Cantina Mesa Carignano del Sulcis Buio

A nice big fruity wine....we drank it well past what most people would consider a normal life for the wine but was well balanced and lively with a fine finish.

Via: The Big Red Tour (Boston, MA) : Goof fruit. Ripe. Funky finish. 84-87

This was way better than my expectations. Inky and nearly opaque deep ruby color. Highly aromatic, with dark fruits, a little leather, minerals, maybe an herbal component in the nose. I thought it tasted like an angular syrah, with again blackberry fruit and pepper but somehow chiseled in ways that made it quirky and intriguing. All that depth of flavor and still a sensible 13.5% alcohol so it doesn't ever get heavy. Would be a terrific accompaniment to meat dishes …

The packaging here, with its heavy bottle and Screaming Eaglesque label, threatens a gobs-of-fruit type thing, and indeed there's a veneer of modern styling to the wine you need to keep scratching to find the very interesting wine underneath. It starts with a scent of rubber and jammy fruit and a mouthfeel polished to a slick glossiness. But instead of thick jam the red fruit has an energetic zing, with a crackling of black pepper so vivid it makes this …