I opened this one last night, and it was tight as a drum so I left it for today. Things have opened up considerably, but the wine clearly is still young. The wine is dark as night in the glass, and the aromatics remain shy. In the mouth, the wine delivers a ton of white pepper, along with lesser notes of roasted meat, tar and earth. This is a big, bold and bright expression of Syrah which, on Day 2, offered some thrills.
From an aging perspective I’m a little concerned about some evident alcohol. The label says the abv is 15.4%, so I guess I shouldn’t be too surprised. The wine is pretty well in balance and I suspect the alcohol will stay in check for a few years as the rest of the elements integrate. Still, I wouldn’t plan on keeping this for more than five years or so.
Thanks for the note. I’ve had this one waiting in my home fridge to try, but since I’ve assumed it will require a lot of air, I’ve been lazy. Based on your experience, back to the locker it goes. Perhaps the Garys’?. Interesting take on the alc…I’ve been worried about that.
Probably a good idea to lay it down for a year, especially if you only have a few.
I am drinking mostly lower alcohol examples of Syrah these days. This bottle was a noticeable departure from that style for sure.
Brad, the 2006 Roars are different in expression than the 2005s, toned down and tamer in my opinion. My note on the 2006 Rosella’s is below, which is from my last bottle I opened. 2006 was good, but not great.
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2006 Roar Syrah Rosella’s Vineyard - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Lucia Highlands (4/28/2009)
This wine gets better with air but is a very slow starter. Pepper, some lighter styled blue fruits and I hope to see some evolution on this wine overnight as it ain’t showing much so far…significant improvement over night. However, this vintage, expect a different tone for the wine, as I find at the end of this bottle more white pepper, mpore crushed fruit, and more red tones this vintage, along with some loam. The pepper is more pronounced than I can recall in past Roar bottlings and I like this aspect so this bottle turned out nice. However, do not pop and pour and then pitch a bitch, as this wine needs to breathe.
Posted from CellarTracker
As for the 2007s, to get off topic some…I typically have the chance to taste the Roar syrahs before release but not this year. I just bought on faith and have 4 each of the Garys’ and Rosella’s in my wine room in the shipper, which came last week. Gary is a terrific grower and Ed K should have it dialed in, especially with the vintage, so I plan to enjoy a bottle of each this holiday season and see how they did.
Thanks for the TN.