Borra Vineyards Fusion Red

Varietal: Syrah (78%), Petite Sirah (9%), Alaconte Bouchet (7%), Zinfandel (6%)
Region: California – USA
Cost: $21

A deep purple blended wine with rich fruit flavors that follows aromas of black fruit, berries, and plum.  Pairs with pizza, pasta, roasted meats, and wild game.

Recommendations: If you haven’t figured it out by now, the first part of this blog is what the vineyard says, and this part is what I say.  Here, the vineyard and I disagree.  While I did get a bit of fruit on the nose, it was pretty much buried by the heavy aroma of alcohol that I got from this wine, which is probably because it has nearly 15% alcohol by volume.

The wine itself is a bit more enjoyable…until you swallow.  While Borra claims their Fusion Red has soft tannins, I must disagree, or at least say that the alcohol makes the finish much more rough than they would lead you to believe, which is fine if that’s what you prefer, but I was expecting something smoother having read the description of the wine (as I always do) before opening the bottle.

Usually a fan of blended Syrah/Shiraz and Zinfandel, I had really high hopes for this wine that it did not, unfortunately, live up to.  Perhaps if I had paired this wine with a juicy steak or a pasta dish instead of pizza it would have been smoother, but I suspect the food wouldn’t have changed much of the finish on this wine.  If you prefer a rough finish to your wine and a heavy aroma of alcohol, then this is for you, but if you’re like me and prefer something a bit smoother, especially when that’s what you’re lead to believe you’ll be having, then you should probably pass on this wine.

Special thanks go out to the International Wine of the Month Club.