Wine and Wineries -- Notes on a Syrah tasting

Last year, I noticed I had three different syrahs lying around -- one from France, one from New Zealand and another from Australia. For various reasons, I decided to try them over a period of a couple of weeks, for the sake of comparison. I'm not going to say which I think is best, they were all good in their own way. I've also added an additional Australian syrah to the end, as it is probably more typical of the style of South Australian syrah that most people would be used to.

• 2003 Chateau Curson Crozes-Hermitage (France)

  Rich but restrained and elegant. Nose of cherry, juicy red fruit, pepper and other spices and pencil shavings. Palate of red fruit, sour cherries and spices. Oak imparts an almost caramel-like rich sweet smoothness to the front palate.

  Rich, integrated tannins with some bitterness on end palate, which balances well with some of the sweeter notes in the wine.

  -- My notes from snooth.com.

• 2004 Wild Rock The Underarm Syrah Gimblett Gravels (New Zealand)

  Nose warm, leathery, earthy and with black fruit, spices and oak. Palate with rich red fruit, blackberries, cloves, chocolate and long, leathery drying tannins. Quite rich and earthy.

  -- My notes from snooth.com.

• 2008 BK Wines Jean Bernard Syrah Adelaide Hills (Australia)

  Restrained, elegant wine that is quite different from the typical Australian Shiraz -- presumably hence the decision to call it Syrah.

  Rich, intense nose of rich dark fruits, raspberry and cassis with spices (cinnamon) and pencil shavings. On the palate, rich red fruits, raspberry and sour cherry. Sweet, rich and smooth with spicy oak on the front palate, and rich sour cherry on the back palate. Beautiful smooth mouthfeel, with smooth well rounded tannins.

  -- My notes from snooth.com.

• 1999 Killibinbin Shiraz Langhorne Creek (Australia)

  Nose: Rich, almost jammy red fruits, earth, leather, spice and well-balanced oak. Palate: Rich red fruit, spice, leather and tar, sharp fresh acid, tannins still quite firm.

  -- My notes from snooth.com.

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