Qupe Cellars Syrah 375ML- When a full bottle is too much $4.99

Have you ever thought a full bottle of wine is just too much and you’d rather just have a half bottle?  Neither have I!

All joking aside, a half bottle of wine comes in handy more often than you might think.   Take tonight for example: We had a third of a bottle of the Vina Robles Huerhuero Vineyard Cabernet left over from earlier in the week.  Clearly a third of a bottle isn’t enough for both of us, but when you add a half bottle, it’s perfect!  We enjoyed it with an awesome homemade heirloom cherry tomato margarita pizza!

The Qupe Cellars 2007 Syrah is a perfect daily drinker.  If I had tasted this blind I would have said it was Grenache, of which it’s only 2%.  That’s not to say it’s weak or light, just that it’s not as inky or thick as typical California Syrah.  Very reminiscent of nice Rhone wine.  This is a medium bodied wine with great mineral and floral scents on the nose.  The taste is very juicy with a nice acidity and a little signature Syrah pepper on the finish.  This wine outperforms its price point by at least 2x and has absolutely no rough edges.  Usually a wine in this price range has something a little off, but it’s easily forgiven or overlooked because of the price.  That cannot be said about the Qupe Cellars 2007 Syrah.  Quite the opposite actually.  It’s just really good and thoroughly enjoyable!

Maybe the reason it’s so good is because the grapes were selected from 17 separate vineyards (seems a little extreme doesn’t it?)! Impressively they actually list every one of them in the winery notes.  Click Here to read the full details.

Buy this by the (miniature) case and you definitely won’t be sorry.  The Connoisseurs’ Guide review (also available at the above link) lists this at $17, presumably for the full bottle.  Considering that half bottles usually cost more by volume, $4.99 is unbelievable.

2007 Qupe Cellars Syrah 375ML- $4.99

International Wine Cellar- 87 points

“($17) Deep red. Red and dark berry aromas are brightened by cracked pepper and black tea. Light-bodied red raspberry and cherry flavors are pleasantly bitter, with good back-end snap. I’m not sure that I’d guess this to be syrah (there’s a pinot-like delicacy to it) but it’s pleasantly clean and brisk.”