2012 Fable Mountain Syrah
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Tasting notes
The 2012 Syrah comes from the estate in Tulbugh and is raised in 500-liter French oak barrels (20% new) for 24 to 30 months. There is great detail and precision on the nose here with engaging blackcurrant, raspberry preserve and violet scents that unfold in the glass. There is something almost "Pinot-like" here. The palate is very well structured with a keen line of acidity cutting a swathe through the crystalline blackberry and blueberry fruit, and there is an enthralling underlying mineralité that imparts so much complexity and nuance on the finish. South African Syrah doesn't get much better than this.
Critic scores
Average Score
Jancis Robinson MW
Stephen Tanzer, Vinous
More reviews and scores
(14.1% alcohol): Bright ruby-red. Vibrant but reticent nose offers dark berries, leather, cola, mint, spices and underbrush, plus a meaty nuance. Concentrated, ripe and fine-grained, showing lovely breadth and lift without any excess weight. A rather polite style of Syrah but has the serious ripe tannins to support a leisurely evolution--and gain in complexity--in bottle. Some caramel oak and licorice on the back.
Hot and dry year. 4 tons/ha. Very rocky schist soil. Very dark purple. Big and bold on the nose. New World Syrah that is relatively refined. Liquorice and juicy. (JR)