Notes from a blind tasting of Syrah/Shiraz.
2001 Dageneau Pur Sang Blanc de Fume de Pouilly (mag.) – what a nice way to kick things off. Reasonably sweet fruit after a citrus scented nose, refreshing.
2005 Dom. Fondreche ‘Persia’ Cote de Ventoux – a high end Ventoux (wouldn’t that have been meaningless not so many years ago?). Clean mineral nose decent flavour concentration and length.
2003 Tardieu Laurent Crozes Hermitage Vielles Vignes – I have always enjoyed TL wines, but have observed that those who drink them too early (that is about 90% of those that buy them) note objectionable levels of wood in the wines. Surprisingly that was not the case here. Nice smoky Syrah nose, subtle pepper, smooth and fairly sweet on palate, the oak already well integrated. In fact I was amazed at how forward this wine was and feel it won’t be one that lasts long – drink up and enjoy. Wish some of the late 1990s Rasteau and Vacqueyras was drinking as well now!
2003 Courbis ‘Les Royes’ St. Joseph – nicely perfumed nose, well built wine with good structure and a nice persistence in the finish.
2005 Sequel Syrah (Columbia Valley) – a Log Shadows guest winemaker gig done in this case by John Duval, former winemaker at Grange. Hint of pepper (all these were surprisingly low on the expected pepper) but this nose was a bit backward despite extensive open time. Sweet in the mouth with reasonable balance, fair acidity, and still with a good whack of tannin. None of the bacon or blackberry I expected (once I knew what this was). Nose didn’t change much as long as had it in my glass. Well made, just not expressive on this occasion.
1996 Chave Offerus St. Joseph – this one started well with a nose of wet stone and slightly funky fruit and iron/blood, and the entry was OK, but it went quickly downhill from there to a narrow acidic finish with no fruit. We couldn’t decide if it was simply over the hill or flawed.
2005 Cedar Creek Syrah – nice that BC be represented. Straight forward Syrah nose with some spice and floral notes and a young rather simple quaffable wine, well made and it will possibly improve and gain a bit of complexity with a couple of years in the bottle.
2004 Delas Crozes Hermitage ‘Le Clos’ – light on colour, a slightly warm simple fruit and floral nose, with ironically insufficient fruit on palate to maintain interest. I didn’t find this terribly varietally specific, a surprise for a wine like this. The BC wine beat this out.
1995 Havens Syrah (Carneros) – I was pleased at how this showed as I always enjoy a ringer. It had iron, floral (someone suggested clover) and a touch of merde in the nose, acting very European. Excellent length with black pepper at the end, a tad hot, it did a great job of aping a Rhone. It still has good tannins and will last a few more years, but I believe it has peaked. The fruit-driven nose it exhibited in earlier years would not have worked nearly as well as a ringer.
1998 Kay’s Amery Vineyard McLaren Vale Shiraz – mint, anise, blood and cherries in the nose. Fairly sweet in the mouth and no doubt about where it originated, but not over the top. Nice wine now at peak and will hold.
2002 Simon Hackett McLaren Vale Shiraz – dark wine with a sweet nose with some tar, but well balanced in the mouth and not too sweet r jammy, with a slight mintiness at the end.
2000 Dom. Remizieres Hermitage Cuve Emilie – you knew you were right back in the Rhone with one sniff of this one. Black pepper, anise, and vanilla made for a tasty nose, and the wine was almost elegant on palate, medium bodied and well developed. Good now and will hold for years. I have the 1998 which will last longer than this vintage, but this one drinks well now.
1991 Grange Hermitage – very interesting to taste this wine at this age as I normally drink Grange with at least 20 years on it (not that I get to do that very often, mind you!). Huge waft of American oak was the first impression, and I narrowed it down to either California or Australia, but it wasn’t by any means an easy choice between those two options. We figured we’d stumbled into a Bourbon distillery when we smelled this. Digging a little brought up some coffee, tar and anise notes, and the wine was big and full bodied without being overblown on palate. Dry slightly smoky finish. I was pretty surprised when told this was Grange, as I would not have believed it would be this developed at this age – it was quite forward for Grange.
Seppelts Grand Muscat DP63 (Rutherglen) – obviously a liqueur Muscat, typically overbearingly sweet in both nose and in the mouth. Would not win the award for dessert wine subtlety, but a decent example of its kind.
. But yeah, what you said. What you said. I'll add that it doens't have the phenomenal power of the 03, was more vanilla and velvet. Not, to my mind, a change to the good, but I'm not unhappy to have a lot more of this, either.