Le Vin des Amis Syrah

Pretty delicious and balanced Syrah

More mature than LBT. Fruit is muddling together, more stewed black and blue fruit, leather and white pepper, dried shitake, dried mint, cowshit, medicinal, loads of savory hung meat. Beautiful profile on the palate. Generous mid-palate, very suave tannins, but very much has its rustic edge still. Very coalesced at the moment and going strong.

2015- Vintage - absolutely delicious (so complex) concentrated Blackberry black olive, white pepper, mineral, so pretty (I wish I had more of this) med acidity alc 12.5% abv

Popped and poured. The 2015 LVdA pours a deep violet color and is now throwing a significant amount of fine sediment. On the nose, blue and black fruits, black pepper, deli case, black olives, lavender and stone-like minerals. On the palate, the notes from the nose are confirmed and accompanied by some chocolate too. Medium tannin and medium (+) acid. On the pour, the body is a touch thin for my liking but it gains some weight with air. By hour two, it’s hitting its stride. The finish is long and delicious. This is in a good place right now and will likely do so at least through 2025.

Ripe black currant with a pongy vegetal note. Kid leather and pepper. A medium weight palate finishing with fine tannins and an astringent note at the finish. Bordering on bretty but not quite getting there, just an intense vegetal savouriness - still good. Had my last bottle 7 weeks later on 29th January 2022 with similar notes. Dried cherry, gamey aromas, touch of tar. A medium weight savoury palate.

So dialed in. This is concentrated, flashy and rounded but also fresh, energetic, and balanced. Salty green olives jump out of the glass upon opening, but with air, this hits all the classic N Rhone notes with precision and transparency. Drink now- it could probably go longer but why wait? Joyful wine

Clape: sweaty, cloudy, Brett mess. Time has not been good to you old friend.


Lapalu: a “cleaner” take on sweaty-Brett mess lol. Hard to argue with that deep juicy and structured Brouilly fruit and kiss of herbs. Nice to have a Lapalu wine in my glass been too long.

This was a fun one. A friend of mine, a wine guy that predominately drinks new world Cabernet Sauvignon, was visiting my place and wanted to try something from the old world. I figured it might be fun to try two different expressions of Syrah from the Rhône; one from the North (Auguste Clape’s “Le Vin des Amis” with vines located in and around Cornas) and one from the South (Chateau Fortia “Reserve” from Chateauneuf du Pape). Both bottles were from the same vintage and aged (at least partially) in foudre. Popped and poured. “Le Vin des Amis” appears as a deep, glass staining purple color with medium+ viscosity. On the nose, high intensity with purple flowers and a powerful bacon fat/deli case smell. Funky, but not in a barnyard sort of way; more like a reductive sort of way. The funk eventually blew off after 15-20 minutes. There are blue fruits with a generous amount of black pepper. On the palate, blue and red fruits with black pepper, lavender and iron-like minerals. Medium tannin, Medium+ acid. Medium alcohol. Long, lip smacking finish. A very giving wine that punches way high above its weight class considering this is Clape’s “entry level” wine. Clape’s “entry-level” offering

A serious wine. Needed more time in Decanter and some age. Tart on attack but a long finish.

Don’t be fooled. Just because this is the entry level for Clape does not mean this should be overlooked. “Le Vin des Amis” is made from a 1ha vineyard in between the village of Cornas and the Rhône river. This bottle was opened about an hour before it was poured. Deep, dark garnet in the glass...bordering violet. Glass staining. The nose was absolutely wild! Straight up deli case with olive mortadella, and all the cured meats. But it doesn’t stop there. This is well endowed with baked and smoked blueberries and mulberries, dried herbs and lavender. The palate tells more of the fruit story with the lush blue and black fruits taking the starring role. So pure; so dense! Yet, there is minerality and remarkable acidity giving all of the fruit the lift it needs. Tannins are medium. Long, long finish. This wine was fermented and aged in concrete tanks and passes through foudre for two months before bottling. Some people hate on the price for this wine (around $50 these days) considering its humble designation but the quality is absolutely undeniable. A very serious wine. Impressive.