2021 Syrah Relentless
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Tasting notes
Aged 30 months in new barrels, the 2021 Syrah Relentless is a beauty offering some wild, gamey nuances in its black and blue fruits, lavender, iron, and bacon fat-like nuances. These carry to a medium to full-bodied Syrah with a pure, layered, elegant style, fine tannins, and outstanding length.
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Jeb Dunnuck
Jeb Dunnuck
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The 2021 Relentless is a blend of 97% Syrah and just 3% Petite Sirah, all aged 28 months in 100% new French oak. Like the rest of the Shafer red wines, it has effortlessly absorbed the oak treatment, delivering blackberries and blueberries on the nose. Full-bodied, sturdy and tannic, it finishes long and dusty. Give it another couple of years to smooth out and then drink it over the next 15 years.
Another gorgeous wine in the lineup is the 2021 Relentless, a Syrah-dominated red delivering awesome red, blue, and black fruits supported by ground pepper, bacon fat, and chocolaty notes. It shows the vintage's purity and has full-bodied richness, ripe tannins, and a great finish.
The 2021 Relentless is a potent, brooding wine. Dark cherry, plum, licorice, cloves, game, scorched earth and black pepper explode onto the palate. Swaths of tannin wrap it all together. This intense, structured Syrah-based blend clearly needs a few years in bottle to be at its best. It's pretty impressive, even in the early going. The 2021 spent six more months in barrel than originally projected because of the delayed 2023 harvest. My impression today is that the extra time in wood robbed the wine of some freshness.
About the producer
The site of Shafer has been around since 1880, and grapes continued to be grown here, even during prohibition. It is said that some wine was made here during that time. In 1972, John Shafer bought the property in the Stag’s Leap district, he immediately began planting the Cabernet on the hillside.