2014 WILIXL Cuvée No. 6
Community Tasting Note
forceberry wrote:
Saturday, August 7, 2021 - "Cuvée No. 6": a 100% Syrah from Minervois-La Livinière. Aged for 12 months in oak barrels. 14,5% alcohol. Tasted blind.
Dense, concentrated and almost fully opaque blackish-red color with a youthful, plummy hue. Very ripe, concentrated and quite extracted nose with a pronounced streak of sweet cassis followed by some inky tones and toasty oak spice, light mocha tones, a little bit of peppery spice, a hint of evolved pruney fruit and a touch of blueberry juice. The wine feels ripe, full-bodied and very juicy on the palate with a rather extracted overall feel. Chewy and somewhat sweet-toned flavors of sweet cassis and blueberry juice, some chocolatey mocha oak, a little bit of vanilla, light plummy notes, a hint of boysenberry jam and a touch of extracted wood spice. Moderately high in acidity with quite ample yet surprisingly gentle, textural tannins. The finish is juicy, rich and subtly grippy with slightly sweet-toned flavors of ripe blackcurrants, some sweet toasty oak tones, a little bit of blueberry, light boysenberry tones, a hint of cocoa oak and a touch of extracted woody bitterness.
A very big, modern and quite polished Syrah with a lot of ripeness and oak. Due to its pronounced blackcurrant and oak character, my first guesses were Californian Cabernet and Tempranillo from Ribera del Duero, but when somebody suggested Syrah, I remembered tasting this wine before and recognized that it might actually be Wilixl Syrah from Minervois. Stylistically this wine feels more like new world rather than classic Minervois Syrah, making this a rather winemaker's wine where the terroir has been drenched underneath all that ripeness and oak. Doesn't feel young anymore, but hasn't developed much tertiary tones either. Most likely this wine will need another 15-20 years before it has lost most of its glossy, oaky sheen. Quite enjoyable, but not really my kind of wine.
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