I like paso Syrah as well but did not care for this. It was one of three brown bagged bottles at the woot socal meetup last month. I don’t remember the vintage but I’m sure Kyle or RJ can figure it out. I have no specific notes because I simply wasn’t taking any.
Ditto - it had a few interesting notes, but the flavours just didn’t work for me. I won’t go into more details since I don’t really remember the specifics - should have taken notes.
We tasted this wine and my first reaction was underripe fruit. 15.5% alc. Nope. Then klezman suggested it might have been 100% whole cluster fermentation. That’s what it tasted like. It had a very astringent, green, bitter tannin streak it finished with and I’m not sure anyone liked it. Sorry, but this is an easy pass for me. Seems like a bad bottle when compared to trifecta’s notes.
I had this about a month ago, and my recollections were much more positive then the ones listed above. I thought it had good fruit (not under ripe), a beautiful color, and was generally enjoyed by everyone who had some. I also can’t find my notes, but remembered liking this one quite a bit. It was served at cellar temperature. However, we had the 2007 and it looks like the group with the brown bag tasting had the 2008. It could just be that the 2007 was far superior to the 2008.
The stats of the 2007 are far superior (for my tastes) than for the 2008. Lower alc, higher acid, etc.
Given Kyle’s recollection this is the wine I remember. It was very green in a tannin sense (not vegetal or herbal) with a relatively harsh bitterness. I did enjoy this wine’s aromas - dark red to black fruit with some spiciness to it iirc. I think if you want to put something away for a year or three this could turn into a great buy (for the 2008) at under $20. For me, I’ve got other stuff that needs the space for those few years.
I tasted this a few weeks back as well (2008) and I remember detecting A cough syrup note along with the green tannins mentioned here. I am wondering if it was a bad bottle or if there is bottle variation? I did not taste any Syrah-like qualities when it was brown bagged.
I am very confused! You can’t be talking about Almesa Syrah. I have poured our wines for a lot of people and I have never heard anyone say our wine was “under-ripe”,“green”, or bitter. I think you need to take notes next time. Our syrah is smooth and soft on the palate. The first thing you’ll notice when you taste our syrah is big fruit that fills your mouth and then becomes velvet smooth and finishes with a smooth lingering of light smokey oak. No tannins or bitterness. These are tasting notes that better describe Almesa Syrah.
Please note that the bottle that nearly all these reviews are from could have been fresh off travel or been an off bottle. I trust the palates of those who commented. As nearly all of us have experienced, bottle variation is real. Maybe the winery could get another sample out to the SoCal group for another chance.
We took one for the team and opened this in the AM today. I have PnP notes, but will post more as the wine opens up.
PnP. Chilled to 50F, upright overnight. Too cold on pouring, but things will warm up quickly here. Dark purple hue. Nose is somewhat closed but still showing broad dark fruit spectrum, leaning a touch toward red. Dark plum, blackberry, and bramble. On the palate there is dark fruit with a touch of spice and then oak toast on the finish. Medium tannin that is resolved. Medium acid. There is a good balance between the two. Lush, not picking up any smoke or umami.
I would admit that initially this isn’t a typical syrah style, but I am not picking up the harsh or green tannins that others have mentioned. As this opens I am getting more and more fruit on the nose and some complexity on the palate.
I assure you, our tasting notes are just fine. This was tasted by about 15 people, some of whom have palates I know very well and trust immensely. It is entirely possible that we got a bad bottle (I had a bad bottle of Vacqueyras last night). However, attacking (maybe too harsh of a word) our tasting notes – that, again, were consistent among all of us – and correcting our notes instead of suggesting that our bottle was off comes off as arrogant, even if that’s not your intent. By the way, I hope a 2008 Syrah has tannins! Green and astringent are, obviously, not ideal, but structure is a must for most of us.
This is the first time you’re offering your wines on woot (welcome! Can you identify yourself? Wine maker? Marketing?) and I know that it can be difficult to offer your hard work up to the sacrificial boards, but we are a very well educated, intelligent group when it comes to wine. Telling us that we’re wrong and that you’ve poured it to X number of people whose palates we don’t know at all and who could all be Coors light drinkers for all we know really doesn’t help us at all. Indeed, it may hurt you within this community.
I am the winemaker and I did not mean to offend anyone or make light of your comments. It’s just that the descriptions definitely do not sound like our wine. I can only assume that it was a bad bottle. I appreciate your comments.
Kim
Welcome to wine.woot! We’re so happy to have you here - we love being able to experience new wineries. It’s always sad when tasting notes come from a flawed bottle, and it is very encouraging to hear that trifecta’s report sounds much more like your anticipation of the wine. Perhaps the posters for the notes from the SoCal gathering could go back and edit to make note that there is suspicion of a flawed bottle, so that those who have not yet read the comments will not be negatively swayed by their notes
trifecta - could you confirm if your notes were from the 2007 or 2008 vintage?
