If you are looking for
comparisons to the above wine, think in terms of polar opposites.
Based on previous experience, I know this wine will be a total
knock out in a few years, but if you are looking for something
to drink today, forget it. You can get a glimpse of what this
wine will be by popping a cork, decanting the wine, and drinking
it after 24 hours of airing.
It starts out amazingly
structured and ungiving but becomes a fascinating, subtle yet
powerful syrah upon airing up. There is an appealing blueberry
aroma that jumps out of the glass, much like the 1996. The mouth
is juicy and delicious, until you reach the wall of ultra fine
textured tannins that tell you that the wine needs five years
in the bottle before you should bother to drink it. There is precious
little topsoil at Stolpman, and my theory is that the shale soil
imbues the wine with a minerality, tannin, and delicacy of fruit
that wines from soils that are alluvial based never have.
If one wanted to personify
this wine, I would say that drinking it is like having a mind-bending
conversation with a sinewy, intense individual with an oversized
personality. It is just fascinating and overwhelming. (If you
are looking for something warm and cuddly, you'd do better to
order the Roll.)