South African syrah home tasting

It’s almost June and World Cup time! Did you see the recent cover of Vanity Fair magazine? There’s a pic of the footballers Christiano Ronaldo from Portugal and Didier Drogba from Ivory Coast only wearing underwear in the colors of their home countries. Inside there’re more Annie Leibovitz pics of important players in the same types of outfits and a really moving story about the history of the World Cup. I wonder why Americans aren’t that into the Cup or the “Beautiful Game?” The magazine writer, A. A. Gill, suggests that it’s because a match can end in a draw. We Americans supposedly “don’t understand a game where no one wins.” Silly.

We at weirdcombinations are completely psyched about the Cup in South Africa. You should be too. We’re fresh back from Celebrate South Africa 2010 where we were able to try numerous delightful wines from the Cup host nation. Now, instead of sporting our national underwear and taking absurd pics, we’re doing South African syrah home tasting to prepare. We tried wines all below $20 a bottle. Many of these were very good and are worth looking for. I bought them all one afternoon at K and L San Francisco. Go Brazil!!!

2002 Graham Beck “The Ridge Syrah” Robertson Cellar: $11.99

This was an opaque purple with smoke, chocolate and tobacco on the nose. The supple tannins and smooth full body made this one of our favorites. We tasted plum, mulberry, and blackberry pie with chocolate and tobacco. The wine had a peppery finish. The flavors harmonize and build in the mouth. This is a voluptuous and complex wine. We both liked it a lot. “It’s good!”

2008 DMZ shiraz DeMorgenzon Cellars: $14.99

This wine was an opaque deep red to purple color with berry, chocolate, tobacco and horse sweat on the nose. It was more fruit-forward and juicy than the first with lots of cherry, cranberry and pomegranate flavors with medium body. The finish was short. Hegui said “It floods your mouth. You drink it and then it’s gone.” It’s good, too.

2006 TMV Swartland syrah: $18.99

The back label on this one boasts that it’s made with “natural yeast fermentation.” Is this a selling point? The wine is a syrah blend from several parcels in the Swartland.

It was an opaque purple to black with the aromas of smoked meats and dirty sock. It had a silky texture with dark plum, cherry, blackberry, black olive, earth and graphite. It was complex with a long finish of roasted meat and bacon fat. This is a very good wine. It had a distinct “South African terroir” that you cannot miss.

2008 Goats do Roam Red: $7.99

This is a southern Rhône style blend of 61% syrah, cinsault, mourvèdre, Grenache and carignane.
It was a translucent cherry red color without much nose. It had medium body with light tannins. There was cherry, metal and pepper on the finish. We didn’t like this one that much.

2008 Porcupine Ridge syrah, Boekenhoutskloof: $9.99

This was an opaque purple black color. It smelled of mineral and clay, sort of like the smell of the first drops of rain on parched overheated earth. We tasted pepper, tar and blood. It was full bodied with a good finish. It too seemed distinctly “South African.” It wasn’t our favorite but we’d try it again.