star (2015-08-28)
Rocznik 2010. This appetising, complex red has wonderfully nuanced flavours of glossy dark fruit and grilled meat.

Enjoy this blueberry-scented, succulent red either on its own or with dishes like creamy duck pappardelle or fillet steak in peppercorn sauce

About this bottle: The picturesque Santa Lucia Highlands of Monterey County have a warm, sunny climate tempered by the cool nearby ocean. This naturally gives a complex, peppery style of Syrah. Barrel ageing for 14 months softened the texture and added complexity.

Rocznik 2009 (pralinka) niby.

Freedom Ridge is one of Marks & Spencer’s Californian labels from Monterey AVA on the sun-kissed West Coast of the USA.

I tried the Chardonnay last week, which was okay, but not oaky. (See what I did there?)

Shiraz is another grape that can only be improved by the influence of oak. Now, admittedly I have less experience with oak-free reds. One doesn’t see many marketed as “UNOAKED” in the way that a lot of white wines are nowadays. But I was pleasantly surprised to find this mid-priced Shiraz (possibly cheap, for a North American wine, at £7.99) had what I consider to be the perfect balance of fruit and oak notes.

It was a lithe, peppery beast with a strong taste upfront but little of the afterburn one might expect from a relatively high 14.5% alcohol red. Interestingly the writers have referred to it as a “Syrah” on the back, and “Shiraz” on the front. Unlikely as it is that this is a deliberate ploy to bamboozle the hapless drinker, it’s obviously undergone an identity change at some point – probably at the last minute.

I’ll offer my own half-baked theory: most US reds of this nature are called “Syrah“, and most (okay, most that I’ve tried) are more along the French style of slightly more laid-back reds. Full-bodied but gloves on. This formidable beast is just a little closer to the knockout blow one could traditionally expect from, say, a South Australian Shiraz. So perhaps they tasted it, noted the beefy licorice tang to its dark caressing waves of joy, and, erm, renamed it Shiraz. But forgot to tell the person who wrote the label.

So there we have it. If you like your reds bigger and bolder this is a good bet; it still has enough subtlety to win over all but the faint of heart. You know them: the no-oak patrol.
wino15635#527264

marek (2015-10-01) Ocena: 6
otworzyłem kolejną butelkę. Obecna cena tego wina w M&S to 40 zł i dodatkowo na kupony promocyjne dostepne w sklepie można je kupić z 15% zniżką czyli za 34 zł. To rewelacyjna okazja cenowa , którą Kalifornijczycy określili by jako "steal". Naprawdę rasowy Syrah w, rzekłbym francuskim stylu. Kolejna butelka która przekonuje mnie że rocznik 2010 jest wybitnym rocznikiem w Kalifornii,zamierzam kupić wszystko z Kalifornii z 2010 co tylko wpadnie mi w ręce.
Tak że sstar kup to zamiast jakiegoś Primitivo.
wino15635#527472

star (2015-10-01)
Wierzę. Goła baba też (pralinka) nie jest zła;-)
wino15635#527473

star (2015-10-01)
Bonny Doom od wariata co ufo śledził też spox i to M&S. Wszystkie Syrah z USA (pralinka) i Shiraz (pralinka)
wino15635#527474

star (2015-10-01)
Shiraz bez kropki (pralinka) zaś Sofanes z tamtej strony Atlantyku polecał kiedyś St. Michelle czyli Columbia Crest.
wino15635#527475

marek (2015-10-01)
w tym przypadku to rocznik może być ważniejszy niż producenci
wino15635#527477

star (2016-11-14)
Babcia się załamie (pralinka) a ja gdzie wino kupię?
wino15635#528916