Bien Nacido Estate Syrah 2022

Written By Campbell Mattinson
Mattinson review of Bien Nacido Estate Syrah 2022.

Bien Nacido Estate Syrah 2022
13.5% alcohol, cork, Santa Maria Valley USA.

All the Bien Nacido ‘estate’ wines are good but it’s this syrah that really proves how special they are. This is a mid-weight wine with cherry plum (but more cherry than plum) flavours, black pepper, sweet spice notes and an ultra fine grain to the tannin. It might not sound like much but it’s an exquisite Syrah, not at all overdone, insistent in an understated way, and drenched in spice. Crushed rock notes add a certain special something, while cedarwood oak adds polish. If spice-driven syrah is your thing, this is a genuinely beautiful example. 96 points.

Campbell Mattinson

This article was written by Campbell Mattinson, former chief editor of the Halliday Wine Companion book, former editor of Halliday magazine, former editor of Australian Sommelier Magazine and founder of the highly respected The Winefront site.

Mattinson has been an independent wine critic and photo-journalist since 1987. He’s the only Australian to have won the Australian Wine Communicator of the Year Award more than once. He’s a past winner of a Louis Roederer International Wine Media Award; is the author of the award-winning book The Wine Hunter; and is the author of the best-selling novel We Were Not Men. He’s also a winner of a St Kilda Film Festival Award (as writer-director) and is a former winner of the prized Best Australian Sports Writing Award.

Mattinson, who is 100% independent, puts a score out of 100 on every wine that he reviews. But what he’d rather do, is tell you the wine’s story.

https://www.campbellmattinson.com
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