2017 Kusuda Syrah

A fragrant, highly spiced Syrah offering sweet blue and red cherry fruit alongside violets, cinnamon, pepper and Asian spices. There's depth, density and detail in an elegant package. Expect lovely finesse and precision on the long, scented finish. Only 2,282 bottles were made, so get in there quick, if you haven't already.

The really tricky vintage! 'The weather changed in early summer to cooler days and then wetter in March. Two ex-tropical cyclones in the first half of April made us quite nervous but the fine, warm weather in the second half salvaged the vintage. The longest pre-harvest sorting (we cut out diseased berries one by one from the bunches still hanging on the vines) ever carried out, for about 10 days.' Not hand-picked until 27– 28 April. Rigorous selection obvs. Brix level was only 19–21! TA 5.5 g/l, pH 3.58. 100% destemmed without crushing, cold soaked for 4 to 6 days. Fermented in open stainless-steel vats with pumping-over and hand-plunging over a total maceration period of 27 to 29 days, presumably in an effort to squeeze as much flavour out of the grapes as possible. Aged in French (25% new) oak barriques for 24 months. Unfined and bottled after coarse filtration on 2 August 2019. Bottles produced: 2,282. Yield just 17 hl/ha. Bright mid crimson – the colour is quite a surprise! Perceptibly Syrah with its black-pepper notes. Dry and light. This must have been such a labour of love, to produce something so clean and varietal from the 2017 vintage. Dry finish but not the length of the 2018. More of a triumph against adversity than a great wine in its own right. But compared to many northern Rhône wines this would really stand up. A delight for current drinking but not for the long term. The acidity stands out, presumably because the fruit was relatively light. (JR)