About this WINE
Syrah/Shiraz
A noble black grape variety grown particularly in the Northern Rhône where it produces the great red wines of Hermitage, Cote Rôtie and Cornas, and in Australia where it produces wines of startling depth and intensity. Reasonably low yields are a crucial factor for quality as is picking at optimum ripeness. Its heartland, Hermitage and Côte Rôtie, consists of 270 hectares of steeply terraced vineyards producing wines that brim with pepper, spices, tar and black treacle when young. After 5-10 years they become smooth and velvety with pronounced fruit characteristics of damsons, raspberries, blackcurrants and loganberries.
It is now grown extensively in the Southern Rhône where it is blended with Grenache and Mourvèdre to produce the great red wines of Châteauneuf du Pape and Gigondas amongst others. Its spiritual home in Australia is the Barossa Valley, where there are plantings dating as far back as 1860. Australian Shiraz tends to be sweeter than its Northern Rhône counterpart and the best examples are redolent of new leather, dark chocolate, liquorice, and prunes and display a blackcurrant lusciousness.
South African producers such as Eben Sadie are now producing world- class Shiraz wines that represent astonishing value for money.
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Description
Hermitage is one of the most famous of all French wines, its name associated down the centuries with a beguiling combination of power and finesse, admirably displayed in this example from Ferraton.
Les Méaux is a brand name rather than a specific vineyard, the nomenclature a not entirely successful amalgam of the communes of Le Méal and Les Dionnières. The Syrah grapes were hand-picked from old vines on steep alluvial terraces and then aged for 14 months in barriques, some of which were new. The result is classic Hermitage from a forward and very approachable vintage; elegance and power entwined, with great persistence on the finish. The age of the vines has ensured an impressive concentration in what was, for some, a tricky vintage. Not, it seems, for our friends at Ferraton.
(Simon Field MW, BBR Buyer)
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