Still more rugged than I would consider ideal. Rich and powerful, but I would hope for more balance by now. Tasty now, but I was more optimistic a few years back.
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This has come on a bit since I last had it about 4 years ago. Good blackcurrant nose and a mix of cassis and bramble in the flavour. Gave it a 1 hour decant and drank it over the next hour, 2-3 hours would probably be better. Nice now but more to give.
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OK, this is actually a review of the three that i have consumed over the past 3 years. This is a highly rated "boutique" wine that was being dumped when Covid hit and cruise ships dumped their inventory. While rich and complex, the first two bottles were also unrefined, tight and pretty tannic. The 3rd which i opened just the other evening, was beginning to learn refinement, with richer notes in the aroma (tar, some flowers, dark fruits, ..) and silkier body/tannin. Note that i always open a wine for a while, and if possible decant. Since i drank this over two evenings it remained in the bottle, but was open before drinking. 2nd day it was removed from fridge early and then in a ban-marie to gently bring it up to room temp. I suspect i wasted several bottles too early. I have since seen a recommendation (whcih conflicts with the original) to drink > 2023. Sigh.
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Label says 65% syrah, bits of grenache, mourvedre and cairanne. 14.5% alcohol. Also a sticker saying Wine Advocate rated this at 95, which I have verified - Joe Czerwinski wrote the note.
Day 1, after 2hr decant, the tannins were a bit rough and unintegrated, and the whilst there's a lot there, it's all rather closed in. A few bitter elements in the background which is perhaps the mourvedre doing its bitter not-ready-yet mourvedre thing.
Day 2, tannins are more integrated, but with a rather clearer syrah dumb period closed in, hollow where's the taste gone, sense.
Day 3, the syrah was a opening a little, and showing a little bit of smoothness.
Day 4, it was better on Day 3. It slipped down OK, but still wasn't exciting or showing any more.
So I have no sense of the "elegant silky" that Czerwinski talks about, quite the opposite just now. For a 5-yr-old majority syrah blend of some substance, that's no big surprise. It's very difficult to judge such wines at this stage in their development, which is why I'll hold off from marking. Maybe it will be somewhere quite different in a few years, but it clearly needs a few years. You can tell there's a lot there. Maybe this ugly duckling stage in its development is why I could buy this fashionable artisanal wine for just £17 in a supermarket. Maybe at this price it's a fair gamble to buy a few and keep them for a while, and see if Joe was not too far off the mark in the long run.
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(Domaine de l'Agly, Les Cimes, Syrah / Shiraz, Côtes du Roussillon, Villages, Languedoc-Roussillon, France, Red) Login and subscribe to see review text.
7/18/2024 - Burgundy Al wrote: 87 Points
Still more rugged than I would consider ideal. Rich and powerful, but I would hope for more balance by now. Tasty now, but I was more optimistic a few years back.
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7/11/2024 - kevin h wrote: 92 Points
This has come on a bit since I last had it about 4 years ago. Good blackcurrant nose and a mix of cassis and bramble in the flavour. Gave it a 1 hour decant and drank it over the next hour, 2-3 hours would probably be better. Nice now but more to give.
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1/9/2023 - seekingbalance Likes this wine: 90 Points
OK, this is actually a review of the three that i have consumed over the past 3 years. This is a highly rated "boutique" wine that was being dumped when Covid hit and cruise ships dumped their inventory. While rich and complex, the first two bottles were also unrefined, tight and pretty tannic. The 3rd which i opened just the other evening, was beginning to learn refinement, with richer notes in the aroma (tar, some flowers, dark fruits, ..) and silkier body/tannin. Note that i always open a wine for a while, and if possible decant. Since i drank this over two evenings it remained in the bottle, but was open before drinking. 2nd day it was removed from fridge early and then in a ban-marie to gently bring it up to room temp. I suspect i wasted several bottles too early. I have since seen a recommendation (whcih conflicts with the original) to drink > 2023. Sigh.
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5/27/2022 - Echinosum wrote:
Label says 65% syrah, bits of grenache, mourvedre and cairanne. 14.5% alcohol. Also a sticker saying Wine Advocate rated this at 95, which I have verified - Joe Czerwinski wrote the note.
Day 1, after 2hr decant, the tannins were a bit rough and unintegrated, and the whilst there's a lot there, it's all rather closed in. A few bitter elements in the background which is perhaps the mourvedre doing its bitter not-ready-yet mourvedre thing.
Day 2, tannins are more integrated, but with a rather clearer syrah dumb period closed in, hollow where's the taste gone, sense.
Day 3, the syrah was a opening a little, and showing a little bit of smoothness.
Day 4, it was better on Day 3. It slipped down OK, but still wasn't exciting or showing any more.
So I have no sense of the "elegant silky" that Czerwinski talks about, quite the opposite just now. For a 5-yr-old majority syrah blend of some substance, that's no big surprise. It's very difficult to judge such wines at this stage in their development, which is why I'll hold off from marking. Maybe it will be somewhere quite different in a few years, but it clearly needs a few years. You can tell there's a lot there. Maybe this ugly duckling stage in its development is why I could buy this fashionable artisanal wine for just £17 in a supermarket. Maybe at this price it's a fair gamble to buy a few and keep them for a while, and see if Joe was not too far off the mark in the long run.
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1/30/2022 - cy_eats wrote:
Lechón lunch
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