Syrah Masters 2017: the results in full

What did the judges think? (continued)

Clement Robert MS

I thought that the overall quality of the wines shown in the Syrah Masters was very high; we awarded an impressive number of gold medals.

There was a majority of Australian wines, and the results demonstrate the amazing quality of Australian Shiraz at the moment.

I like Syrah a lot but I often find the wines very austere and reduced when there are young but none of the wines tasted today were showing those characteristics even in the entry level category – there were all open with a generous bouquet.

In particular, the category £15-£20 really delivered. I always think that above £15 every wine should be very good with a high level of complexity and today the Syrah delivered just that.

It was a shame that there weren’t more wines from the northern Rhône, which is always seen as the reference
.

I was surprise by the quality of some of the top South African Syrahs we tasted; it shows that the effort in South Afrcica to produce quality Syrah is paying off.