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| Drinking Windows and Values |
| Community Tasting History |
| Community Tasting Notes (average 92.7 pts. and median of 93 pts. in 248 notes) - hiding notes with no text | | | Tasted by Hamersly on 9/20/2023 & rated 94 points: Remains vibrant and intense, years to go. (477 views) | | | Tasted by Burgundy Al on 5/27/2023 & rated 91 points: Both cuvées side-by-side. Rich and very fun tonight, maybe even more fun than Blue, but also warmer and less refined. Lots of ripe black fruit, liqueur and dark chocolate. So much fun, and I would have thought 5+ years younger if served blind.
Second 1/2 of the bottle was finished the next day, when it was almost as good, but lacking some of the freshness of Day One. (1612 views) | | | Tasted by jkoenen on 12/11/2022 & rated 95 points: Alas, my last bottle of this wine...
Rich but cool in texture. Not hot nor jammy.
Wonderful balance. Fresh black fruit, touches of c]black olive, damp earth, dark chocolate and black pepper.
Have followed this particular wine and vintage for over 12 years now, and I loved every bottle for its balance, complexity, hedonism and ability to deliver FUN.
Excellent QPR, as well.
Shafer's Relentless, SQN, Bedrock and Lillian were my introduction to, and jumpstarted my fascination for American Syrah back then... and I am so glad to say that many more bottles and labels have found their way into my cellar. (806 views) | | | Tasted by jnewman77 on 4/27/2022: This was solid; fruit from Bien Nacido vineyard; ripe blackberry and blueberry on the nose, hints of smoke; I found the nose a bit muted overall; the palate is decadent and rich while remaining reasonably balanced. (1267 views) | | | Tasted by tcarter on 7/5/2021 & rated 93 points: Night 1 was pretty tight but Night 2, after being Vacuvin'ed, was much smoother and more balanced. Great wine with barbecue meat! (1772 views) | | | Tasted by Cote d'Or on 6/2/2021: Slow ox 4 hrs
-opaque purple
-restrained dark plummy fruit
-low acidity, med+/heavy weight though not as unctuous as last time tasting, faded plum dark berry and an almost old world earthiness capped off by distinct bitter licorice but no overt savory elements, still finishes with prominent heat and a bit of caramel oak though the med- tannins have largely resolved
-this has aged a bit better than expected, I don't think it will do anything but gradually decline from this point forward as the heat will likely be more prominent as the fruit further fades (1641 views) | | | Tasted by JRockEsq on 5/21/2021 & rated 90 points: Method: Grassl 1855; pop and pour (Coravin); 56 degrees (and up as it sat out)
Look: deep ruby/purple; very slow legs
Nose: Green olive, bacon fat, potting soil, beef jerky, cherry, dark cherry, tar
Palate: tart cherry, potting soil, green olive brine, dried herbs; long finish of dried herbs, leather, pepper; dry; full body; medium+ acidity; medium tannin
Overall: When I first opened this, it couldn't really find its stride. There was a brief moment where the temperature and air exposure aligned and it was fairly great, but most of the time it was a bit rough around the edges. When I finished this a month after I first Coravined it (notes above don't reflect this final tasting), it was as if it aged very gradually and nicely and was in a much better spot. I feel like this needs a good decant to show well and shows better at about 62 degrees. If you catch this in the right spot, it's pretty great, but if not, it's good but a bit rough around the edges. (1513 views) | | | Tasted by SineQuaNon on 7/9/2020 & rated 94 points: This bottle was really in a good place! Lovely rounded by the the ageing, but perfectly fresh and not showing any signs of oxidation. Smoky, dark fruited, warm clinate expression of Syrah, but very well balanced with a high drinkability factor despite the big proportions. (2079 views) | | | Tasted by pgb67 on 4/21/2020 & rated 95 points: Spring 2020 Memorial (Golf, Illinois): Impressive wine with lots of finesse and class. Overpowering, perfumed aromas of violet laced with fresh berry fruit. Flavor profile shows lots of secondary character, with dark berry fruit accented by mushrooms. Notes of spice, forest, bramble also present. This was a pricy bottle but worth the wait. (1950 views) | | | Tasted by Nanda on 3/13/2020 & rated 90 points: Covid-19 Intro/Retro (Chez Hughes): The nose has sweet, creamy black fruit aromas with some toast and spice accents. The palate is plum and juicy with plenty of sweet black fruit. Sufficiently fresh with nice black pepper in the finish. Clearly California. Was guessing Pax. My #2, Group #3. (1747 views) | | | Tasted by Acohen on 10/21/2019 & rated 91 points: Dark and brooding with meaty rich dark fruit (1688 views) | | | Tasted by Paul Lin on 9/21/2019 & rated 83 points: A bit disappointing, to be honest. Opens with some funky, gamey, beef blood notes, which blow off after an hour. The rest of the time, however, the wine just shows some very simple black fruit, nothing more. Quite one-dimensional IMO. (1766 views) | | | Tasted by Chrisinroch on 6/19/2019: Passive cellar, direct from winery. PnP, served predinner and w ribcap
