Quinta da Escusa Syrah 2017

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 For many years Syrah has been my favourite grape variety due to its strong vanilla taste allied with ripe berries and the volume that it creates in our mouth. 

My first adventures in mono-varietal Syrahs came from the southern region of Portugal of Alentejo where the dryness and long sun exposure reinforces some of these features.

With time I have started to try to find out how the grape reacts in different climates, realizing that colder climates brought some different characteristics such as converting the ripe berries to a more cassis taste. 

In a way that's what happens when you compare this Quinta da Escusa with some southerner Syrahs such as the above mentioned Alentejo region in Portugal or Australian or South African examples, but not getting as extreme as when you compare it with a standard Bordeaux. 

The first thing that has surprised me in this wine was how light it was when compared to the Selected Harvest from the same producer. It is in fact quite a delicate wine with fine aromas which makes it  rather noble giving it an incredible gastronomic versatility. In my case it has been a perfect match for a Goan Balchao which, being slightly spicy has combined amazingly with the sweet vanilla notes as well as its velvety black chocolate predominance.

Another aspect that has pleased me is the complete technical details given in the website, which have somehow transported me to the place where it was produced and offered me a more complete conscious tasting.  

Definitely a wine that I want to come back to and share it with friends whenever that will be possible.

With it I recommend Leila Chatti´s poetry which combines to the sensual character of this wine:

How desire is a thing I might die for. Longing a well,
a long dark throat. Enter any body

of water and you give yourself up
to be swallowed. Even the stones

know that. I have writhed
against you as if against the black

bottom of a deep pool. I have emerged
from your grip breathless

and slicked. How easily
I could forget you

as separate, so essential
you feel to me now. You

beneath me like my own
blue shadow. You silent as the moon

drifts like a petal
across your skin, my mouth

to your lip—you a spring
I return to, unquenchable, and drink.


16,5/20
Country: Portugal
Region: Tejo
Grapes: Syrah

13,5%
Winemaker: N/A
 Website: https://www.romanavini.pt/os-vinhos/quinta-da-escusa-emsyrah-em
Location: Hamburg, Germany

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