3/23/2024 - ChrisinCowiche wrote:

Still solid with dark core of black tar, fruit is muted but pleasant, finish in long, and really nice. This wine needed to be drank now/soon as it's on the back side of peak but still really good. My last bottle.

1/25/2024 - RPerro Likes this wine:

Opened for my January bottle in the NW Wine Report 2024 Rhone Blend Challenge. Let's do this!

Slow-ox for a couple hours, then consumed over 2 days w/a half bottle vacu-sealed and left on the counter overnight at <65*.

This wine is just outstanding...very fresh, and full bodied, with flavors of blackberry, fig, tobacco leaf, a bit of woodsmoke, and espresso-heavy mocha. Delicious on day 1 and I'd say even more so on day 2. Nothing out of place on either day; day 2 was just a bit more integrated. No rush to open these...I'd drink now with some air - 2033+.

12/14/2023 - JnHWine Likes this wine:

Very high alcohol. Robust. Big, overripe strawberries, black cherry. Still tastes young - lots of primary notes with the new oak influence. Low shoulder bottle, so use the Burgundy glass. Absolutely lovely!

12/11/2023 - RPerro Likes this wine:

Thought I was pulling the 2016. Whoops! Great wine, flavors consistent with my prior note. Was outstanding on day 2, so this has many years of enjoyment ahead.

11/25/2023 - brewnello wrote:

This QED came through as a strangely solid pairing to the paella recipe from American Test Kitchen. After downing some grower champagne from Fat Cork with 3 dozen oysters from Taylor Shellfish I was searching for a red. There it was … and yum! On the nose I feared a fickle mistress but the first sip rang true - perfect balance of Syrah and Mourvèdre- inky mystery married with shrimp, clams, mussels, chicken and chorizo. I know I’m writing more about food but the wine intermingled with each flavor in a 1+1=3 equation.

10/31/2023 - brewnello wrote:

Opened up over two hours. Dark fruit, luscious mouth feel, rich tannins and long groovy finish. Still young and likely to improve a bit more next couple years. Excellent QPR.

10/27/2023 - Jake112380 wrote:

Black fruit with smoke, coffee, and tobacco. Probably would have been great with red meat but I had it alone—also great.

10/20/2023 - bajayngo wrote:

Consistently a very delicious GSM+ blend. Good fruits, balanced, tasty, and have had a few older bottles that were singing, so can be aged.

10/13/2023 - Jake112380 Likes this wine:

Savory dark red berries and hints of smoked meat. Delectable.

9/12/2023 - RPerro Likes this wine:

90 min decant; paired with grilled pork chops. Brightly fruited and showing strawberry and raspberry along with sweet pipe tobacco, vanilla and a hint of tar. A zip of acidity cuts the fatty pork nicely, and the tannins are well-integrated. Drinking well on day 2 also, but no rush to pop this one. Drink now - 2032.

8/18/2023 - David Hauser Likes this wine:

Remove from the cellar 4 hour prior to a single venturi decant. Had with tomato tart, Mediterranean green beans and halibut. This wine is now an easy match for most foods. Elegant dark fruit and raspberry notes. Plenty of dark fruits remaining on the palate with well integrated oak and tannins. This wine easily has a year or 2 in it yet. Enjoy!

7/19/2023 - JnHWine Likes this wine:

Woohoo! Fabulous! Some tertiary notes developing, but still youthful, fresh, and bright.

7/7/2023 - Jake112380 Likes this wine:

Concur with the bad doctor. Excellent value, tends to darker fruits and flavors, and good length.

6/7/2023 - merryberry Likes this wine:

Dark ruby red. Raspberry bush, earth, and spice nose. Medium bodied, juicy cherries, some dusty tannins, a bit of heat, and a long finish. Simple but tasty.

6/4/2023 - JnHWine Likes this wine:

High tannin, high alcohol, medium+ acid, but the acid drops off too fast.

5/28/2023 - RPerro Likes this wine:

Perfect BBQ wine, pairing well with grilled sausages, chicken, dips, and more. Black fruit, tobacco, pepper. Smooth and tasty! Drink now - 2030.

5/28/2023 - RPerro wrote:

Corked!

5/13/2023 - RPerro Likes this wine:

P&P; glad I picked up another 3 pack, as this is excellent juice! Flavors of blackberry and plum, tobacco, scorched earth, finishing with espresso and dark chocolate. Really enjoyable with smoked sausages and grilled NY beef.

