pop & pour

Better than a fancier, more expensive version of itself -- awesome!

Apologies in advance for the short-form review, but I haven’t gotten to the computer until now and I’m heading out of town tomorrow for the weekend, so faced with the Sophie’s Choice of not posting at all for almost a week or posting a lame point form review, I went with lameness over absenteeism.  This Syrah from the Paso Robles region (which is between San Jose and LA in southwest California) is mainly interesting because it’s the cheaper, less fancy, less package-focused (screwcap here vs. cork on the other bottle) version of the Edward Sellers “Le Thief”, which I reviewed way back in the infancy of PnP.  Granted, the Le Thief was a Syrah-based blend, and this is pure Syrah, but I got the impression that the Le Thief, pretentious name and all, was set up as a higher-end offering, while this Syrah was more the base model.  All of this is only important because I think this Syrah is a way better wine.  Condensed review…go!

Colour:  thick, dark, glass-coating purple

Nose:  blueberry, smoke, tomato, mushroomy notes, and a chlorine/swimming pool thing on the edges — predominantly sweet dark fruit, but with interesting underlying savouriness

Palate:  rich lush black fruit, iron, earth, cinnamon — definitely fruit-heavy and New World in style, but with intriguing secondary characteristics on display too.  Lots of everything:  big acidity, big (but soft) tannin, noticeable alcohol, although thankfully the alcohol here (14.9%) was slightly lower than the alcohol on the Le Thief (15.2%), which led to some head-shaking and tsking from the Sub-15% Club.

Stelvin Rating: 7/10 (I dig the fire engine red. Non-black screwtops are the future.)

Conclusions:  The alcohol comes to the forefront a bit more than I would like, but it sort of fits with the California Syrah M.O. and isn’t over the top.  This is a good “I need a drink” wine and has enough complexity to justify its $25ish price tag.  It’s better balanced and more interesting than the Le Thief, and it definitely doesn’t try as hard, which makes it more likeable.  It has redeemed Edward Sellers’ image in my eyes and again reinforced that Syrah rocks my world, even in its more budget-friendly manifestations.  Have a good weekend everyone!

88+ points

$25 to $30 CDN