2018 Alban Syrah Lorraine Estate

Starting off a duo of perfect wines, the 2018 Syrah Lorraine comes from a single vineyard of more chalky soils, and it's cut from the same cloth as the Reva with its purity and precision, yet it's always a slightly more feminine example of Syrah, with more black raspberry, white chocolate, flowery incense, baking spices, and peppery aromas and flavors. If the Reva is the Cornas in the lineup, this is the Côte Rôtie with its endearing elegance, suppleness, and just sheer charm. It certainly offers pleasure today, yet I'd nevertheless recommend 3-4 years of bottle age. As with the Reva, it will unquestionably evolve for two decades. It's a truly brilliant Syrah that will compete with the best out there. 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.

Inky ruby. Hugely perfumed, spice-accented cherry liqueur, cassis and blackberry aromas are complemented by suggestions of smoked meat, licorice and pungent flowers. Lush and expansive on the palate, offering intense, smoke-accented black and blue fruit. Cola, exotic spice and violet pastille flavors tighten up through the back half. Shows outstanding energy and spicy thrust on the impressively long finish, which is framed by youthfully chewy tannins.