Bonny Doon Syrah 'le Pousseur' 2003

Central Coast, California, $128, screw-top

Randall Graham from Bonny Doon Vineyard recently made an epic appearance on Wine Library TV, so when I saw this bottle I jumped at the chance of trying on of his wines. It's really well packed with a striking label and revolutionary screwtop, though I'm not sure about the almost incoherent blurb on the back. According to their just as well packaged website the wine is made using whole bunch fermentation, with an exciting little 2% of Cinsault thrown into the mix. Again I lost the photos I took of this bottle (stupid hard drive crashing...) so the label image comes from the Bonny Doon website.

Bonny Doon Syrah 'le Pousseur' 2003 is a deep reddish purple colour. When I first opened there was a big whiff of smoky bacon. After a couple of hours in the decanter the boar had wandered off and it was all about sweet, red raspberries. When I say sweet I'm not meaning 'jammy' or sickly, but more of a "sweet mate" to express the pure, fresh fruit. Behind the fruit there's some delicate floral notes and a touch of aniseed; this really is a lovely smelling wine. It tastes of red fruits; cranberry, sour cherry and those delicious raspberries again. It's a soft and approachable with delicate tannins; medium bodied and only 13.5% alcohol this is pretty easy to drink. There's not much to dislike about Bonny Doon Syrah 'le Pousseur' 2003; it smells beautiful and tastes good.

Visit winery website.