Italy. 13.5% alcohol. $140. 150 cases produced.

This unfined and unfiltered beauty is the best Syrah made from Italy. Given the quality of many Tuscan Syrahs, it would not be surprising if we see the varietal proliferating in the coming years. Opaque black red colored wine with lots of thick moderately pigmented legs. The wine displays warm and penetrating smells of minty oak, melted tar, lead, sweetened espresso, caramel (melted Milky Way bars), vanilla, and the distinct aroma of tiramisu. Intense yet elegant flavors of sweet dark fruits and caramel. Moderate tannins with virtually perfect acidity lead to a very long finish. Drink now (2005) to 2010. 94 points.

Jones, sounds quite exotic.

Glad to see you posting a TN. I kind of miss not seeing your TNs (outside of Oeno-File). I wish there was a way to 'export' your Oeno-File notes to get them posted here and thus in a more searchable format.

There will be. A website with searchable notes will be up soon. Unfortunately, progress on the site has slowed becuse yesterday my computer ate 19 pages of the next issue of Oeno-File. Recreating those notes will be difficult if not impossible for many of the wines tasted.

I am glad to hear about the website, and bummed that your computer add those TNs. I hope you can recover the file. Oy.

Thanks for the note Jones. I've got one of these babies resting in the cellar, and am looking forward to it. Did you have with food? We usually save the good bottles for dinner and was wondering if you paired it with anything.

Sadly the file is gone.

On weeknights, I don't really pay a ton of attention to food and wine pairing. I drink what I want to drink. Last night I should have opened a Pinot/Red Burgundy but nothing on hand really struck my fancy thus the Scrio. I had had it before so I knew it was not a bruising Shiraz styled Syrah. I paired the Scrio with wild line caught salmon roasted with Dijon mustard, sauteed spinach in shallots and 2002 Turley Wine Cellars Estate Olive oil (Turley's olive oil is absoutely first rate and fairly reasonably priced at $15 for 500ml), and roasted fresh porcini mushrooms.

Jones - Sorry about your file. I had a similar incident at about midnight before I left for New Orleans. Luckily I had just backed up a few days before or I might have had a fit.

Have you tried the 2000 Fontodi Syrah? I saw some of this but at $50 it seems expensive and I can't find any info on it. TIA.

Have not had the 2000. Prior vintages of Fontodi have been very good but in general have been overrated by the established critics. You are better off spending the $50 on a single vineyard Ojai/Alban or a Northern Rhone from someone like Texier (Hermitage), Rostaing (bottom level Cote Rotie) or Chave (Cornas) at that price range.

Thanks for the feedback. If I could find a single vineyard Ojai around here game over. I bought futures on the latest vintage but we won't see these until the fall.

Ojai is simple to get out here. Next time you need to fill out a case for shipping throwing in some extra single vineyard Ojai is easily done.