I’ve been a fan of Tribouley wines since I tasted their Carignan, Les Bacs V.V. and L’Alba last Fall, but over the weekend our store was privileged enough to receive a shipment of Tribouley 2008 Champ Del Petayre. Their first 100% syrah offering, they’ve only made 50 cases for the '08 vintage. I managed to take a few bottles home that night, and may or may not be the first person in the US to taste this fantastic wine. Here’s a couple of notes I texted on my phone to make others jealous.
The bottle opens, and immediately the Syrah fruit comes pouring out, and I’m excited (as if I wasn’t already, last night was the first night for us to brew beer, having bought all our supplies in the afternoon.) The color is inky (non-filtre’), with dark purples, just turning to a gamay-like fuschia at the very edge. The nose is full and slightly acidic, with all kinds of dark berry and slight cinnamon scents. The first sip explodes in blueberry, boysenberry, and blackberry, with a bit of stewed essence, all over top of a creamy texture and undertones of creme brulee, burned sugar, and vanilla. medium to high tannin, decent grip and a body that’s at the same time full, but the acidity lingers, and it begs for another drink. Alcohol levels are noticable (14%), but not forceful, but I’m also relatively sensitive to these things. The finish is unreal, and I stopped counting at 20s, but just sat there a bit in awe of the lingering cream and tart flavors that made me want to down my glass. This wine is still young, and needs a bit for the flavors to co-mingle(I’m not even going to guess, as I’m pretty inexperienced at estimating such things). Probably the most elegant and balanced Tribouley that I’ve tried to date. Seriously, this wine is going to stick with me for a long time.
I also grabbed a few bottles of 08 Orchis, another of his wines I’ve not gotten to try yet. So I’ll be looking forward to trying that this week as well, to compare.