Tiny Quantities of 2 Syrahs from Peter Vinding Diers

 Peter Vinding Diers

 - World Famous Critic Hugh Johnson Picked Him to Start Royal Tokaji

 - A Legend in Winemaking Circles

 - Elite Level Technique in the Vineyards and the Cellar

 - Ask Your European Winemaking Friends - We Hit the Jackpot!

 - Syrah's "Perfect Terroir"

 - So "Transparent," "Elegant," "Complex"

"These were not internationally moulded, dark, concentrated monsters, but elegant, complex Syrahs with finely chiseled tannins and modest alcohol levels."- Walter Speller, Jancis Robinson

"Their transparency clearly indicated a unique origin. Somewhere in Sicily the grape seemed to have found its perfect terroir."- Walter Speller, Jancis Robinson

2020 Vinding Montecarrubo Cuvee Suzanne

 - Nose: Simply A Thing of Beauty.

 - The Most Gorgeous Syrah Perfume on This Planet.

 - Raspberries and Blackberries, Melded at the DNA Level

 - The Flower from Spices.

 - Jumpy Aromatics Leap out of the Glass

 - The Platonic Ideal of Syrah Aromatics

 - More Burgundy Made from Syrah

 - Perfect Palate

 - Elite Balance

 - Raspberries. Blackberries 

 - Gorgeous Silky Texture 

 - Insanely Elegant Spice

 - Perfectly Clean Mountain Water Infused like Crazy with Spiced Raspberries

 - A Hint of the Most Gorgeous Licorice 

 - Lightly Savory in an Elegant Way

 - Incredibly Salivatory

 - Silky, Integrated Tannins

 - Has the Structure and Balance to Age

 - Still Great after 6 Days Open - A Masterfully Well Made Wine

2020 Vinding Montecarrubo Quattro Venti

 - Nose: Classic Vinding-Diers

 - Clean, Elegant Fruit

 - Raspberries

 - Blackberry Flower

 - Elegantly Perfumed Spice Assault

 - Jumpy Aromatics

 - Palate: Pure Liquid Silk

 - The Veritas of the Grapes and the Terroir

 - Raspberry, Blackberry Pure Meld

 - Illustrates How Vinding-Diers is an Exemplar of a Modern Master

A Modern Legend

Peter Vinding-Diers is one of those winemakers who has mad respect from the top, in the know, wine
critics and winemakers worldwide. 

 - He restarted Royal Tokaji with wine legend Hugh Johnson.

- He is a world expert on the importance of native yeasts after his famous 1985 experiment where he fermented 3 barrels of the same must with yeasts from Lynch-Bages, d'Angludet and Rahoul. The 3 wines reflected the 3 properties and the experiment was very influential in our understanding of the importance of yeasts in winemaking.

 - One of the top US Italian wine critics has requested samples so these will likely be quite in demand in a short while.

- This guy is an absolute legend.

The Maddest, Most Elegant Expression of Syrah - With Speculation As to Why 

If I told you that I had found a new winery that made perhaps the most elegant expression of Syrah available today, and offered to bet you blind where it came from, I'm pretty sure you'd never in a million years guess Sicily.  

Oh yeah ... the wines are from Sicily. Diers "retired" there with his wife around 20 years ago.

These wines are almost more Northern Rhone than present day Northern Rhone wines. They have all of the classic Syrah aromatics, but more on the floral side and less on the gamey side. But the fruit weight and alcohol are lower than what is typical in the Rhone.  They are stunningly elegant.

This, of course, makes zero sense given how far South Sicily is. So how does he do it? Here are some guesses as to why the wines are less fruit-forward and more balanced.

1. The vines are all bushes instead of the classic supported vines that we are used to.  
2. The soil is volcanic with limestone and marine fossils. Vinding-Diers calls it a "paleolithic vineyard." Poor soils likely balance out the fruit expression which allows the secondary and tertiary flavors to shine.
3. The winery is in the hills near the Ionian sea, which may cool the vineyards.

At any rate, what is important is how the wines taste.

