2019 Three Pines Syrah

From a single vineyard (Three Pines) on the estate. Vineyard bunch selection and winery selection (they have an amazing vineyard crew who have been working with them for 30 years). Small-batch fermented with native yeasts. 20 months in small French oak barrels. Unfined and unfiltered. 2019 was the last year of drought so yields were low, berries were tiny, concentration was high. Just 3,308 bottles produced. Violets, red pepper, pink peppercorns, ras al hanout fragrance. The tannins are deeply fissured, silk taffeta, peppery, grippingly seductive and yet gently insistent – like heart beat. The fruit is as fine as Pinot Noir, glistening, the dark blue black of elderberries one moment, the sharp paper-cut red of holly berries the next. Tomato vine and vine tomatoes.  Pine-needle and clove aromatic. Extraordinarily elegant. Long, inky, graphite curling ribbon of a finish. (TC)