71% Syrah, 28% Mourvedre and 1% Viognier. This is a gorgeous wine that is drinking great right now but still has some maturation to come. Purple in color. On of the cool things about Viognier is it make Syrah more opaque. Another is that it has lifting aromatics which carry the Syrah and Mourvedre along with it. In this case, just a gorgeous nose. Black raspberries, roasted herbs, grilled meats, white pepper, musky earthiness all just explode from the glass. On the palate, this has a lovely velvety texture. Good balance. Lots of black raspberry fruit with underlying earthiness. It keeps unwinding in the glass. Long finish. Very food friendly. This does have ripe (not sweet) fruit which worked quite well with a citrus and candies walnut salad (a very difficult food match). The 2012 vintage seemed so open at first, then partially shut down, but seems open again (these are gross generalizations). That said, there is still a point or two of upside over the next 5 years and the wine has a couple of decades left.
