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, 92 points: Richer, the 2011 Crozes Hermitage Domaine des Grands Chemins exhibits impressive aromas and flavors of olive brine, salted meats, currants, and black raspberry to go with a medium to full-bodied, layered and fruit-loaded...

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, 94 points: Starting out, the 2011 Cornas Brise Cailloux offers up textbook Cornas wildness with its gamy, herbal-styled bouquet delivering brilliant fruit (black cherry, raspberry, blueberry), loads of meatiness, spring flowers and...

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, 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...

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...

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, 95 points: (RP92-95 points) Although these wines are normally reviewed by my colleagues David Schildknect in his Languedoc-Roussillon and Alsace reports and Lisa Perrotti-Brown in her reviews of Australian wines, I tasted them...

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, 94 points: One of the top efforts, the 2011 Cornas (aged 15 months in one- to two-year-old barrels) is a big, voluptuous and textured effort that offers up peppery cassis and dark fruits, underbrush and earth to go with medium to...

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...

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...

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...