Xabregas Artisan Syrah 2010

Xabregas Artisan Syrah 2010 (Mt Barker, WA)
13.9%, Screwcap, $35
Source: Sample
www.xabregas.com.au

They do things a little wilder at Xabregas. Complexity is the end game and, for my money, they’re getting the results.

This Syrah is a perfect case in point – Shiraz/Syrah co-fermented with whole bunch Roussanne in large open vats, the wine spending lots of time on lees and then bottled unfiltered.

It looks and smells utterly vibrant too – a deep, purple edged red colour, with a slightly wild nose of black pepper, black dirt and blueberries in said black dirt – earthen is an understatement. Palate too is meaty, earthen and a little raw, dry, long and just a little wild to finish. The oak gives sweetness here too, which works rather nicely.

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A less classical sort of wine than the straight Xabregas Syrah lines, what I like here is that combination of savoury earthen purple fruit and fine tannins, making for a pretty speccy sort of plummy, earthy and a little wild modern Great Southern Syrah.

Score: 17.8/20, 92/100+