I love the dried flowers and smoked meats with hints of plums and berries. Full body, layered and refined with an extremely pretty and textured palate. Tea and dark fruits. Deep and fantastic. Savory. 20% whole berry. Best ever? Made from organic grapes.

Tua Rita's 2015 Syrah Per Sempre offers notable textural richness and depth, with a thread of whole cluster aromatic nuance that is woven throughout a core of intense dark fruit. Savory and floral notes continue to emerge with time in the glass. Creamy, silky tannins add to the wine's considerable appeal.

Tua Rita's Syrah is quickly reaching quality levels that could put it ahead of the estate's celebrated Merlot Redigaffi. In fact, I approached this tasting of warm-vintage releases with special curiosity and anticipation for this particular wine over the others (based on how well Syrah does in hot vintages). Ultimately, the 2015 Syrah Per Sempre took a little extra time to open, and the bouquet was initially shy and reticent. Slowly and surely, it started to deliver dark fruit intensity with smoke, cured meat and spicy tobacco. The wine performs beautifully in the palate, however, and a big part of my score was inspired by the excellence of the mouthfeel. It is nuanced, rich and velvety.