I was lucky enough to have a glass of this at a tasting and it definitely got my attention. I usually don't like the Syrah grape, and its not for lack of trying many of them, but this one is so different that it's worth talking about.
This is a brilliant dark violet on the pour and then you give it a good swirl...and then...this is when the wine first gets the drinker's attention...there's a bunch of sediment stuck to the side of the glass...so you hold it up to the light and see sediment evenly distributed throughout the whole glass of dark wine. At first I thought 'Did I get the bottom of the bottle?'...but no, the whole bottle looks like this all the time (I held the bottle up to the the light a couple times to check).
Then on the nose: brilliant blueberry and dark plum fruit all over the front of this wine; followed by an ever-changing group of soft spices along with a dry tomato smell too, then tobacco, more black raspberry fruit, and dirty mineral nose too. I enjoyed the evolving aromas and they all seem to complement each other somehow in the end.
The palate his heavy and long with cherries, raspberries, blueberries, dark plums, lots of different spices, especially black pepper (which persists through the whole evolution and sequence of flavors). The finish never really stops (this was the last wine of the evening and I could still taste it over an hour later) and it is surprisingly enjoyable in this capacity. The tannins are present throughout but are well blended and not obtrusive in any way. The sediment is not in the way of any of the flavors and probably adds to or intensifies some of the best flavors in this wine - the wine does not quite require chewing, but a few of the other tasters described it that way.
Retail: $50 (definitely worth having a glass at a wine shop or good wine bar)
Rating: 93
This is the best Syrah I have ever had by a very large margin. I thoroughly enjoyed every sip and the complex evolution and combination of flavors that this wine afforded. Brilliant!
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