Novella, Paso Robles, Petite Syrah, 2004
Our friends brought over this bottle. It was a favorite of theirs; they bought a case of it.
The nose was spicy: pepper and cayenne. This wine was oaked too, so there's the vanilla. There was a bit of a chemical smell too. Andrew described it as "turpentine". Getting past all that, there was some dark fruit buried in there too: prune and raisin. And if you sniff really hard, there was bark, honey, and cinnamon.
The taste was mainly plum. But they oaked it so it was vanilla and cream. Denise said I was off with the plum; for her it was fig an blackberry. Suffice it to say it was dark fruit.
The finish was -- depending on your perspective -- plum and perhaps blackberry. It ended with a tannic stems-taste (but not in a bad way).
Denise and I agreed: it's one of those decent, quaffable wines. Not memorable for any greatness; but then, not memorable for being horrible either. But this one was just a slight cut above.
Cost:
Rating:
7.0