Red Wine Review: Rock Rabbit Syrah
Rock Rabbit is a winery in California that makes two wines: Syrah and Sauvignon Blanc. That’s it.
In other words, they’re specialists, and winemaker Alex Cose has a finite focus. With the Syrah, his goal is to make a rich, jammy, New World style wine that tastes more like Australian Shiraz than old school Hermitage. He makes no secret of this plan, and in fact proclaims without shame his desire to copy the wineries “down under” on the Rock Rabbit website. Each year, he sources grapes from selected vineyards that are best suited toward this goal — so regardless of vintage, the wine will be consistent from year to year.
The first thing you notice about Rock Rabbit Syrah (a.k.a., Shiraz) is that it is wide open, rich, plummy, and jammy — both on nose and palate. The nose has deep, rich aromas of sweet ripe blackberry, mulberry, and plum, with hints of tar, eucalyptus, and earth. Color is still fairly opaque at the center, a dark jelly-like purple, and is bright magenta at the rim. However, in the mouth it is more mature, giving opulent rich ripe jammy blackberry and plum flavors, as well as a grape jam flavor. Some earth and spice also enter the picture. Acidity is low to medium, tannins are softer than expected but still in the medium to medium-high range, and aren’t overwhelming until the very end of the finish. Alcohol is high, as expected for something this ripe, but tempered by the fruit. Because of the over-the-top jamminess, it’s a little awkward for food, though it is OK with burgers and cheese. A good wine for those who enjoy forward, plummy, Australian Shiraz. In short, the winemaker has fulfilled his intentions.
a-8 t-7 b-6 fc-6 v-9 ~ 86 Points
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They make a Shiraz and a Syrah. Your reference “Syrah (a.k.a., Shiraz)” is incorrect as the varietal composition is different for the 2 wines. Both use a small amount of Cab. Sau. grapes but the Shiraz is mostly shiraz grapes with a little pinot noir, the syrah mostly syrah grapes with a touch of petite syrah.
Erin, thanks for the correction.
I’ve seen wines from Rock Rabbit labeled as “Shiraz” and “Syrah”, but I’ve never seen both in the same vintage. In fact the “Syrah” moniker seems to have been dropped as of a few years ago.
My reference “Syrah (aka Shiraz)” was to make clear that the wine is from California, where the varietal is called “Syrah”, and not from Australia, where it is called “Shiraz”. Whatever it’s called, it’s the same grape.
But thanks for clarifying — the way things appear, Rock Rabbit changed the name for marketing purposes, rather than to identify “Shiraz” and “Syrah” as different wines / blends. If I can unearth any more information from Rock Rabbit, I’ll post an update.