Vanessa Vineyard 2014 Syrah 750ml

Vanessa Vineyard grows 13 acres of syrah (clone 100 from the Rhone) and bottles it yearly as a varietal wine, although in 2014 it contains 10 percent of co-fermented viognier. The 2014 opens with a highly reductive, meaty nose, that stems both from being syrah and perhaps part from its youthfulness. On the palate the wine is expansive and rich with more savoury, meaty notes, black pepper and espresso. The attack is warm at 14.8 percent alcohol but not over the top. Roasted peppers, smoky, blackberry, resin, meat wraps up the finish in what was a warm year – growing degree days at Vanessa were 1,920. The wine is aged in new and second use, medium-plus toasted American and French oak barrels. For now, any lamb dish will get the job done. Needs decanting.

Score: 88 points -- Gismondi On Wine, Oct 2018