Pretty delicious right from go. One of the better “ripe” syrahs I’ve tasted. Not jammy or overripe, nicely balanced and fully integrated. More saline than savory on the secondary flavors. Drinking at peak. (1487 views) | | | Tasted by winedals on 2/7/2019 & rated 94 points: Surprised so few have remarked on the salinity... first note of first sip out of the gates. Let it sit for 2+ hours and really opened up and balanced out. Benchmark example of larger style Cal Syrah as some have said. Typically prefer more more traditional syrah profile now than when this was orderied years ago, so surprised to find it so enjoyable. First of the 06s opened with a few more left. Will see where it goes. (1513 views) | | | Tasted by fitchbuck on 12/29/2018 & rated 93 points: From auction purchase [cracked capsule, half-saturated cork]. Quick decant, this drank a bit funky at first due to the suspect prior ownership. While that never fully blew off over the couple hours drunk: the underlying, telltale foundation that makes Lillian syrah brilliant still [thankfully] shone through. (1500 views) | | | Tasted by hanasowner on 12/14/2018 & rated 93 points: From magnum...opened at the restaurant...poured off a little and then came back to it after a couple hours...really opened up with smoked meats, earth tones and blue and dark fruit...some mild tannins to finish it off...went down smooth...drinking well. (1329 views) | | | Tasted by Rusty1488 on 8/10/2018 & rated 94 points: This is drinking great. Well balanced. Fine tannins. Good fruit and earth notes. Outstanding nose. (1783 views) | | | Tasted by hanasowner on 5/26/2018 & rated 93 points: Seemed a bit lighter in both color and body than what I have experienced from previous bottles...needed a full hour to open up and deliver...notes of smoked meat and earthy with dark fruit in the background...finish was on the short side, but went down smooth. (1958 views) | | | Tasted by BGK810 on 4/8/2018 & rated 93 points: Blackberry, earth, black currant, plum. Medium+ length finish. Excellent! (1846 views) | | | Tasted by JoeDwine on 3/31/2018 & rated 92 points: Birthday Dinner. Showing well at just start of peak. Earthy touch of funk. (691 views) | | | Tasted by Bardamu on 2/28/2018 & rated 97 points: A masterful and beguiling wine that is just hitting it's stride now. (2091 views) | | | Tasted by BGK810 on 12/29/2017 & rated 92 points: Delicious. Blackberry, earth, dark fruits. Medium length finish. (1456 views) | | | Tasted by Cow Town on 12/29/2017 & rated 90 points: Based on my previous bottles (and notes), I think this is on a slow downward descent. Fruit seemed to take a back seat to more savory notes, with a fairly prominent olive/tapenade nose. Strong alcohol notes from prior bottles seemed to be gone, but the result was a bottle with nothing to distinguish it. Fine wine, but not great. (1939 views) | | | Tasted by RPerro on 11/7/2017 & rated 91 points: P&P. Amazing nose of black raspberry, makes my mouth water smelling this. Flavors are aligned with the nose. Slightly flat on the mid-palate, showing it's age I think. Flat out delicious tasting though. Will be interesting to see if this fleshes out a bit with more air. At 11 years old, I'm thinking it's held up very well. Drink now. (1592 views) | | | Tasted by jkoenen on 10/20/2017 & rated 94 points: Gobs of blue fruit, cocoa nibs, warm cherry pie, caramel, vanilla, ink and sandalwood. Well balanced, good acidic punch, very long and persistent finish. This is simply gorgeous.. (1732 views) | | | Only displaying the 25 most recent notes - click to see all notes for this wine... |
| Lillian Winery Producer websiteSyrah Varietal article (Wikipedia) | (Wines Northwest)
Note that some producers in the Northern Rhone distinguish between simply Syrah and "Serine", the latter described as ‘an ancient clone of Syrah, the berries of which are more oval-shaped and less deeply pigmented than Syrah’ by producer Tardieu-Laurent. USAAmerican wine has been produced since the 1500s, with the first widespread production beginning in New Mexico in 1628. Today, wine production is undertaken in all fifty states, with California producing 84% of all U.S. wine. The continent of North America is home to several native species of grape, including Vitis labrusca, Vitis riparia, Vitis rotundifolia, and Vitis vulpina, but the wine-making industry is based almost entirely on the cultivation of the European Vitis vinifera, which was introduced by European settlers. With more than 1,100,000 acres (4,500 km2) under vine, the United States is the fourth-largest wine producing country in the world, after Italy, Spain, and France.California2021 vintage: "Unlike almost all other areas of the state, the Russian River Valley had higher than normal crops in 2021, which has made for a wine of greater generosity and fruit forwardness than some of its stablemates." - Morgan Twain-Peterson Central Coasthttp://www.ccwinegrowers.org/links.html
http://www.discovercaliforniawines.com/regional-wine-organizations/
http://beveragetradenetwork.com/en/btn-academy/list-of-winegrowers-association-in-central-coast-california-274.htm
Central Coast AVA WikipediaSanta Barbara County Santa Barbara County |
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