Matt’s been sick lately, so having a few “little” bottles of wine, that is, the 375 mL size, has been quite helpful. There’s just enough in there that I can drink it by myself if I want to, or if I want to, it saves quite nicely since there’s less space for the wine to have contact with oxygen! I got this particular bottle at the WineSpies/Levendi Vineyards party after the Wine Blogger Conference. They passed out little bottles as party favors! I picked the 2005 Levendi Syrah Stagecoach Vineyard to go with the roast I had for dinner. It had a real cork closure and clocked in at 14.5% alcohol by volume.
I first noticed how dark and inky the wine appeared in the glass. I think this may be the darkest wine I’ve ever seen! On the nose I found plums, toffee, vanilla cream, black cherry, blackberries, boysenberry, spice, and deli meat. The nose had tons of fruit and the aromatics were huge. I had the tiny bottle on the floor by the couch I sit on, and I could smell it all the way from my seat. At first I got a bit of heat off the nose, but it blew off quickly. In the mouth I got licorice, currants, herbs, slight red berries, sage, plums, and a bit more red fruit.
Overall, I thought this wine needed more time to age. It had a lot of tannins and a bit of bitterness that I associate with a wine with huge tannins, needing some time. The fruit showed as very tart. Stick this one away if you have a bottle!
Filed under: California, Red, Syrah, Wine |
Wannabe Wino Wine Blog 
Yea, probably a bit young…but what a great vineyard to source grapes from.
I think (thought don’t quote me) this may have been the first wine I’ve had from that particular vineyard. I’d love to try something else from the same place, I enjoy comparing wines made by different folks from the same grapes.