December 29, 2023 - A nice evening yesterday with cheese & wine, pitted two Syrah / Shiraz wines against each other. And a third wine from my personal favorite Utopos Winery.
K Vintner's Royal City Syrah 2016
Standish Wine Co The Standish 2017
A duel that Standish won quite easily on the first night. Clearer structure, more homogeneous and a fantastic finish. Royal has more animalic and paprika notes which created a bit of disharmony, still a good wine but could do better. Set it aside and opened another favorite.
Utopos Cabernet Sauvignon 2019
Drank this vintage June-22, but what a development 😳. Have said it before, hard to buy a better Cab for about €50. Fantastic fruit, cassis, black cherries, cedar and a little sweeter tobacco.
Day two Royal City showed itself from a better side, better harmony, toned down paprika notes. But Standish just gasses on, complex, dark fruit that's sublime nonetheless. Utopos shows that this vintage will grow and become even better with a few more years in the cellar.
December 29, 2023 - Clear pale garnet; clean medium plus nose of dill, musty leather, dirty soil and red currant; dry; high acidity; medium plus tannins; high alcohol; medium body; medium plus flavour intensity; palate is tarter with addition of tomato leaf, cocoa and soil; medium plus finish; very disappointing compared to our previous bottle - dominated by vegetal notes; hopefully an off bottle as we have 3 left!
February 5, 2023 - Rich, layered flavor profile and structured tannins. Notes of dark fruit like blackberry, plum, and black cherry, along with hints of spice, leather, and smoke. Suggest holding this one for another 5 yr min to fully develop its flavors and complexity.
January 7, 2023 - Iron, gravel and smoke notes complicate raspberry, blackberry and orange peel fruits. Challenging, complex, but still fresh and friendly. Not decanted. Waited an hour to drink after open and drank over a couple hours.
October 30, 2022 - Maybe just a neutral phase but this bottle lacked. Just not well integrated - woody off notes, some syrah funk ( despite royal city vinyard location) and simple. One bottle left - hoping it gets anywhere near what other comments and ratings experienced - we would def not waste our time if this is it - ROI points quickly elsewhere at this point.
September 1, 2022 - A stunning Syrah. Not quite as seductive as the Hidden, but richer and more substantial. Raspberry and blackberry, spice, raw steak, smokey spice, sawdust and toast on the nose. Smooth and mouth filling, the tannins are silky smooth, sweet and luscious. Evolved wonderfully over the evening, hitting a peak of decadence about 2 hours in. The finish lasts about a minute or more with the sweet tannins holding everything together. Drinking wonderfully now, I'd say it has another 2-4 years to really hit its stride and then should last another decade.
August 7, 2022 - This wine is in a great drinking window now. Decanted 2 hours. Paired with smoked picanha. Fantastic.
April 2, 2022 - Corked
January 26, 2022 - Beautiful. No clue how it could be much better. Just so smooth with a lingering finish. Every sip was enjoyable
August 27, 2021 - Clear medium ruby/garnet; clean medium plus nose of ripe strawberries, ripe red cherries, menthol, clay, balsamic and black licorice; dry; high acidity; medium plus tannins; high alcohol; medium plus body; pronounced flavour intensity; palate has fruit payoff with addition of leather and black licorice dominating; long finish; could drink now but best to wait a few more years; amazing wine - very precise and complex now but promises so much more development