3/29/2023 - Lodi Rob Likes this wine:

Delicious! A little tannic but smooths out once opened up.

3/20/2023 - JnHWine Likes this wine:

Slight aging. Full body. Tannins still pronounced. Nose has big black fruit, red fruit, and oak aromas. Very enjoyable on the palate. But the finish is slightly longer than short and not quite at medium. Drink now, not suitable for further aging.

3/13/2023 - FB2 wrote:

Gold-hold

1/14/2023 - RPerro Likes this wine:

P&P. Still on the upswing with regards to development, and should continue to improve with additional age. The first taste is quite sweet but settles down once it's had some air. Flavors showing blackberry and plum fruit, tobacco and earth, with vanillin barrel notes and a finish of espresso and dark chocolate. Really excellent wine that I wish I had more of. Drink now - 2030+.

12/8/2022 - Robaire Likes this wine:

Nice. Hints of smoke on the tongue that lingers throughout the taste start to finish.

12/7/2022 - RPerro Likes this wine:

Solid wine, echoing my previous notes. Black and red fruit, nicely integrated black tea tannins, espresso and smoke. Really enjoyable and a great pairing with pizza! Drink now - 2029.

11/4/2022 - RPerro Likes this wine:

2 hour slow-ox in the bottle; poured through an aerator when consumed. Outstanding wine, and just entering it's drinking window. Many years of enjoyment ahead of this one. Flavors of dark berry and cherry fruit, some earthy-woody notes and hints of sweet vanilla, closing with a crescendo of espresso and dark chocolate. If drinking now, definitely recommend a couple hours in the decanter, and enjoy through 2031+.

11/1/2022 - DrBad Likes this wine:

Solid wine at a great price. Big aromatics of dark fruits and smoked meat. Palate is thick and savory, big, textured, with a long finish. Drank over several nights by Coravin then polished off a half bottle watching the Phils stomp on the cheaters.

8/15/2022 - RJWallis Likes this wine:

Time to drink up, not quite done but will not improve from here.

8/2/2022 - RPerro Likes this wine:

Consistent with prior notes. Delicious!

6/2/2022 - Rich S wrote:

Medium ruby color. Nose of raspberry jam, roasted plum, fig, some floral notes and a bit of toasted oak. Slight bit of alcohol coming through as well. Plenty of fruit still on the palate along with some baking spice and oak notes but the fruit seemed a bit more baked/jammy and definitely a bit of alcohol on the finish. Medium acid at best. Medium tannin. Full bodied with a smooth mouthfeel but high alcohol. Overall, still enjoyable due to the amount of fruit that is present but I would drink up if holding any as this will only go downhill from here.

6/2/2022 - ikkaariainen Likes this wine:

69% syrah, 18% grenache, 9,% mourvedre, 4% viognier. Definitely recommend, a very good but still young wine with considerable upside to further cellaring, another great and age-worthy effort from the boys at Rasa and at our acquisition price already a good QPR wine. Now entering a mature drinking window so drink or hold but heavily leaning on the hold, if drunk now would recommend a longish decant of at least 1-2 hours and this has an easy 15+ years to go with proper cellaring. Very dark purple, no bricking, full mouth feel with a hint of texture, full bodied, oak and tannins still very present but rounding out and at this point of maturation still very fruit forward. Fatty without being flabby, right now lacks the elegance and complexity that this wine will start developing in another 8-10 years and has just a beautiful very long lingering aftertaste. Nose big, dark and aromatic with dark stone fruit, red cherry, blackberry, black pepper and a hint of grilled meat and grill smoke on the finish. Flavor profile at this point dark, intense and fruit driven with balanced oak and dark stone fruit up front with a more earthy darker mid-late palate with stone, leather, tar, grilled meat and a definite smoky lighter note of bacon fat on the finish. This has the eventual potential for 94-95 points.

5/28/2022 - Jake112380 Likes this wine:

Expressive nose of fresh toasted baking spices and black fruit. Similar palate with some floral notes towards the finish. Really nice.

5/28/2022 - Stuart10er Likes this wine:

Had a glass at Walla Walla Steak. Really nice. The years have rounded any edges this wine might have had. Smooth, smooth, smooth. Still nice fruit and nose of earthy floor and moderate finish. Went great with the steak

4/3/2022 - RPerro Likes this wine:

2 hour decant. Delicious wine showing a range of flavors. Great black fruit, pepper, and floral flavors. Drink now - 2030.

