2014 WILIXL Cuvée No. 6

Community Tasting Notes (2) Avg Score: 87 points

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  8/7/2021 - forceberry wrote: 87 Points

  "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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  9/8/2020 - forceberry wrote: 87 Points

  "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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