Chris Ringland, Three Rivers Shiraz, Barossa Valley

Extracted atomic sexiness

Another Saturday at Chevalier...Mostly Blind Rhone Varietals (Chevalier Fine Wines - Chicago IL) : Tasted double blind. Black currant and plum with rich spice and liqueur. Very dense, with impressive length and impeccable balance. Easily identifiable as New World Syrah, but clearly at the highest level. I thought it Aussie, but thought it at least 5 years younger.

Brilliant ! First Growth quality wine with great fruit, acidity, balance. Still many years ahead of it

Blind Syrah Tasting w/ Ryan Johnson, Dick Boushey, Eric LeVine, and MrBigJ (Wild Ginger, Seattle, WA) : Tasted blind. (Group's #1 (my #2)) – 8 first place votes, 1 second place vote, 3 third place votes, no fourth place votes – The nose had very rich dark fruit aromas with notes of anise and a hint of mint. The palate was very bright, and had flavors of blackberry, caramel and eucalyptus. Excellent mouthfeel and a medium-long finish.

RUSSK WW@CafeMax blind tasting. bottom tier. Priorate nose with AmOak. Fruit/acid nice. But not complex.

I bought one bottle on release with along with a friend. As he'll never open his <grin - I kid>, I brought this to usher out the new year. This is a stunning Shiraz and while incredibly concentrated was admirably light on its feet too. Packed with red and blue fruits (I was almost surprised by the red fruit character given the rep). Standard descriptors all work here – big, long, complex and yes, balanced. The only thing holding back …

No formal notes taken. Tasted blind, obviously Australian on the nose, very nice on the palate, very good structure. It's really not my style, but an excellent example of what it is.

Dark blue. Peppar and bramble berry coming out of the glass. Almost like a Ch‚teauneuf du Pape. Wonderfully ripe with sweet cocoa and chocolate flavours, wrapped into a well defined and precise package. The alcohol, although evidently high, is brilliantly integrated, and the power is offset by good finesse, and marvellous sweetness. Long, balanced aftertaste.