2011 Syrah Wine

Wine Spectator, 95 points: This has a gorgeous mouthfeel, with a velvety yet racy edge allowing the dark plum, black cherry compote, anise, iron and dark olive notes to unfurl through the long finish. Should age well. Best from 2016 through 2026. – JM

Wine Spectator, 94 points: Very focused, with a lovely beam of lightly steeped red currant, bitter cherry and plum fruit flavors that glides atop singed cedar, black tea and dried star anise notes. The long finish is very fine-grained. A gorgeous...

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, 98 points: 98+ As expected, the 2011 Ermitage l’Ermite, which comes from the lieu-dit of the same name, is more backward and focused, with a slightly closed, tight profile. Slowly giving up ample cassis and black raspberry fruit...

Wine Spectator, 94 points: A juicy, almost gutsy style, with a mix of raspberry coulis, plum paste and fig sauce notes, pushed from behind by lively briar and anise accents. The rich finish shows an ample wood component. Drink now through 2022...

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, 93 points: 2011 was of course a difficult, uncharacteristically rainy vintage in South Australia and particularly Barossa, but thanks to Penfolds’ privileged position with access to some of the region’s best fruit, they have...

James Halliday, 94 points: 119-year-old vines have produced a shiraz with very good colour; the bouquet offers leather, spice and dark chocolate, the rippling black and red fruit flavours with exactly the right amount of fine tannins, 20 months in...

James Halliday, 94 points: Good colour; a complex wine with an unusual, albeit pleasing, progression of aromas and flavours: hints of spice and mint, then dark berry fruits on the mid-palate, and finally a rising swell of earthy/licorice/liqueur...

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, 97 points: The 2011 Cornas Granite 60 Vieilles Vignes offers an explosive nose of spring flowers blackberries blueberry liqueur camphor and charcoal. It is a full-bodied intensely concentrated wine that represents the essence of...

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, 94 points: Also inky colored, full-bodied and seriously rich, the 2011 Hermitage boasts knockout aromas and flavors of blueberry, creme de cassis, plum pit, scorched earth and crushed rock. Dense, concentrated, yet also voluptuously...

Wine Spectator, 95 points: Offers a mouthfilling, brambly feel, with dark plum, steeped blackberry and mulled boysenberry fruit at the core, backed by anise, singed mesquite and black tea notes that give the finish a perfumy caste. Has depth and...

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, 99 points: Even better and one of the top two to three wines in the vintage, the 2011 Hermitage Les Bessards (100% Syrah that spent 16 months in 70% new French oak) possesses an inky purple color to go with a fabulously rich, pure...

Wine Spectator, 96 points: Offers a scintillating display of loganberry, black currant, bitter plum and cherry pit notes before picking up a racy minerally edge that pierces the finish, leaving echoes of warm iron, singed bay, white pepper...

Wine & Spirits, 92 points: My initial tasting note for this wine read “feral, sexy, dark, dark, dark.” That sums up this cassis-scented red from the Klipsun and Ciel du Cheval vineyards, a warm fruit compote of a wine with a dark leather fringe...

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, 100 points: Even better and a prodigious effort that hits all my sweet spots, the 2011 Ermitage Le Pavillon comes from one of the top terroirs on Hermitage hill, the granite soils of the Les Bessards lieu-dit. Spectacularly perfumed...

Wine Spectator, 97 points: A brick house, with a thick wall of smoldering charcoal in front of the fruit, though the core of steeped plum, blackberry and fig flavors has ample energy and depth in reserve. Given time, these elements should meld...