Spitting: Optional
S.C. Pannell Syrah 2010
Vintage: 2010
Style: Medium bodied red
Country: Australia
Region: Adelaide Hills
Overview: This wine has funk and character. This wine is the kind of wine that breaks free of the, sometimes, boring monotony of Shiraz. This wine is the jazz saxophonist of the wine world. The funk comes from a winemaking practice where whole bunches are fermented rather than crushed and left in a soup of skin, pulp and juice. This lets the wine ferment inside the grape skins and adds an extra layer of complexity. This is known as carbonic maceration. In this wine the ‘funk’ is a strawberry yoghurt character with an under lying earthy aroma and flavour.
This is a medium bodied Shiraz, elegant, thus the French name for Shiraz is used, Syrah. S.C. Pannell wines have always displayed great finesse that this wine is no exception. Enjoy with good food, scat vocals and a scratchy Coltrane record.
Tasting note: Perfumed nose, with lifted white pepper, blueberry aromas upfront. These characters jump out of the glass at first but when left to develop the funky fragrance of strawberry yoghurt and earth become more evident. There is a touch of cedar from the superbly integrated oak. On the palate there are flavours of blackberry, strawberry and violets and finishes with fine tannins which complement but do not overpower.
Final Say: Scibbidy doo-woop. This is seriously one of the best Shiraz I’ve tried this year. $20-25 dollars a bottle.
Score: 19 out of 20 (95 out of 100)
