From the Cellar
Lomond 2005 Syrah, Cape Agulhas (South Africa)
09 Jan 2015- Details
- Category: Uncorked Tonight
(November 7, 2014) ... After a truly disastrous class featuring South African wines, many aged and atrocious, I made my way home wondering what to have for, and with, dinner. When I had arrived home I had steadfast resolve that I was not quite ready to give up on South Africa quite yet, and decided upon a wine that held an interesting history for me: Lomond 2005 Syrah. This bottle of wine carries with it memories of an evening of fighting, bad glassware and spite drinking ... It's a long story best saved for another day, but suffice it to say the last time I popped the cork on a bottle of Lomond I would have been better off drinking it alone, at home from a Dixie cup than the I'm-gonna-drink-this-wine-to-spite-you-even-if-it's-out-of-these-cut-crystal-pieces-of-baccarat-crap I did. It was time to wash that memory clean, with the very wine itself. At first, and throughout the evening, the wine exhibited smoky black pepper aromas that never faltered or wavered. On the other hand, the palate was a plethora of excitement that hour after passing hour kept giving something of interest to the experience. Starting off with peppery, smoky, vanilla, and black cherry flavors that carried with them some nice spice. After the first hour there developed a lovely layer of mocha, then soon after came some sweet cherry. This was a far cry from the train-wreck older South African reds I had tasted earlier in the day; it was a real beauty for a South African wine, heck a beauty for any country's wine. Granted it cost me upwards of 30+ dollars at time of purchase, while my other examples earlier in the day were all most likely sub-twenty. What I remember most were my final few sips and thinking that there was a nice smoothness about this wine, that seemed to zip and zing among the black pepper on the finish.
