Arnot Roberts, Syrah, North Coast

As usual, this is wine of uncommon purity. It is the essence of cool climate Syrah. With a fragrant talcum note, ripe and tensile raspberry and gentle black pepper. Modest alcohol, impressively balanced tannic and acid balance. Long and pure finish with a noticeable tannic texture. I drank this last bottle in my cellar because it is just so beautiful (and has been since release). But in fact, the wine is continuing to charm as it ages, and while I …

2018 vintage

Gorgeous cool climate Syrah - real juicy fruit style - vibrant, lip smacking, intense, peppery, and gorgeously balanced. Do decant! Very fine sediment. I would drink this earlier than later, not because it is going to fall over, but just because it is .so beautiful at the moment.

2018 vintage

Dark ruby color, almost opaque, clearing slightly at the edges. Fresh black raspberry & red plum fruit aromas, with classic notes of pink peppercorn, fresh lavender, bay leaf, fresh rosemary, and hints of mesquite char. Bright and crunchy red and black fruit flavors, with integrated secondary tomato leaf, thyme, mint, white pepper, and beef blood. Intense expression, light to medium in body with a dense, round core. Shows taut, full acidity and broad-grained, supple tannins. Finishes with moderately long length …

2014 vintage

Dinner at The Front Room at the Waldorf Astoria in Bangkok. Was amaze. Ox-blood in color. Dusty, some red cherries, off the nose. Super lean wine. Medium finish. Tastes like the nose. Nice acidity. Very good showing. Drink up now.

2014 vintage

Classic Sonoma coast syrah. Nice varietal notes without being overdone, and no flab or jam. Nice balance.

2018 vintage

Decent balance. Slight fruit. A little tannic.

2018 vintage

61 years! (Wanaka Wedge House, Queensberry, Central Otago, New Zealand) : Classic cool climate steak - framboise , black pepper. Supple and ready to drink. Refined. Beautiful bacon fat notes. Beautiful fresh and ripe black Doris plum tartness and ripeness. The purity is a major feature of the wine. In terms of its present expression, it’s difficult to imagine this getting better. Different, yes, but in terms of pleasure the level of bottle age moderating the fruit, while retaining a …

2018 vintage

Light Bodied. Funky.

2018 vintage

Insanely beautiful color. Changing from a pitch black core to a dark ruby red color with purple nuances at the rim of the glass. Concentrated black fruit with notes of black berries, blue berries, black pepper corns, black olives. graphite, smoked meat and sage. The taste is fresh with zingy acidity, a firm mineral structure and grippy and grainy tannins. The alcohol is none-existing, pure and elegant - yet very complex. I LOVE this wine - lush and lively mouthfeel, …

2018 vintage

Recent positive TNs encouraged me to open this orphan. Poured two glasses for husband and I. The first pour looked like it should, the second, my glass, was three shades lighter and cloudy with off odors. Bizarre.

2018 vintage

Super tasty with crushed red raspberries, prickly acidity, and a really nice weight. A fantastic bottle next to some grilled tri-tip.

2018 vintage

Agree with the last note that this wine was fairly simple when opened. My bottle also had almost a fizzy note when opened. Did the “fourrier shake” that seemed to help significantly. Also, there is a good bit of sediment. Blackery, some bramble, dried herbs, good acidity. Stood up to lamb bolognese well. Realatively smooth tannins, but not plush. This wine is surprisingly restrained for a new world Syrah, but the flavors really came alive after a couple hours. Would …

2018 vintage

High acid blackberries, but not much else going on. Probably opened too early.

2018 vintage

Clean. had the Barossa syrah flavour characteristics, with a Rhoneish feel. very young.

2018 vintage

Too much smoke and tobacco.. not enjoyable for me..

2018 vintage

Pop and pour, followed 2 glasses over 2 hours. I was surprised how sour this was. Very acidic red fruit, a lean profile. This is probably the leanest syrah I have had. Their whites are much better. It reminds me of an Italian wine.

2014 vintage

Deep dark color--maybe the darkest 12% ABV wine I've ever seen. Lots of blackberry notes on the nose and palate. Black cherry, too. Zingy acidity. Moderate finish. This was quite nice, but the fruit was just a bit too candied for me. I would like a bit more savory notes in a Syrah.

2018 vintage

Maybe the bottle was off? This was flat, not at all the lively earthy northern rhone-look alike i was expecting. Huge disappointment -so much so we tried a second bottle, with the same result.

2018 vintage

Recommendation from Asimov of NYT as representative of the style. Tobacco, black cherry cough drops. Good with grilled steak. Shipping is too expensive to Seattle.

2018 vintage

Same. Great QPR.

2018 vintage

Pop and poured at home with J. Wax top. Drank in Grassl 1855. Appearance medium intensity, ruby colour. Thin legs. Nose medium+ intensity, with aromas of earth, dark stems, dark red cherries, brine hints. Developed. On the palate, dry, high acidity, medium- alcohol (12.2%), sticky high tanins, medium+ body. Medium+ flavour intensity, with flavours of dark brown stems with spice, savoury earth, bit of dark olives, dark red cherries, underlying salty brine/saline minerality. Leather with lots more air. Medium+ finish. …

2014 vintage

Very light in color, nose and mouthfeel. Woody and earthy with some red currant at best. Did not improve with air. Slight VA? What other flaw might this be? Didn't score as it may have been flawed.

2018 vintage

Savory and red fruit notes. Light handed winemaking. There’s almost an effervescence to it right now. Can definitely benefit from further aging.

