Immediately on opening, there is dark fruit, spice and liquorice on the nose - the palate adds to this lots of black-fruit acidity, pencil shavings, gentle oak and good savoury underpinning.
Long on the palate, the texture is mouthfilling, soft and supple with a persistent finish; with a couple of years' bottle age it feels well-integrated.
It's a classic, Rhone-esque Syrah, somewhat textbook even; technically well-made with pure fruit expression.
It's a lovely, really enjoyable wine and worth its price-tag of nigh-on £14.
If I can find any fault at all - and it's hard to - it's perhaps that it's just a little too well-groomed and well-behaved; for this money I'd like to see a bit more Old-World style insouciance, quirkiness or downright idiosyncrasy.
And that's it - apart from that it's bang on.
Match with a roast beef dinner.
As a footnote, with air (around 24 hours during a 30°C+ in Cambridge, to be specific) the primary fruit starts to fade leaving more of the aged spice and oaky vanilla characteristics with good acidity and it becomes a whole lot more interesting ... for wine geeks, at least.
£13.99 from Cambridge Wine Merchants, Wright Wine, Askew Wines, Jascots and Laytons; provided for review.
Links
Esk Valley - http://www.eskvalley.co.nz/
Cambridge Wine Merchants - http://www.cambridgewine.com/
Jascots - http://www.jascots.co.uk/
Laytons - http://www.laytons.co.uk/
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