Community Tasting Notes 7

• afields wrote:

  May 30, 2020 - Rich and thick with jammy red and black berry compote, hints of black olive, black pepper, herb...maybe new leather? Fullish body with a syrupy texture, concentrated, M to M+ acid, M- tannin. Shows a little alcohol but not bad. This is my first South African Syrah, and it is definitely not my preferred style—I’ll take a classical northern Rhône any day—but I like it better than the Australian Shiraz I’ve had, and it paired very well with a salty stir fry of seitan, onion, and green pepper.
  
  The sort of wine I can enjoy paired with food (and in this case I designed the dish for the wine, which I got for free by accident when a retailer sent me the wrong wine, sent a replacement for the other, and told me to keep this too) but don’t care for as much on its own. Given my inexperience with the region and stylistic preferences I can’t really rate this contextually or speak to its qpr, but it seems solid enough. For my own reference I’d rate this ~6/10 with a big asterisk related to style.

  Comment

• eadsaaron Likes this wine: 91 points

  May 8, 2020 - Cherry syrup, with some tobacco, bacon fat an milk chocolate

  Comment

• srh Likes this wine:

  October 19, 2019 - Syrahs/Shirazes (3-AU, and 1 ea FR, S. Africa, & CA) (Vintage Wines Ltd., San Diego, CA): "100% Syrah grapes are sourced from a single vyd in the Bottelary Hills ward of Stellenbosch, located 16 mi from the ocean @ 348 ft elev. Vines ave 25 yrs of age, & the rows are planted NE to SW. The soil is a granite-based 'duplex' form which consists of coarse sand on gravel with a small percentage of wet clay.
  
  "The grapes were de-stemmed & the whole berries were pumped into an open top s/s fermenter, with 5% whole bunches added to the ferment. The tank was inoculated with Enoferm Syrah, a Rhône isolated yeast strain. Punch downs were performed 3x/day during fermentation. The wine was left on its skins for an additional 5 days of extended maceration before pressing. It was then racked to barrel for malolactic fermentation. The wine was aged for 18 mos in 225 L FR oak barrels (10% new, balance 2nd & 3rd fill)." 14.78% ABV, 2.8 g/l R.S., 5.0 g/l T.A., & 3.62 pH; 1,200 cases made.
  
  N: CLOSED; HINTS of RIPE berries, poss pyrazines?
  
  P: Med, poss LM, body; Rndish entry with NICE, ALMOST swtish frt met by an astringent pucker which somewhat resolves by the LONG, balanced finish with a tangy/swtness & a very, VERY slight bitterness to the very, VERY fine tannins. NEEDS through '20, then approaching its 10th? My VG+; 91 pts ea WS & ("Very Good+) kenswineguide.com , 90+ Vinous (Tanzer), 90 WA (Martin), and WE @ $30! [Though beatable by $2, this vendor's $25.95 IS competitive.]
  
  Note: This didn't impress me as much as it had on 6/8/2019.

  Comment

• srh Likes this wine:

  June 8, 2019 - South African Reds (Vintage Wines Ltd., San Diego, CA): "100% Syrah grapes are sourced from a single vyd in the Bottelary Hills ward of Stellenbosch, located 16 mi from the ocean @ 348 ft elev. Vines ave 25 yrs of age, & the rows are planted NE to SW. The soil is a granite-based 'duplex' form which consists of coarse sand on gravel with a small percentage of wet clay.
  
  "The grapes were de-stemmed & the whole berries were pumped into an open top s/s fermenter, with 5% whole bunches added to the ferment. The tank was inoculated with Enoferm Syrah, a Rhône isolated yeast strain. Punch downs were performed 3x/day during fermentation. The wine was left on its skins for an additional 5 days of extended maceration before pressing. It was then racked to barrel for malolactic fermentation. The wine was aged for 18 mos in 225 L FR oak barrels (10% new, balance 2nd & 3rd fill)." 14.78% ABV, 2.8 g/l R.S., 5.0 g/l T.A., & 3.62 pH; 1,200 cases made.
  
  N: An attractive smoky element slightly atop ripe berries
  
  P: LM body; NICE, almost swtish frt met by an astringent pucker which pretty much resolves by the LONG, balanced finish with a tangy/swtness (& just a HINT of very, VERY slight bitterness) to the dusty tannins. NEEDS 12-18 mos, then approaching its 10th? My EXC-/EXC; 91 pts ea WS & ("Very Good+) kenswineguide.com , 90+ Vinous (Tanzer), 90 WA (Martin), and WE @ $30! [Though beatable by $2, this vendor's $25.95 IS competitive.]

  Comment

• Salute Does not like this wine: 85 points

  May 14, 2019 - too much sour tart acidic for me

  Comment

Pro Reviews 1

Wine Definition

• Vintage 2015
• Type Red
• Producer Rudi Schultz
• Varietal Syrah
• Designation n/a
• Vineyard n/a
• Country South Africa
• Region Coastal Region
• SubRegion Stellenbosch
• Appellation Stellenbosch
• UPC Code 6003438000233

Community Holdings

• Pending Delivery 0 (0%)
• In Cellars 23 (21%)
• Consumed 86 (79%)

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