Community Tasting Note

forceberry wrote:

Tuesday, September 8, 2020 - "Cuvée No. 6": a 100% Syrah from Minervois-La Livinière. Aged for 12 months in oak barrels. 14,5% alcohol.

Luminous, youthful and only very slightly translucent blackish-red cherry color. Bold, ripe and sweet-toned nose with intense aromas of blackcurrants, extracted toasty oak spice, some boysenberries, a little bit of vanilla, light inky notes and a hint of blackberry jam. The wine is rich, full-bodied and juicy on the palate with intense, sweet-toned flavors of ripe blackcurrants, boysenberries, some blackberry marmalade, a little bit of extracted woody bitterness, light toasty notes of sweet oak spice and a hint of vanilla. The acidity feels moderately high and the silky tannins are quite gentle, contributing more to the texture than to the structure. The finish is rich, juicy and moderately long with intense flavors of boysenberries, some sweet mocha oak, a little bit of extracted woody bitterness, light plummy notes of ripe dark fruits, a hint of vanilla and a touch of blackberry jam. The high alcohol makes the wine end on a rather warm note.

A big and tasty but also somewhat heavily oaked Syrah that is perhaps a bit too ripe for its own good. The fruit shows good intensity, but comes across as a bit too sweet with very little in the way of tannic structure - and a big wine like this could really use some firm, tannic grip. Although not too youthful anymore, the wine is perhaps still a bit too young for its own good and could benefit from some more cellaring - in the hopes that further aging might integrate the oaky tones a bit more and bring out some savory, tertiary complexity to complement the sweeter-toned fruit notes.

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