Le Pinacle or 'the pinnacle' is the highest point of the tower on the Chateau at Domaine Sainte Rose thus, symbolically, this superbly structured Syrah is the top of our red wine range. The wine is made in the Cotes Rotie style of the Rhone Valley thus the Syrah was co-fermented with 5% of the white grape variety Viognier. After gentle extraction and pressing, this wine spent twelve months ageing in French oak barrels.
Colour: Opaque, almost black red.
Nose: Magnificently rich plum jam and liquorice aromas with hints of dark chocolate.
Palate: Big, expressive and intense flavours. Black fruit dominates but is combined with mocha and coffee, which provides a round, smooth finish.
Drink: Now until 2018.
Available vintages: 2009
What the critics say
The infamous 2011 Guide Hachette highly recommends the Domaine Sainte Rose Le Pinacle Syrah 2008, giving 2 out of 3 stars!Guide Hachette, 2011
The infamous 2008 Guide Hachette highly recommends the Domaine Sainte Rose Le Pinacle Syrah 2005, giving 2 out of 3 stars!A deep, inky colour, with tremendous intensity. Concentrated aromas - blackberry, spice, damson, liquorice, a hint of chocolate & lifted aromatics. Still youthful on the palate, there's fantastic structure & presence, with rich tannins supporting bramble & berry-fruits & integrated oak. A plush, smooth finish wraps things up very nicely indeed.
Neil Courtier, Grape Sense 2011
This vintage climbs to new summits. On the nose, perfumed black berries meet sweet spice and finely measured oak. Ample and round with accents of vanilla.
Guide Hachette, 2008
Jancis Robinson, MW picks Le Pinacle Syrah 2005 as one of her dozen favourite reds in her article entitled "France's handcrafted, hidden treasures".
Jancis Robinson, MW Financial Times, September 2007.
Quite exceptionally dark purplish crimson. Yes, Very Syrah: leather and tar and the ripe canon of luscious marinaded game. Very New World and open and fair bit obvious and jagged rather than typically Languedoc but very successful in that idiom. Massive alcohol is pretty obvious but the acidity and tannins are not obtrusive. This should have a long life and could already be enjoyed.
Jancis Robinson MW, jancisrobinson.com , September 2007
Dense, complex - notes of blackberry, morello cherry, liquorice & spice. Classic Syrah - intense, pure fruit expression, with impressive structure & the oak & tannins knitting in nicely. The luxurious mouthfeel calls for slow-cooked meat casseroles & hard cheeses, like mature Gouda or a farmhouse Red Leicester.
Neil Courtier, Grape Sense, October 2007
A rich, smoky and spicy bramble nose. Sophisticated perfumed bell pepper and violet fruit with elegant ripe tannins. Supple, mineral and classy. Commended!
Andrew Jefford, Decanter World Wine Awards, 2006
100% Syrah from the d'Oc, this wine is a careful selection of Syrah vineyard parcels, hand-picked and vinified for one year in French and American oak. It is dramatically dark and has a lovely nose, where finely seasoned berry fruits and chocolate intermingle with little camphor and floral notes, plenty of exotic, sandalwood spice and warming vanillin. On the palate the concentration and structure of the juicy, lithe Syrah fruit pushes through the mid-palate, with a sweep of smoky oak, ripe, chocolaty tannins and cherry-skin acidity adding lots of complexity. The fruit in this wine seems much better matched to the oak, and Domaine Sainte Rose's suggestion of five or six year's cellaring seems reasonable. A great wine from a moderate year this one, and very good indeed/excellent.
Tom Cannavan, wine-pages.com, 2005
Deep purple. Intense velvet and plum fruit. Rich, dark concentrated, tight tannin, controlled oak. Up to 2 years. Bronze Medal Winner!
Andrew Jefford, Decanter World Wine Awards, 2004
The best syrah based wine I have tasted from the 2002 vintage
JP Bauermeister, Les Vins de la Collégiale, Switzerland 2004
Our star wine for March is the superb Domaine Sainte Rose Pinacle Syrah. But I am not going to tell you about this. I can't see how the deep, deep colour or the spice led mulberry nose could possibly be of interest. The palate, gloriously rich, with lightly peppered, every lasting blackfruit flavours, with a good tannic structure and well balanced acidity is really not for you. No, this wine is far, far too good to drink. Far, far too good to share and should happily reside in my cellar for a good few years, thank you very much. So move along to the next wine please and leave all this for me! Scribblings Rating - 90/100
Andy Barrow, andys-scribblings.co.uk, 2004.