2/20/2022 - AAW_RightWine wrote:

Did not decant ... drank over 2 hours ... lovely wine that opened up over time

2/18/2022 - RPerro Likes this wine:

Notes from day 2 (when it showed best). A nice earthy funk running through this one, making me think there's some juice from The Rocks in this. Black and red fruits, mild tannins, espresso and bits of smoked meat here and there. Lovely wine! Drink now - 2029.

2/16/2022 - psundberg Likes this wine:

A pleasant dark blend of Tempranillo & Petite Sirah. Lots of blue fruit, oak and cocoa and you'd think there was some Syrah in it. As expected it paired well with BBQ ribs.

1/10/2022 - RPerro Likes this wine:

2 hour decant. Blackberry, tobacco leaf, vanilla and mocha flavors. Pretty much spot on with previous notes. This was great paired with some homemade jambalaya. Drink now - 2028.

1/2/2022 - psundberg Likes this wine:

An enjoyable blend of equal parts Zin, Barbera and Syrah. Blue fruit, anise/licorice notes and a smooth lingering chocolaty finish. It took a while to open up and was better on day two. A nice economical blend from a low-key Amador winery.

12/28/2021 - blabbott wrote:

This is tasting on the top of its game! Lots of spice, blackberry fruit and earth all join together into a excellent wine.

12/10/2021 - RPerro Likes this wine:

Spot on with my previous note. Interestingly, this had a very strong menthol aroma when first popped, but that blew off with some air. Drinking quite well right now, but has more years of upside. Drink now - 2029.

12/5/2021 - W2WineGuy Likes this wine:

great wine, in a fabulous spot. Silky, dark, cherries and chocolate, smoooooooooth and lingering. Drink up

12/1/2021 - Winning_Wines Likes this wine:

Lost my notes, but this was well enjoyed.

11/26/2021 - johnnyo wrote:

Decent wine but nothing outstanding. Marginal QPR

11/21/2021 - TallMikeWine Likes this wine:

This wine is all about texture. Beautiful cherry and vanilla aromas, flavors to match. But the feeling this wine has on your tongue, so impressive. Certainly time to drink up though.

10/20/2021 - RPerro Likes this wine:

Couldn't resist popping another of these this month. Delicious! Spot on with my most recent tasting note. This'll last another 4-5 years easy, but why wait?

10/19/2021 - AAW_RightWine wrote:

Really like the wine... but too young .... let it decant for 1 plus hours and it is still very tight ... stored in basement at 61 degrees think it should be 2023 at the earliest

10/9/2021 - RPerro Likes this wine:

Popped and poured through a pewter elk head aerator. Really liking where this wine is right now. Blackberry fruit with tobacco and earth, with touches of vanilla and mocha. I've had 3 bottles of this in 2021 and all have impressed. Glad I invested in another 3 bottles from the library sale. Drink now - 2028.

9/19/2021 - Ron Slye wrote:

This just goes to show how there are good and less good bottles, and how context for wine matters. This was our last bottle of this first vintage of Rasa. Reminded us of meeting Billo in the incubator warehouse while we were tasting Lullaby. And tasted with a good hamburger after a long bike ride that ended in rain. Really lovely put together wine. Not at all like my previous bottles. Nice fruit balance with stone and savory notes. I got the rich earthy smell after a rain, so yes probably also triggering smell memories from the bike ride. Some left over for today so will update if warranted. This just reminds me why I keep searching for that wonderful experience with a new or old wine. This was one of those richly satisfying moments that many is us seek. If I had to score the wine, maybe low 90s. The experience and memories, 100.

Day 2. Now more coffee and dark chocolate, with some dark raspberry and blackberry notes. No bitterness at all. This tells me this wine needs five or more years. Sorry I don’t have any kore and won’t be able to test this. This would go great with a braised beef dish. I am going to score this at 93 now. Really lovely wine.

9/4/2021 - Jake112380 Likes this wine:

Really nice and balanced. The Viognier influence really comes through, with solid aromatics and floral hints on the palate. Generally fruit forward with plush tannins.

1/12/2021 - vfccpa123 Likes this wine:

Aroma loaded with fruit along with some herbal notes. Palette picks up spice and cracked pepper immediately with the fruit tagging along well. Medium tannic structure, fairly smoothed out now. Finish is nice, not long. A very nice wine for the price and it is the kind you can drink regularly rather than a special occasion wine. I think it has some life left even if it doesn't get any better, it is good enough to enjoy with dinner.