2014 Montes Alpha Syrah

Community Tasting Notes (9) Avg Score: 87.9 points

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  5/31/2018 - WDK wrote: 86 Points

  Medium bodied, lots of red ruit offset by pine flavor. Med finish.

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  2/3/2018 - Henman wrote: 87 Points

  Jammy dark fruit on the nose. Rather full bodied, acidic, showing jammy dark fruit with a slightly generic aspect. Smooth tannins and a bit of heat. Pretty nice. Had a glass at Kappeli.

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  10/31/2017 - dbay wrote: 85 Points

  Medium Ruby in color. Medium intensity aromas with red fruits, some toast and spice. On the palate, medium intesity flavors of cherry, red currants, baking spices, medium acid and medium tannins. Short finish. Overall a weird syrah reminiscent of an unstructured grenache without the syrah characteristics. lacking in complexity, disappointing as a syrah.

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  10/29/2017 - Tiderunner22 wrote: 88 Points

  Big but nicely balanced fruit forward wine. Very nice example of the wines that are,being produced in Chile.

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  8/26/2017 - forceberry wrote: 86 Points

  A blend of Syrah (90%), Cabernet Sauvignon (7%) and Viognier (3%). Syrah and Viognier were co-fermented. 55% of the wine was aged for 12 months in new and 1 yo oak barrels. 14,5% alcohol, 3,4 g/l residual sugar, 5,6 g/l acidity, pH 3,53.
  
  Dark, almost completely opaque black cherry color. Sweet and aromatic nose with pronounced cassis aromas very much reminiscent of Cabernet Sauvignon with concentrated notes of blackberry juice concentrate, some meatiness, a little bit of sweet oak and a hint of blackberry jam. The wine is very full-bodied and really ripe on the palate with concentrated, chewy flavors of sweet blackcurrant, borderline jammy dark plum, a little bit of sweet oak spice and a hint of alcohol warmth. Despite its concentrated texture and almost monolithic body, the wine feels surprisingly structured and not particularly heavy - thanks to its relatively high acidity and quite ample and grippy tannins. The finish is long and rich, even somewhat sticky, with borderline sweet flavors of blackcurrant jam, blackberry juice, almost overripe plums, some sweet oak spice and a little bit of tannic grip.
  
  For a Chilean wine, this is quite good effort - this has structure, acidity, tannins and it is not drenched in new oak. However, for a Syrah, this is quite a let-down - this tastes more like an overdone Cabernet Sauvignon than anything remotely Syrah-like. I don't know whether they have used some commercial yeast that produces those cassis flavors, or if it is just that 7% of Cabernet that dominates the aromas and flavors of the wine, but if served blind, I'd guess this was a Cabernet Sauvignon, not a Syrah. So if you are looking for a big and muscular new world wine, this might be just the right one; however, if you are looking for a good Syrah, keep looking. At 18,49€, the wine feels a bit overpriced for its quality.

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