November 29, 2005 - This was a wine I really enjoyed at the last IVSA, I thought the price-point was fair - for our market that is, and I've always been a big fan of their Rhone blends in the past.
The '02 is a medium bodied blueberry/blackberry fruited little monster, not huge on the palate but nicely concentrated. I found the wine did best with 1.5 hours of air, filling out some of the Grenache cranberries and spice.
Black licorice and pepper, dark fruits, some bramble, a background of light oak. The finish is full with blackberries, sweet tannins, sour acid, and shrill intensity.
I'd buy it again in a heartbeat!
September 2, 2005 - Another good Qupe value. Tastes of plum & some tannin. Very drinkable.
August 3, 2005 - A decent syrah. Lots of oak, some sweetness. Not bad at best.
March 17, 2005 - Great value! A favorite when tasted against other Syrah.
February 26, 2005 - This was a solid wine. A good spicy/peppery nose with other aromas of raspberry and mixed herbs. A little earthiness in the mouth with flavors of blackberry and black pepper. Medium-bodied with noticeable tannins and a good finish. Would have liked a little more complexity and minerality but a good dinner wine nevertheless.
November 13, 2004 - Tasted at home without food. Bright disc. Opaque purple robe with purple rim. Moderately intense nose showing assorted black fruits, vanilla and light brett which comes across as farmyard/metallic. Medium-bodied on the palate, with medium acidity, medium ripe tannins and slightly hot alcohol. The flavors (which mirror the nose) thin-out on the mid-palate and the finish is short. I suspect overcropping.
November 11, 2004 - A straight forward, pleasant, but rather unremarkable Syrah. It takes a couple of hours for this wine to round out, being rather harsh on the finish for the first hour, unfortunately, the fruit diminishes quit a bit by this point – not that it’s in the fore front to begin with, being a bit diminished in quality. I do get some black cherries on the nose, a bit a bit of oak. Overall, there is not point in the time where the wine snaps together.