Long, productive Monday, and wanted something I didn’t have to think too hard about and fit like an old pair of slippers. Boy is this it. Gobs of leathery barnyard tertiary on the nose, smoky bright sophistication accented by pungent spice and citrus as Hillside always does. Still bright ruby with nary a brick in sight.

The bouquet is just phenomenal–one of those wines you could smell forever. Coatingly pungent on the tongue, the drum-beat of shrill acidity a sharp staccato down meandering alleys of grime and sleaze, lit by stripes of bright music from open back doors full of the sort of joyful glares who hang out away from the gaudy glare of approachable store-fronts. Cherry a model with wispy curves, blackberry a tom-boy in 501’s, cranberry a cheerful makeup-less brunette next door you never even considered having a crush on until you were 40. Black-walnut tannins gently ease themselves in like the trash-collector’s clang at 3 AM, while the shouts of revelers gently fade from below.

2011 QUPE ‘Hillside’ Syrah Bien Nacido Santa Maria Valley SBC 13 point MF oh

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