2019 Alban Syrah Patrina Estate

Moving to the reds, the 2019 Patrina offers lots of smoky red and black fruits as well as violets, pepper, and graphite notes. It's forward, charming, textured, and balanced, with plenty of classic Alban character. I'd be happy to drink it. It’s clear that Alban has another truly special vintage on their hands with these 2018s, and these might be the finest wines I’ve tasted from this estate. Reminding me slightly of the 2016s, these aren’t massive, over-the-top wines, and they excel every bit as much for their purity, balance, and elegance as they do for their richness and texture. The 2019s also showed well, and those will be reviewed from bottle next year. As I hope these reviews show, I don’t think anyone is doing Rhône varieties better.