With Hart and Tiff at the fantastic Nicolas

Dinner ended early and I was itching for something to round off the night. I quickly proposed a little visit to Nicolas he he he he. As we lumbered our way over in the heat, I had this specific bottling in mind owing to a recent conversation with YZ. As luck would have it, there was this one bottle sitting on the shelf, albeit quite a bit younger than I would’ve liked.

In the glass: a deep dark ruby with distinct purple tones. Mid+ body. High extraction.

On the nose: this wine needs plenty of air in the decanter and in the glass. Fresh off the bottle, you could make out that dried meat tone, meek black berries and some hint of smoke. It took a solid 30-40 mins in the decanter and glass for the bouquet to open up. Dominant up front notes of savory dried meats. Rich sweet blackberries. A touch of smokey lean peat. Spices – not quite black pepper, more Christmas spices. As is often the case with Syrah blends, given time to breathe in the glass, that savory meaty tone started to retreat into the background, became a lot more in balance with the blackberries, smoke, and spices. With even more air, blueberries emerged that became very prominent on the exhale.

On the palate: BANGER. the tannins on this wine is sooooo ultra fine and grainy, it almost gave the wine a pleasant silty finish. This would’ve been exceptional with a rich red meat. High intensity and concentration of fruits. I also asked for the decanter to just be chilled slightly and that was the right move: despite the 14% abv, this wine was fresh, bright, juicy and had almost a touch of menthol on the finish. Alcohol was well integrated.

Delicious wine.

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