2018 vintage

This was educational. It’s not like syrahs I’m used to drinking. Light to Medium-bodied. It was tried over three days and it was very nice each day , which surprised me given how light it seemed on day 1. More like a gamay on day 1, with some spritz. After being open for a few hours, and into day 2, it started showing some smoky notes. Day 3 was best - dark fruit, peppery, smoky. With an excellent spicy finish.

2018 vintage

Really nice wine, with reasonable QPR. Full dark fruit flavors, with just enough zip to be distinctive. Excellent with grilled burgers.

2018 vintage

- Brick color with fast forming legs and aromas of blackberry, black currant, black pepper, cedar and violet. It's balanced and has flavours of black pepper, fig and blackberry with a full body. Coarse texture with a medium finish - Decanted one hour.

2018 vintage

Superb nose and mouth feel. Not much fruit, but tons of spices and blood. Probably better to hold, but very drinkable now.

2018 vintage

Nice, bright Syrah with mostly savory notes along with red berries and olives on the nose. Refreshing acidity with brine, tart berries, and red cherries on the palate. Good finish. Savory, yet quite red fruited Syrah. Drinkable now or in the next 5 years.

2018 vintage

Typical expression of Syrah from A/R. Green pepper, some leather.

2014 vintage

Opaque purple in the glass. Exuberantly youthful and alive. I think the combination of Spacewrangler and Thoughtdujour's recent reviews covers this perfectly. Will try to hold my other bottle for a few years before revisiting but this was a homerun for me, especially at 12% abv. Jill surprisingly did not enjoy this. More for me.

2018 vintage

Drank with grilled pork chops. Way more delicate than syrah I'm accustomed to, with more acid. Could (should?) have sat on this longer. I would not be in a hurry to pick up more, but I'd definitely try others from Arnot-Roberts.

2014 vintage

Tremendous juice at the price. Prime drinking window is open and will last at least 5-10 years. 12.2%

2014 vintage

Enjoyed this bottle. Starting to hit its sweet spot. Definitely better on day two after it had some more air.

2014 vintage

Very good, but did not reach my expectations. Dark cherries for sure and some olive brine and earth but not as much character as expected in this price range. Served with grilled steaks. Gave it a couple days under vacuvin and it seemed to loosen a bit, with nose becoming much more pronounced.

2014 vintage

Followed from decant and 12 degrees. Nose pops out of the glass right from the start with lush dark berries such as blackberry, forest berry and blueberry. Salvia, smoke, menthol, smoked meat, charcuteries, bacon, earth, liquorice, pepper and lots more. You can sense the whole cluster-winemaking but it's nicely integrated and simply adds complexity and austerity. I'm frankly quite surprised how ready this feels since tasting the '17 a couple of weeks ago, a wine that for me was nowhere …

2014 vintage

Popped and poured. Rich and luscious, dark red cherry, earth and smoked meat in the bouquet, more dark fruit on the palate, fullbodied, lifted, alcohol is covered, fine tannins, clearly ripe and ready.

2014 vintage

Medium body with big flavors - dark cherry and black pepper. But not as good as I wanted it to be. Still tight and acidic. Perhaps needs more time. A-R wines seem to come out young. Lower QVR to me.

2014 vintage

Great stuff. Enjoyed with deboned chicken and grilled vegetables. Nose of high toned red fruits, earthiness and spice. Palate follows the nose and ends in a balanced medium length finish. Disappeared very quickly.

2014 vintage

Smells of ripe plum, plum sauce, lavender and violets with beef jerky, rocky riverbed and cracked black pepper. Mixed forest berry, cranberry skin, black olive and tar with menthol, weak coffee and chalky baby aspirin in the mouth. Firm acid and tannin, nice and long. Nice wine but I will let the rest sleep until 2020.

2014 vintage

No formal note. Found wine very tight and acidic. Not what I was expecting from a California Syrah.

2014 vintage

Good to very good and may get better in a few years? Lots of mainly dark fruit and some tannin. Drinking very well with a 30 minute decant.

2014 vintage

Ruby violet color with slight translucency at the edges. Nose dark fruited, hint of peppery savory flavor. Palate mouth filling, tart cranberries and chunky blueberries, rich midpalate, lightly chalky tannins on finish. Open on PnP but I think it has the density and structure to develop more with time. 93 pts

2014 vintage

The first glass was olive brine, green peppercorn, black fruits, and creostoe on day 1. This all turned easygoing on day 2, with the muted acids subtracting from the intrigue but the low alcohol making it so very quaffable, not totally incompatible with smokey chicken mole.

2014 vintage

peppery

2014 vintage

Peppery and bright. Really liked this bottle

2014 vintage

I found it hard to rate at this point, very closed. Peppery olives, cassis. A lot of tannins and acidity. Even though I am not really a believer in bottle shock, this might have suffered from it since I opened it the same day I received it after several days of shipment. Either way next bottle will have to wait a few years.

2014 vintage

More Rhone-like than what you'd expect from California but good in that context. I think it could use a few more years for the tannins to soften. Lavender, methanol, licorice is more prominent than berries or fruit. Some of the lift from day one faded on day two. My guess is the score rises with time.

2014 vintage

Another winner from one of my favorite California producers. High-toned red fruits, menthol, floral, juicy, balanced, this wine is absolutely delicious.

2014 vintage

Reminiscent of Northern Rhone. I have a hard time getting excited about California wines but this is great. Very unlike a lot of the California Syrahs I have had in the past. Lower alcohol, brighter, more Old World in style.

2014 vintage

Tart with high acid. Bright cherry, leather, minerality a pomegranate. On day 2 deeper/darker flavors begin to emerge. Still finishes very dry and tannic.

2014 vintage

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Arnot Roberts, Syrah, North Coast

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