ON THE NOSE:
Yummy vanilla here, but with a twist: vanilla-pine! This nose is meaty, like a charbroiled steak. There is bacon fat here. There is spice, and oregano. Fresh blond tobacco comes through, and there is fruit here too, fruit soup, primary and secondary fruit. Nectarine flavor pops out too, and so much, and coupled with a rich, creamy aspect that reminds one of a Creamsicle.
This is a fine nose. When you first stick your nose in the glass there is a gauze aroma, and a hint of freshly-laundered bed sheets, when you just jump under the covers, preferably with a friend.
ON THE PALATE:
Upon opening there is some kind of wall in the back palate that is roaring with some kind of promise of what is to come, but it is stating emphatically that we MUST be patient. OK, we can take a hint!
Once this beauty opens up it offers quite a bit indeed: deep, rich and vibrant fruit! Raspberries, both fresh and cooked and, yeah, OK, cherries too – ubiquitous, extant here. A very nice acidic attack that explodes on the uptake, then settles to a rewarding, luscious mouthfeel that hinges on a subtle, thick, whipped-cream aspect where there is not necessarily an abundance of flavor but rather an obvious cream sensation. As “wine first” imbibers Darcey and I like this aspect quite a bit. This wine is very real in this way. Yeah, there is a lot of fruit here, to be sure, but also other nuance that round out the experience in a profound manner. There is no question that this decadent offering should be regarded as jammy, but it is not cloyingly sweet, or fake sweet, it is GROWN-UP, tamed, softened, like it’s too tired to fight back and has retired to its sublimity. Hey, we’ll take that! This is what breaking out of the $12 range can buy you, and I’d rather have one bottle of this great juice than two of some inferior liquid.
After some more time in our studio’s environment this wine becomes more yielding. The tannins here are beautiful that respond quite politely to the acidic zeal, which is never out of balance. This is soft and supple wine, more like a lazy ride in the country in the ’68 Benz as opposed to a Chevy SS charging its way down Main Street on Saturday night! Now the attack is more subtle followed by a brief waiting period … … … then the acidic explosion that keeps rising, on up into the nostrils. Not all wine does this, of course, and it is something I look for; I am not speaking of mere retronasal olfaction here, but a distinct tickle in the nose, similar to what one might experience from a carbonated beverage, but unique in its quality. This acidic burst recedes wonderfully slowly into a roundness that leisurely drips to the gums, not coating them, but offering a silky, French clay, slightly chalky, beautifully dry, elegant, mature astringent hint of a dream.
Can you tell that we like this stuff?
Yes, this wine is good!
The finish is, interestingly, moist and reminds me of sucking on a grape popsicle. The complexity of the finish is enticing, making me furrow my brows in contemplation, wondering what is there, deciding how to describe it. Sometimes I can’t find the words [NOTE: I should have come up with more about the finish here, but I was in a state of bliss, ergo lazy].
After four-and-a-half hours, and not drinking for 45-minutes, the mid-palate turns a bit watery and it becomes much more important to bring air into the mouth and swish the wine around the cheeks and gums. This concept is ULTRA important, paramount – I believe people should literally be taught how to drink wine in this way! With practice one can do this without drooling and without choking (having it “go down the wrong pipe”), resulting in a far richer appreciation of what a wine truly has to offer, which is, after all, only fair to all the hard work winemakers put into developing these incredible wines, these works of art, and on occasion, a masterpiece!
The 2002 Taz Syrah is one wine not to be missed! Good job!
(Click here for an explanation of our ratings ...)
Our Rating: 92
Would we drink it again? 
Yupperz!
Would we buy it again?
Yupperz!
