2014 Alban Syrah Lorraine Estate
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Tasting notes
Lurid violet. A highly expressive, mineral-tinged bouquet evokes blackberry and blueberry preserves, candied flowers, incense and exotic spices. Alluringly sweet, palate-staining black and blue fruit liqueur, violet pastille and spicecake flavors are complicated by suggestions of black pepper and bitter chocolate. Smooth, steadily building tannins add gentle grip to an extremely long, seamless finish that shows outstanding detail and emphatically repeats the floral and mineral notes.
Critic scores
Average Score
Jeb Dunnuck
Josh Raynolds
More reviews and scores
The 2014 Lorraine offers more black fruits than normal, with plenty of Reva-like iodine, sagebrush, melted licorice, and smoked earth notes as well as more black olive and cassis with time in the glass. It has the classic silk and elegance on the palate, however, and offers a full-bodied, layered, voluptuous texture, ultra-fine tannins, and a blockbuster finish. As always, it’s the most seamless and elegant in the lineup. Drink it any time over the coming 20 years or more. This was another brilliant tasting with California Rhône pioneer John Alban. The current releases here are the 2014s, which are from a vintage that reminds me of the 2006s with their incredible richness and depth. These thrilling wines are going to age just about forever. The 2015s were mostly tasted out of barrel and at this stage are tight, firm, and focused, with plenty of obvious structure. These are going to continue putting on weight with time in barrel, and it’s certainly another terrific vintage from this reference point estate. These are awesome, world-class wines in every way.