[ Home > Wines > Red Wines > Syrah or Shiraz > California - Syrah > California - Syrah > Bonny Doon Syrah Pousseur 2005 ]
Syrah is the most noble of red Rhone varieties, traveling farther and more successfully than any other. A native of Southeast France, syrah has been loved for centuries in the guise of Northern Rhone wines such as Cote-Rotie, Hermitage, Cornas and St. Joseph. Its deep, dark robe, meaty, ageworthy texture and evocative perfume reminiscent of fresh game, pepper and violets gives it a place of pride among the finest wine varieties in the world. The label of the Syrah “Le Pousseur” suggests a mysterious figure, cloaked in a great coat, in which rare vials and flasks of vaguely illicit elixirs, potions and philtres are cached. The image evokes a Taro card, and as such, represents an archetypical figure, an icon resonant to their unconscious. Great syrah is all about perfume and the tension between the wild and the refined. 2005 was a coolish year, one of elegance and restraint, and the ’05 is extremely refined; the wine (upon decanting) has an especially seductive perfume. The signifiers of vrai syrah: bacon fat is well in evidence, as is the scent of licorice, anise, wintergreen, violet and spicy elements - white pepper, most notably, juniper, cardamom and sandalwood. I almost neglected to mention the brilliant mineral element herein - mostly in virtue of shy-yielding grapes. The texture is particularly noteworthy, with melted, creamy tannins and a very silky finish.
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