2002 Piggott Range Syrah
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Tasting notes
Absolutely fabulous, but extremely backward, the saturated black/purple-colored 2002 Syrah Piggott Range reveals that minerality/crushed rock characteristic in the nose along with notes of roasted meats, blackberry and blueberry liqueur, truffles, spice, and espresso. This dense, fabulously endowed Syrah inundates the palate with layers of creme de cassis, loads of glycerin, and unbelievable definition as well as focus. Four to five years of cellaring is recommended as this is a wine for patient connoisseurs. It should easily age for two decades. The distinctive roasted character of the Piggott Range Syrahs is noteworthy since this vineyard is a natural amphitheater planted with 35- to 40-year-old Syrah vines. Roman Bratasiuk is one of Planet Earth’s greatest winemakers, and obviously a top-notch viticulturist given his obsession with sourcing extraordinary fruit from ancient McLaren Vale vineyards. Please note there has been a change in American importers for Clarendon Hills. Importer: Commonwealth Wine & Spirits Inc., Mansfield, MA; tel. (508) 328-6764
Critic scores
Average Score
Robert Parker
Stephen Tanzer, Vinous
More reviews and scores
Dark, bright ruby. Tightly wound aromas of crushed black raspberry, blueberry, cherry, pepper and licorice. Superconcentrated, dense and primary, with the blueberry and black raspberry flavors currently dominated by the wine's strong acidity and powerful tannic spine. But this boasts terrific strength of fruit and length, and should be glorious with two or three years of additional bottle aging. (Unfortunately, my bottles of the 2002 Kangarilla Grenache and 2002 Astralis were corked; I will post these notes shortly on the IWC website and will include them in the print edition of Issue 116.) (The Australian Premium Wine Collection, imported by USA Wine West, Sausalito CA
About the producer
Based in the McLaren Vale, Clarendon Hills has been one of the pioneering names in Australian wine. Focusing on single-site expressions of individual grapes, working with old dry-farmed vineyards, it has become one of the world’s leading producers, best known for its iconic Astralis Shiraz.