2019 Kusuda Syrah

Hand-harvested. 100% destemmed. Fermentation is started with ambient yeasts, and then later inoculated to finish fermentation. Spends 20 months in 20% new French oak. Bottled unfined, with a coarse filtration. Dark garnet. Aromas of smoked meat and blackberry fruit. Extremely juicy acidity makes flavours of blackberry, dried herbs, orange peel and smoked meat quite fresh and delicious. A wonderfully saline meat-pie quality lingers in the finish, making the mouth water. This is a wine that has presence but very little weight on the palate and tastes substantially ripe for its very low alcohol. (AY)

The 2019 Syrah leads with graphite and steel, blackberry, blood plum and cherry. In the mouth, the wine is elegant and refined, as we have come to expect from Hiro Kusuda. This wine has a distinct autumn leaf, black truffle character, and knowing how gracefully they age, it is barely at the beginning of its life. There is much to give, and the length of flavor tells us everything else that we need to know. Super wine. Quite distinct, with arnica and alpine mint woven through the finish. It’s gently dusty, spicy and voluminous in its way, with elegance and restraint writ large. A pleasure. 12.5% alcohol, sealed under 54-millimeter natural cork.

Full bottle 1,362 g. Hand-picked and sorted. Aged for 20 months in French oak (20% new). Coarse filtration. Unfined. 2,927 bottles produced. Transparent purplish crimson. Strong on black-pepper/rotundone notes, medium body and a bone-dry finish. Very pure and energetic. Smooth, fine tannins. Very Jamet Côte Rôtie-like! Much drier than the Van Loggerenberg 2018 Syrah tasted alongside. Very fine and precise indeed. Should age beautifully but could already be enjoyed. (JR)