The Wines

The first wine is the 2020 Vinding Montecarrubo Cuvee Suzanne for $45.99 a bottle each on a 4 pack. This wine is named for Peter's wife of 50 years, Suzanne. This wine is somehow almost more Cote Rotie than present day Cote Rotie. 

The nose is simply a thing of beauty. The most gorgeous Syrah perfume seen on this planet. Raspberries and blackberries almost melded at the DNA level. Spice but more the flower from spices. Everything is so well integrated it's hard even for me to distinguish the various flavors and scents. The aromatics are what I call jumpy - they leap out of the glass and into the nostrils. Almost the platonic ideal of Syrah aromatics. More Burgundy made from Syrah than almost anything in the Rhone.

The palate is perfect. Perfect balance. Raspberries. Blackberries. Elite silky texture.  Insanely elegant spice. It reminds me a bit of the Podere Forte we sold but perhaps a bit less fruit forward and more perfumed. It's almost like perfectly clean mountain water infused like crazy with spiced raspberries it's so clean. A hint of the most gorgeous licorice.  Lightly savory but in an elegant way. Incredibly salivatory. Silky, integrated tannins. This has the structure and balance to age. The juiciness and touch of savoriness just make your mouth water. Balancing minerality. So good.

The finish is so elegant. Clean, laser-like precision. You get the fruit but more echoes of the non sweet aspects of fruit than sweet fruit if that makes sense.  

I had a last sip on day 6 after significant oxygen exposure. The wine was still incredible. Blackberry, spice and blackberry licorice. Such incredibly maxed out delicious sweet fruit. Like that crazy to the max perfect clean blackberry with licorice meld. So sexy and sensual. Absolutely delicious. Masterfully well made.

This is one of those wines that you have to try if you like Syrah. It is very different from the other top Syrahs in the world (the Rhone and Ziereisens's Syrah from Baden) and the best Syrah I've had from Italy by a long shot. Some of you, particularly old time Rhone drinkers, will prefer it to present day Rhones.

The review is from Walter Speller, who loves the wines. 17+ is a very good score from Jancis Robinson. I will say that he had the wine a year before I did and the hint of oak is now integrated. The wine has also become more fine and elegant and less brooding with a year of age. He had it less than a year after harvest and notes that it needs more time.

"A blend of two single vineyards, Vignolo and Vigna Grande. 100% Syrah.

Lustrous mid ruby. Deep and brooding, even a little mysterious on the nose with hints of exotic spice and a touch of fine oak. Concentrated, embryonic sweet fruit and serious, chewy tannins that make themselves known on the finish. Needs and deserves much more time."

17+/20 Walter Speller, Jancis Robinson (tasted on August 23, 2019)

The second wine is the 2020 Vinding Montecarrubo Quattro Venti for $51.99 a bottle each on a 3 pack. This is 66% Syrah blended with 34% Cabernet Franc. Vinding-Diers became famous for his work in Bordeuax. And this wine is a bit of a nod to that with the inclusion of Cabernet Franc. This is more a show stopper kind of wine and really shows Vinding-Diers skills as a winemaker.

The nose is classic Vinding-Diers. You get that clean elegant fruit. Raspberries, A hint of blackberry flower. And then the spice assault. The house style here is more elegant perfume than say darting needles of spice. Again - these are very jumpy. They leap out and saturate the nostrils in a persistent yet penetrating way.

The palate is pure liquid silk. There are a handful of winemakers on earth that can make wines that combine this level of silky elegance with the veritas of the grapes and the terroir. Vinding-Diers is an absolute master of this style and the Quattro Venti is one of the wines that really shows this well. It's the reason his wines sell out in Europe almost immediately. You get that raspberry, blackberry pure meld. Spices that are bonded with the fruit seemingly at the molecular level. The fruit is so sweet, but not cloying. It has the requisite acid that balances it perfectly and makes it fresh. The overall palate impact is much more like high end Bordeaux. Elite levels of deliciousness. Really a wine to pop and pour at a dinner party to illustrate how Vinding-Diers is an exemplar of a modern master.

2020 Vinding Montecarrubo Cuvee Suzanne - $45.99

 ($175.96 4-Pack) 

2020 Vinding Montecarrubo Quattro Vento - $53.99

 ($155.97 3-Pack)