2021 Planeta "Maroccoli" Menfi Syrah

There's a broad-shouldered feel to this integrated red, with sculpted tannins enmeshed with flavors of creamed black cherry, tarry smoke, dried mint, dill and vanilla. Opens nicely on the creamy palate before expanding through the spice- and graphite-laced finish. Drink now through 2035. 25,000 cases made, 60 cases imported. (AN)

Growing Syrah in the deep south of Sicily is usually a recipe for a baked, flabby, jammy disaster. Most of it ends up tasting like alcoholic fruit syrup. But Planeta’s Maroccoli vineyard sits at serious elevation, and the 2021 vintage completely evades the trap. This is Syrah with absolute fangs. The nose skips the sweet blackberry compote entirely. It comes at you with a wild, feral blast of heavily cracked black pepper, smoked meat, and raw iron, all wrapped in a savory veil of sun-baked Mediterranean scrub. It smells deeply intellectual, cool, and undeniably untamed. On the palate, it absolutely refuses to be a soft, lazy fruit bomb. It possesses serious density, but it drives straight through the mid-palate with a tense, vertical spine of acidity and pure nervous energy. The fruit is dark but fiercely "crunchy." The tannins are dusty, strict, and highly demanding, creating a rigid architectural grip rather than some plush, velvet cushion. It finishes bone-dry, propelled by a fierce, mouthwatering, and intensely meaty snap. This is an uncompromising, high-tension beast that completely resets the palate and commands a massively charred piece of lamb.