Scali, Syrah, Paarl

Wow....3 rd and last bottle. On nose and palate: superbly balanced, full bodied Syrah, displaying geranium flower, Kona coffee, rosemary, raw beef, ripe blackberry, a ghost of bitter chocolate, and ripe red plum flesh....with fresh, focused acidity, at almost 9 years of age......once again , played well with our pasta Puttanesca.....look forward to a new vintage.

So...bottle #2. On nose and palate: all flavour notes intact from last month, with the 1st bottle, with more range, more vibrant acidity, and additonal notes of geranium flower, richer coffee notes, and less earth tones. Blackberry and rosemary arrive on the finish, of this sleeker and more lively bottle, after a 2 hour decant.....I have one more bottle left....went as a good match for pasta puttanesca, this evening.

An 8 year old South African Syrah...... On nose: light coffee, faint damp earth, blackberries and a ghost of soy sauce. On palate: all above notes enhanced, with a wisp of rosemary, a ghost of raw beef, and plum skin, on a moderately full body, with muted tannins and acidity, the 14.5% alcohol is well woven, with the light oak.....a full figured earlier maturing wine, but may last a couple more years....went well with roast Chicken dinner, this evening.

I did not enjoy this as much as the 2005 vintage that I had a few years ago. Many tasting notes, including mine, for that vintage states the wine was very balanced. The 2016 lacks this characteristic. I found it too sweet and lacking acidity and tannins. Might need to sit more to be less disjointed but maybe it’s just the reality of a different vintage or maybe the winemaker changed?