2003 E. Guigal Crozes-Hermitage

barclay loftus

I'll be the first to admit, I probably shouldn't be reviewing this wine. This is a prototypical expression of syrah--and I don't really like syrah. In fact, everything I don't like about syrah, this wine amplified (perhaps that suggests it's really good?). So a 2 star rating probably isn't fair. That said, the wine is fairly full bodied. It's got a pretty heavy mineral flavor about it, with hints of raisins, spice and oak. It needs some seriously bold food to stand up to it, otherwise it will really overpower your meal (what happend to me). Also, let it breath a long, long time. The impatient drunk that I am, I snuck in a sip right after corking it, and got some lovely salty flavors of feet. Yum.

Tasting Tags: mineral oak raisins spice