Syrah and Blends - Tasting Notes

Boukenhoutskloof - The Chocolate Block 2011 (Western Cape, South Africa)

A blend of two-thirds Syrah, with the remainder made up of Grenache, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cinsault, and Viognier. Decanted immediately prior to serving. Clear, with deep purple colouring. Really notably long slow-running tears inside the glass. Clean nose, very open, with pronounced intensity of sweet spices and black fruits. Really attractive. Medium-plus acidity, high tannin and full-bodied on the palate. Pronounced flavour intensity with strong black fruit characters and a long finish. Excellent quality, excellent value and at least a decade of cellaring potential ahead of it. 17/20. I’ve never been disappointed by the wines from Boukenhoutskloof, and this really ought to cost more than the £20 it retails for!

Chateau de Beaucastel  Chateauneuf-du-Pape 1995 (Rhone, France)

Decanted immediately before tasting. Despite having being stood for >24 hours, there was still a very fine sediment in the wine that needed additional time to settle out after pouring. Not optimal lighting conditions, but medium garnet in colour with long tears running down inside the glass. Clean, open nose with pronounced intensity. Obvious Brett characters coming across, which obviously will appeal to some and not to others. For me it is the definition of a good Beaucastel and one of my main reasons for enjoying their wines! Not the strongest Brett character I have come across in their wines, but certainly farmyard aromas. Fully developed. The palate was dry with medium acidity and soft, rounded tannins. Medium-plus body with mature fruit characters from tertiary bottle development. Medium length finish. I think this is showing some bottle variation and not quite as good as others I have tasted. Overall this gave the impression of being at the end of its drinking plateau and tiring out.

Over the course of 1-2 hours tasting it really began to dry out. I note Parker’s original tasting note had this down as drinking RP: 2006-2025. While it is still really enjoyable, I probably won’t be keeping my remaining bottles that long on the basis of this one.

Rosemount Estate - Balmoral Syrah 1999 (McLaren Vale, Australia)

Confusing given Rosemount are based in Hunter Valley, this wine actually hails from vineyards in the McLaren Vale region. Decanted prior to drinking, this had thrown fine tannin throughout. Still holding an inky-opaque colour. Clean, open and pronounced nose still revealing some of the vanilla character of its very long (18 months+) American oak barrel aging. Black fruits, logan, white and sweet spices. Complex and really beautiful. One to just sit and smell and appreciate. The palate is similarly intense, with well balanced tannins set against a full-bodied, black fruit core. Medium acidity. Good length. Really excellent and enjoyable. 17+/20.

Over the 2-3 hours this was enjoyed it really started to lose its fruit and dry out quite quickly, suggesting to me that this is slowly coming to the end of its drinking plateau. Certainly there is enough fruit there to keep for another 3-5 years but really I think it is going to start slowly sliding downhill from here. Penfolds ‘Rewards of Patience’ have this as drinking through to 2012, hence opening now, although this is perhaps a touch conservative by a year or two (depending on how you like your wine).

The thing that gets me about these Australian Syrah wines is how the parabola of their development is rather different to what I’m used to - compared to, say, a Northern Rhone Syrah. Even at 13-years old this comes across as more youthful than the equivalent Northern Rhone – less tertiary, bottle aged character. Perhaps cleaner winemaking, yeast or Brett related? They mostly stay like this and just dry out whereas I am used to Rhone Syrah wines that evolve more first. In that way you could say that these wines have a ‘flatter’ drinking plateau whereas the Northern Rhone wines have a much more varied parabola over their life cycle – they change and evolve through more tastes and stages.

This was originally judged a 5-star wine in a Decanter tasting, and agree with every bit of that. Not the best-value given its number-one premium status in the Rosemount line-up, but really excellent wine.