1997 Qupé Syrah Bien Nacido Hillside Estate

Community Tasting Notes (9) Avg Score: 90.1 points

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  6/29/2015 - J @ y H @ c k Likes this wine: 88 Points

  Bought at auction as part of a lot of 10 bottles very cheap - $15 a bottle all in including tax. Popped, decanted through a strainer and followed for 3-1/2 hours. This wine was all shook up today, having been delivered to my office in the morning and then carried home on the train, so even though the strainer caught some sediment, it was still cloudy, need to stand upright for a week or two and them get a careful decant.
  
  Except for the cloudiness, color is dark, but not impenetrable. No sign of bricking. Flavor was muted at first, but tertiary sweet cherries and deep sweet berries gradually emerged so that at 3-1/2 hours, it was very nice. Not quite as much fruit as I've had in a half dozen different Aussie shirazes of comparable age in the past year, but similar in flavor. Just not as intense. Maybe there's a tiny bit of flavor reminiscent of sherry presaging the start of oxidation, but maybe it's just the fruit complexity, and definitely a complexity plus, not a minus. There's just a tiny bit of remaining acidity on the tongue, evoking undifferentiated citrus. All in all, it's fruit driven, with no spice or pepper at all.
  
  I can't say whether the original buyer was happy cellaring this for 15+ years, but fr me to pay the auction price after someone else cellared it on my behalf, it was a good deal. I'm glad I ended up with 6 bottles out of the lot. And for those who think 14.5% ABV central coast syrah will fall apart and never last through the normal aging curve, I say . . . wrong.

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  9/6/2010 - pdemaio wrote: 92 Points

  Very California. Sugar and berries on the nose big body gently roles into a long smooth Finnish. Definitely enjoyed this solid, well aging wine.

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  1/17/2008 - Wino Joe wrote: 89 Points

  This bottle was much better than the last - not as much jammy blackberry and more complextity. Better bottle?
  
  Recommend you decant as this is throwing fine sediment.
  
  Deep inky center that fades to garnet and brick rings on the edge - slightly cloudy but I didn't do a good decant. Wonderful nose of roasted meats, blackberry jam & smoking wood (think of a tenderloin on the spit next to a pot of blackberry jam over a mesquite fire).
  
  Medium to full bodied wine with solid vanilla blackberry jam & cassis upfront with smoked meats and cedar spice notes integrated into some smooth tannins. Wonderful drinking wine right now.

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  10/25/2007 - Wino Joe wrote: 88 Points

  Second Bottle in two weeks. Same score.
  
  Watery cherry ring around the edge fading to to a dark garnet color. Nose of sweet blackberries and background spiced oak. This really had a port like feel to the wine. The sweet fruit of an AUS Shiraz but a thin mouth feel/body of a mid range hermitage.
  
  A nice sweet vanilla blackberry that is much more subdued than other notes suggest followed by roasted coffee and some ripe tannis that will carry this wine farther.

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  10/20/2007 - Wino Joe wrote: 88 Points

  Watery cherry ring around the edge fading to to a dark garnet color. Nose of macerated blackberries and vanilla. This really had a port like feel to the wine. A nice sweet vanilla blackberry that is much more subdued than other notes suggest followed by roasted coffee and some ripe tannis that will carry this wine farther. I did not pick up the nice spice notes typical of a syrah but haven't had a Qupe before.

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View all 9 Community Tasting Notes

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