2020 Bilancia Syrah

Community Tasting Notes (3) Avg Score: 88.5 points

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  7/7/2023 - Rote Kappelle wrote: 88 Points

  I was very excited to get the 2019 and 2020 vintages of this wine and the totem bearer 2020 La Collina. It was a feeling that did not last.
  
  The 2020 vintage is regarded as generally even better than the excellent 2019 in Hawkes Bay. This wine received accolades and triumphal marches such as the following from a man who really does know wine, the good Campbell MW:
  
  "Deeply-tinted syrah with sweet, ripe berry fruit, cassis, dark-fleshed plum, black pepper, liquorice, dark chocolate and spicy oak. It is a delicious combination of flavours with a core of sweet, ripe fruit balanced by soft acidity and ripe tannins. A lot of wine for the price."
  
  He scored this 95 (Gold medal level).
  
  I found the oak coarse and somewhat prominent - cedary more than vanilla or coconut but not enjoyable. The fruit was more prominent on day 2 than on day 1, when this wine was like crawling into a barrique that a squad of hungover All Blacks had partied in, slept in and then farted in as they left, taking any grapes with them.
  
  On day 2 there was some nice red fruit and the oak had become a touch less raw and unbalanced but I have to say I remained underwhelmed. I also find myself thinking dark thoughts about wine made to show well on release and using a lot of trickery to hide average fruit.
  
  The issue I have with that assessment is that Jeremy Holmes knows his stuff and had a different view and so did Bob Campbell. Maybe time will see this turn into something special? I confess what I saw would not make me invest time or money. At least this was not expensive.

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  6/3/2023 - chatters wrote:

  Hawkes Bay Tasting (Prince Sydney, 40 Hansard Street): Meaty, savoury, slightly farty almost, dark hued fruits, have a touch of sourness, savoury spice. Juicy, fresh, flesh, acidity is mouth watering, tannins a silky burr and the fruit proves a little sour here as well. Feels a touch dilute. Hmm

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  2/15/2023 - Jeremy Holmes wrote:

  Raspberry and plum fruits with some spice. Nice proportion and balance. Quite stony. The finish has energy.

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