Our group had a blind tasting last night, featuring a large section of the 2009 Donelan line up.
We opened with the 2009 Donelan Pinot Noir Two Brothers, which had some very bright raspberry fruit and good acidity, but not much in the way of anything else. There wasn’t any life – any spark to make it interesting. It was a pleasant quaff but not much else.
We then proceeded to what was a series of 6 2009 Donelan Syrahs (note – these had been decanted about 90 minutes prior to the tasting). I know these are highly regarded/rated in some circles, but while I very much enjoyed 2 of them (Richards Family and Obsidian), I did not taste anything that would lead me to call them outstanding or legendary. The Walker Vine Hill and Kobler Family were my least favorites, as they were both quite hot, and did not have the stuffing to overcome the alcoholic burn. The Cuvee Keltie was a bit of an outlier, with less overt fruit and more obvious tannin, though because of that it came across as austere and hot versus voluptuous. The Cuvee Christine was certainly voluptuous, in a cocktail, faux/Port kind of way. The Richards (the 100 point Bob Parker darling) and Obsidian (the 99 point Bob Parker slacker wine) were the richest of the wines, but also the best balanced. I enjoyed drinking both of them, but would not peg them as something to be held up as a model of what Syrah should be. They were obvious, blatant fruit bomb, cocktail wines, and in that regard I would consider them icons. But then the Kardashians are icons, and that does not make them examples of what humanity should be. Where’s the soul of Syrah? Where’s the meaty, mineral-infused core that makes Syrah so interesting and engaging? It’s certainly not here.
We finished up with a 2000 Colgin Herb Lamb Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon that was also a real showpiece of a wine, but had very nice balance and managed to harness the oak/vanilla/spice notes into something very drinkable. I really liked this despite my preference for less oaky/obvious wines.
Despite the mismatch of these wines to my palate, it was a genuinely fun and informative evening.