Wine Tasting Notes of Syrah 2012 by George Phillips Cellars from California

It's our Wining Wednesday! How is everyone doing there? Today's choice of wine is from the George Phillips Cellars in California. It's a bottle of dry red made of 100% Syrah that was matured in 2012. It has an alcohol volume of 13%.  

Before tasting, I want to introduce you briefly about Syrah. It is a dark-skinned grape variety grown throughout the world and used primarily to produce red wine. General speaking, "Syrah is responsible for some of the darkest full-bodied red wines in the world. It has dark fruit flavors from sweet blueberry to savory black olive. When you taste Syrah you’ll be greeted with a punch of flavor that tapers off and then has a spicy peppery note in the aftertaste. " I found this article from winefolly.com helpful and also an easy-read to get a general idea of Syrah as a grape variety. 

Great, we are now good to go! Let's appreciate this bottle of Syrah produced in the new world. 

Sight

I have to admit I really love how it looks like. It appears to be semi-transparent with a gradienring color of dark red. It's that kind of gorgeous ruby that is bright in the center and completely dark at the margins. As you can see in the photo below, the wine on the rim of the glass appears to be bloody black. Really beautiful color.

Smell

The first smell gives me a sutble feeling of rubber and leather with a slighter odor of black fruits. I have to say the happiness you can get from the first smell is quiet limited. However, after shaking the glass, it gives out somewhat more prominent and sweet-sour olfactory, smelling like vanilla mixed with blackberries. On the top of that, I can also smell the aroma of wet leaves lying on the ground of a forest land, a little bit of grounded nutmeg as well as sweet pickles. But in general, the fragrance of this wine is kind of faint.

Taste

Keeping in mind that it has a slightly higher alcoholic volume than the previous two bottles (13%), I was expecting stronger wine body when taking the first sip. And my guess turns out correct! It delivers a strong wine body with relatively prominent taste of alcohol on the tongue. Tannin is rich but also a little under-fermented as the tannin creates a feeling of roughness in the mouth cavity. On the positive side, I am pleased with the degree of acidity. However, the reason that the acidity stands out could really be attributed to its flat, watery flavor. In sum, to me personally, this bottle of Syrah failed to deliver the wine-associated happiness, sad to say.

I won't recommend this bottle of dry red to you. There could be other reasons for its poor performance today. But unfortunately, it won't be on my shopping list next time. The only thing I like about it is its gorgeous color. But that's fine. The good and bad are always intermingled. We shall cheer on and explore more. Until next time. :) 

Cheers,

Cyan