Every now and then a wine rises above it’s humble price and shows itself to be a diamond in the rough. As a bargain hunter that is one of my pursuits. This wine as well as a number of the previous Santa Julia wines fall into this category. While not the bargain of the century they are reasonably priced wines that are quite good albeit not stellar. This one is quite dark in color. On the nose there are some mild fruit flavors typical of a Syrah. As always keep in mind that the difference between a Syrah and a Shiraz is style, the grape is the same. The Shiraz typically has a whole lot more pepper on the finish, Aussie’s trademark! On the mid pallet especially after some breathing are some varietal Syrah flavors. Not bad at all. The finish is on the milder side of medium. Some breathing in the order of 1 hour or so is in order. The lack of firm tannins on the finish tell me this wine will likely not age overly well. The description below calls this a complex wine. I guess we all have different definitions of what that means but for me this is not a complex wine. I would give this an 88-89 or so. Maybe after some aging say a year it might creep into the 90 range! Definitely give it a go, but I wouldn’t be buying a case and keeping it for 10 years 🙂
From the LCBO web site:
SANTA JULIA RESERVA SYRAH 2007 Mendoza (Familia Zuccardi) Familia Zuccardi is on quite a roll right now producing wines adored by consumers and critics alike. This 2007 Syrah is complex and balanced with aromas of blackberry aromatic herbs and black pepper. With just the right amount of tannin for short-term ageing (2-3 years) this wine will also be very popular at your next backyard barbecue soiree. 127613 $13.95
Featured 8/15/2009
