23/01/2025
Grape of the week: Syrah (and a blend)
This weeks Wine Flight 🍷🍷🍷
Chateau Coupe-Roses, Minervois, France (organic)
Minervois is in the West of the Languedoc, in the South of France, benefitting from a little altitude and Atlantic breezes. Coupe-Roses plant their vines on different South-facing soils with Grenache, Carignan and Syrah. Another procucer with hands-off attitude and biodynamic philosophy, the grapes are hand-harvested and fermented with wild yeasts. The wine is full of bright red fruits, easy-drinking and a lovely all-rounder.
Tinta Tinto Syrah, Casablanca Valley, Chile
A small, family-run winery, started as an experimental project in a garage and became full-time in 2015. Everything is done by hand, even down to the labels which were individually printed until recently! This Syrah is fermented “semi-carbonic” in large egg-shaped concrete tanks, followed by two years in old ok barrels, so think traditional Shiraz meets Beaujolais. Cassis, plums and blueberry fruits with a touch of liquorice, which will taste even softer with some cheese.
Olifantsberg Syrah, Breedekloof, South Africa
Olifantsberg are based in the mountains inland, producing amazingly concentrated wines with a real sense of place. 100% Syrah grown in a selection of small, high altitude sites, with a combination of traditional winemaking and again “whole bunch” fermentation, aged for twelve months in seasoned French barrels. So typical of great Syrah, this has deep red and dark currant berries, perfume, liquorice and white pepper.
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