Hello Alex – some time has elapsed since our last informal tasting – just thought I would let you know about our latest one.

The venue was Topoli, that tasty value for money Persian restaurant which is so conveniently located for us all. As usual, the food was excellent, and our Syrahs and Shirazes seemed to do the trick with the distinctive, herby cuisine. Tasting was blind, but not so much that we would trip over and knock our heads on the pavement. I mean, who would do that? First up was one of mine and Sian’s – a 2005 Jean-Luc Colombo Crozes Hermitage which I had decanted for a couple of hours beforehand. While pouring it into the decanter, I was getting subtle whiffs of coffee, crushed raspberry and white pepper. However, it went into a real Gallic sulk in the decanter never to re-emerge – it was pretty muted in the glass and never became much more. Possibly slightly unripe, too, but well-made on the whole and not undrinkable by any means. A solid, if not spectacular, start.

Dylan’s offering was next – a heady perfume on the nose (that would be the wine, not Dylan); big, rich, and ripe – smoky bacon, pepper, the lot. Quite firm on the palate, lots of tannins but the fruit emerging at the end, and a dry, spicy finish. I was placing this in the New World almost before it had reached my tongue, and the palate did not dissuade me otherwise. Only Gareth dissented, saying it could be from a ripe Rhone vintage, and, by Jove, he was right! It was a 2004 Côtes du Rhône Villages Valréas ‘Les Echalas’ Clos Petite Bellane. Good stuff although atypical.

Tom had a sly grin when he presented his wine – almost as if he knew his choice would confound us. The nose was a beauty – olive tapenade, subtle dark cherry fruits, some meaty, gamey notes and herby around the edges. The palate was dense, complex and harmonious with lovely balance, layers and layers of dark fruit, well-rounded tannins and a grippy finish (are you sensing that I enjoyed it quite a lot?) General consensus was the Rhone again – I even went as far to guess that it could be a more recent vintage of the Domaine L’Amandine Cotes du Rhone Villages. I should really stick to my day job, because it turned out to be the 2005 Anakena Ona Syrah from Chile’s Rapel Valley – and at £9 retail, what an excellent wine! Imagine how good this will be in 5 to 10 years time when the vines have matured that little bit more. A revelation, I tell you. Nice one, Tom.  

Next up was Gareth’s bottle – a rich nose of blackberries, cloves, cherries, a dense and dark palate and progressive spice on the finish. I thought I could not be wrong again in placing it in the New World, and I was not – it was a 2004 Nash Family Vineyards Shiraz from Paarl, South Africa. I really enjoyed this one – although obviously big, there was restraint there too, as if Tony Soprano was in a therapy session with Dr Melfi trying to curb his primitive instincts. In the same vein was the final bottle, my own 2005 Brampton (2^nd label of the prestigious Rustenberg estate) Shiraz, again from Paarl. At only £6.50 a bottle (down from £9 at Waitrose), this punched above its weight – a slight burnt rubber young Shiraz nose which blew away after a while – good complexity on the palate but accessible and enjoyable. I would even consider cellaring it just to see where it will go.   

Sadly, due to the excess wine still left in bottle and our burning desire not to let it go to waste, we retired to mine to finish the remainder. At this point, Tom excused himself, his ‘burlesque’ activities the previous night apparently having got the better of him… After fulfilling our duty and consuming the remainder, Dylan in his own inimitable way eyed up a 2005 Perrin et Fils Rasteau L’Andeol single vineyard in my rack. Not wishing to disappoint, it was opened without ado. An earthy, slightly farmyard-y nose (Gareth also detected boiled chocolate pud), some interesting sweetness on the palate, but something slightly ethereal underneath – Dylan and I had an intense conversation about it being like the taste of damp moss on a misty autumn morning. Yes, it was getting to that time of night. I subsequently found out that Parker gave this vintage 90 points – not bad for a £9 bottle. My other bottle of it will go into the cellar until about 2010-12.

Seeing that we had all avoided the bleedin’ obvious and not brought along an Aussie Shiraz to the tasting, we thought it only fair that justice was done and the 2004 Katnook Founders Block Shiraz from Coonawarra was duly opened. This confounded expectations again, with a restrained liquorice, raspberry and olive nose and a medium-bodied palate. A charmer in a lounge suit, no less. New World wanting to be Old World was the consensus, but it was undoubtedly a good wine possibly marred by being tasted next to the Rasteau.

So, there we have it. There may have been a few sore heads the morning after, but was it worth it? Oh, come on… It was an excellent tasting with the Anakena Ona Syrah standing out for me, closely followed by the Rasteau. However, we tasted no bad wines – only an indifferent Crozes-Hermitage which coincidentally was the most expensive wine of the night. South Africa most definitely shone also as both wines were well-judged examples of affordable Shirazes with upfront fruit and complex palates. Nor did we detect misuse of oak as there was not so long ago – it seems Syrah/Shiraz is on the up everywhere that it is planted! 

Hey, have a good one – we’re all following your exploits via the blog.

Regards

Shon