in 2004, when Adam gave up his day job as a chef to chase winemaking full-time, buying his first tonne and a half of grapes from a Heathcote winery. The name is a play on “Syrah” and “friend,” meant to evoke a “friend of Shiraz.”
The La La wine’s are his direct homage to those three Guigal wines: a single-vineyard Heathcote Shiraz aged in 100% new oak for a minimum of thirty-six months, released only in the best vintages, just eleven times in twenty years, with no 2022 or 2024 release. He buys a brand-new Stockinger 500- to 600-litre barrel for every vintage, which alone works out to a huge $ of oak cost per bottle, and he deliberately gives the wine long barrel and bottle age so it never tastes overtly oaky. He’s described young barrel samples as tasting “like splinters.” Since then, Adam has planted his own high-density Shiraz vineyard at Tooborac in southern Heathcote and along with his incredible wife have a long future ahead in the Australian wine industry!!!
Throughout the evening, guests will taste every vintage made side by side while hearing directly from Adam Foster about vineyard practices, vintage conditions, winemaking philosophy, and the stylistic decisions that shape each release. From youthful energy and spice-driven vibrancy to the savoury, layered complexity that develops with bottle age, the tasting will showcase the remarkable depth and versatility of the SYRAHMI La La.
Designed as a focused yet social experience, this event is ideal for collectors, enthusiasts, and lovers of Shiraz/Syrah wanting a deeper understanding of how these wines evolve over time in a guided and immersive setting.
Paired with a 4 course menu from one of Melbourne's best keep secrets, Cinder, guests will leave wanting more wine that simply does not exist!
Event Details
Location: Cinder, Prive Dining Room
Date: July 23rd, 6.30pm Start Time
Capacity: 12 guests only
Tickets: $595.00 each inclusive of all food and wine!
Wines Being Served: A full vertical of EVERY SINGLE VINTAGE of La La from the very first 2006 all the way up to the upcoming release. A mystery wine and white on arrival also!
Why Attend
Rare, intimate, and highly expressive, this guided vertical offers a unique opportunity to explore the evolution of SYRAHMI wines directly with the winemaker himself. With only 12 spots available, guests will enjoy a close-up tasting experience filled with insight, discussion, and exceptional bottles rarely seen together in one sitting.
A once off chance to buy some of the wines from the man himself!
