Tua Rita Syrah Keir 2018 750ml

The first vintage of Keir in 2016 signalled a new style of wine for Tua Rita: 100% Syrah fermented and macerated on the skins for six months in terracotta amphorae. This 2018 has mineral, gun-flinty aromas but with lively, pure flavours of brambles, smoke and liquorice. It has a beautifully elegant, gossamer palate with very fine-textured tannins. Drinking Window 2021 - 2028.

The 2018 Keir very much stands out in this set of new releases from Tua Rita. A passion project and something of an intellectual challenge accepted mutually by Stefano Frascolla and Luca D'Attoma, this is Syrah fermented in Tuscan amphorae with six months of skin contact (followed by four months in neutral oak). This vintage is especially delicate and pure, and one important reason for this is the growing season that was extended by 15 days in this 2018 vintage. That extra time allowed the fruit to mature slowly according to its own time table. This is a luxury that is appreciated by Syrah in particular. The wine emerges with delicate, almost fragile aromas of wild rose, wet earth, violets and crushed black pepper. Syrah is very expressive of territory and vintage, and this wine speak of classic Tuscany. It is naked in its purity. A precious few 4,000 bottles were made, and the wine's release date is October 2020. Keir represents a "new wave" of thinking from Tua Rita, and we will soon have a white version made with Ansonica grapes (also fermented in amphorae) from 100-year-old vines. That wine will be bottled this summer.

A soft, friendly red with spice, plum and chocolate character. Medium body and round, friendly tannins. Drink now.

This elegant wine, Keir, can express a clear contrast between finesse and fullness. It has been vinified in amphora, an ancient process that brings out the characteristics of this varietal. It is fulled manually in open pots and the skins undergo a long maceration. This method, which for us is unconventional, gives our Syrah an original expression.