Syrah New World Style

After a long break in our (recorded, that is :)) wine tastings, here we are back with my friend Horace and two more friends, once again upon the breach, sort of....

Tonight, we shall try three wines made exclusively with the syrah (or shiraz) grape.

The first one is a Trapiche Syrah colección roble 2004, which is a mid-range wine made by the large Trapiche winery of Argentina. This wine, which costs some 4 pounds sterling, is made in the Mendoza province of Argentina. We could not establish how
much time the wine was in contact with wood, as there were no references to this either in the label or in the website of the firm.

The first impression of the wine is its smell of raspsberries and leather. In the mouth, you can taste pepper, and feel the balanced tannins of the wine. We must say at this stage that the wine has been opened only for an hour or so, so it still feels "closed".

The second one we are trying is a Familia Gascon Reserva Syrah 2007. This wine is made by Bodega Escorihuela Gascón in Mendoza Province, in Argentina. According to the bottle, the wine has been aged in oak casks for 10 months.

In nose, the wine is not very expressive and is difficult to perceive distinctive smells over the alcohol. When tasting the wine, it is difficult to taste or smell the wood in it. One might think that the wood used had already been used many times before. The wine is also overall quite acid, not very well balanced.

The third wine we are tasting is a Cremaschi furlotti Reserva Syrah 2006. This wine comes from the Maule valley in Chile. According to the website of the firm, 50% of the wine was aged in oak casks for 8 months.

In nose, the bouquet is predominantly chocolate and leather, with a small scent of vainilla. The taste is soft, with round tannins and a good balance. It is less atrigent than the Trapiche, the wood is noticeable but melds with the fruit of the wine.The attack is soft, the middle is gentle and interesting but it almost completely lacks a finish.


Now, the second tasting round of the same wines.

In the second tasting of the Trapiche, in nose it feels less alcoholic. The dark fruit is still very much present, there's more wood and vanilla, and it feels more open and interesting. It has only a feeble attack, the middle is light and fleeting, and the aprés is elegant and persistent, with pepper. However, there is less pepper present in comparison with the first tasting. The tannins are quite noticeable
In the second tasting of the Familia Gascón, the wine has not improved. It is difficult to believe that it has any wood. We all concur that we expected more out of this wine when we bought it.
The second tasting of the Cremaschi contributes little to what we said before, only that the balance of the wine is nice, but there is much less power and interest than other syrahs we have tried in the past.


The overall grades for these wines are:
The Trapiche: 3,5 out of 5 possible points
The Famila Gascón: 2 out of 5
The Cremaschi Furlotti: 3 out of 5.

Given that the average price of this wines was around 4 or 5 pounds, the first and the third are value for money, not so the second.

In vino, veritas!