First off, holy high alcohol batman. I chose the 2006 Mauritson Rockpile Madrone Spring Vineyard Syrah for our wine the other night. It clocked in at 15.9% alcohol by volume!!!! That alone made it a one glass kind of wine. Now, as you know, I’m not one of those “high alcohol wines are all evil and unbalanced” type of people. However, I do like to have a glass of wine with dinner and one after. When the alcohol content is THAT high, I just can’t. The wine cost us $38 minus a 20% discount in a club shipment and had a real cork closure.
In the glass, the wine showed as a deep dark purple, almost inky color. On the nose I found aromas of cinnamon, red hots, vanilla, pie, plum, black cherry, baking spice, espresso, and violets. The wine had an incredibly complex and intriguing nose and I didn’t get any of the heat I expected from the alcohol level. In the mouth, the flavors came through as plum, black cherries, pepper, licorice, and a little leather.
Overall, in the mouth, the wine seemed a bit hot. It also had some tannins to spare, so perhaps with a bit of age this one would settle down. I really loved the nose, and thought the mouth had potential, maybe some decanting to let the heat integrate a little better.
Filed under: California, Mauritson, Red, Syrah | 3 Comments »
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