Ferrari Carano Alexander Valley Syrah 2002

I hosted a party a while ago with great success.  One of the best things about throwing a party is the bottles of alcohol that tend to stream into your humble home from all your guests.  I opened one such bottle the other night; it was Ferrari Carano Alexander Valley Syrah 2002.  I have never been that big a fan of syrah, my theory being that the Australian critter wines ruined that grape for me early in life (of course they refer to it as Shiraz).  I have found in my tastings; however, that I find syrah from Europe and North America much more pleasing that shiraz from South Africa or Australia.  This bottle was no different.  The wine poured out a beautiful deep purple.  The nose had displayed notes of cherries, black berries, and cracked pepper along with just a hint of deeps forest moss.  I was a little hesitant for the tasting; the bottle is 14.5% alcohol and many times a high alcohol wine is ruined by a sharp bite on the pallet.  To my great surprise this bite was not present and the wine went down smoothly.  The juice gave a full feeling in the mouth and there was a large presence of black fruit.  This was definitely a stand alone wine as far as I was concerned.  It was so big in flavor and feel that it would be quite hard to pair with food.  I looked this wine up on www.winesearcher.com (a decent site, I’ll add an entry about it on the Forum) and found it to be about $20 a bottle.  I also found via the site that Ferrari Carano makes all manner of wines from other grapes and also some cheaper syrahs from less prestigious areas than the Alexander Valley.  I can’t vouch for these other wines, but they might be nice to try and would also be nicer on your wallet.