9/2/2012 - Gargamel wrote:

Decanted this for 14 hours. This was a big wine but was well balanced overall. Just a touch of heat, but masked effectively. Palate was same as you've read in a dozen notes, so I won't bother. I really enjoy the blueberry and boysenberry notes which swirl through the palate. Finish was long and full. At release price I feel like I really got my money's worth, which is rare for me in this price range. Obviously this could use several more years of age, but was pretty drinkable with extended recant.

9/2/2012 - Gargamel wrote:

Nice wine with emphasis on the nose, but the palate was a bit short. Really shown up by a rasa qed '07 which I'd give an easy 94, although stylistically different.

8/29/2012 - Gargamel wrote:

Great perfume on the nose with a nice pepper tinge to the palate. Has several more years of life, but drinking very well now. Always one of my favorite bottles out of the woodinville area.

8/29/2012 - Gargamel wrote:

Very nice, but a bit simple. Smooth palate typical of Oregon style. The flavor profile was mainly concord grape.

8/29/2012 - Gargamel wrote:

Very good, but still needs time as the tannins are still a bit prominent. Probably best after 2 more years.

8/29/2012 - Gargamel wrote:

More floral on the nose than the newer vintages. Good but nothing special.

8/29/2012 - Gargamel wrote:

Upon recant, the nose is super bright and crisp with red cherry, earth, anise, and sweet meadow flower. The palate is big, with tons of power, great acid which carries a long finish. Has a touch of oak, anise and dark fruit.

After 2.5 hours the nose is more effusive and rich with dark fruit, earth and anise. Also now showing a bit of pinot funk. The palate is rich and balanced perfectly by the acid. Palate has lots of dark fruit, anise, spice, and a faint hint of tobacco. Most powerful pinot I've ever had by far.

6/18/2012 - Gargamel wrote:

Volatile acidity. Damn! First ever bad bottle of dumol.

6/9/2012 - Gargamel wrote:

best bottle of this i've had so far. the color is starting to darken and the wine seemed rounder and softer. obviously not meant for aging but not bad for under $4.

6/9/2012 - Gargamel wrote:

i didn't keep notes on this as it was consumed at the end of a dinner party. has a lightning bolt of acidity which carries dark fruit, espresso and chocolate. this was palate refreshing even at the end of the night. best i have ever tasted by far from the now defunct partnership. i would call this a drink now bottle. decanted for 2 hours, lots of sediment.

6/9/2012 - Gargamel wrote:

seemed just a bit flabbier and less complex than my first bottle. still good but probably not going to improve.

6/1/2012 - Gargamel wrote:

no notes taken. it does need some decanted time to show well. tasty

6/1/2012 - Gargamel wrote:

opened and decanted for 4 hours, needed more. drank against a pepper bridge cab, which held it's own until this started to really open up at the end and show more complexity. obviously this bottle will benefit from several additional years of age. the tannins build steadily, but not completely overwhelming as some young qc's can be.

6/1/2012 - Gargamel wrote:

i was surprised at how well this wine drank compared to the 08 qc galatzine. had much smoother tannin at this point than it's rival, and plenty of fruit. much better than the 03 i drank a year ago.

6/1/2012 - Gargamel wrote:

another great wine from dumol. just a bit fuller and more powerfull than the elk cove and a 1er cru burgundy it was compared to, while still showing a earth/forest floor component.

6/1/2012 - Gargamel wrote:

still holding plenty of tannin to age a couple years longer. plenty of fruit, very smooth.

5/16/2012 - Gargamel wrote:

consistently very good for this vintage. seems to be drinking at tis peak.

5/16/2012 - Gargamel wrote:

i really enjoyed this. this is the style of malbec that washington should follow, light on the oak with lots of white pepper, spice and plenty of fruit. drink now through 2016.

4/22/2012 - Gargamel wrote:

ts bottle seemed to have lost a bit of nuance since i last tried one of these. still good, but may have already reached its peak.

4/6/2012 - Gargamel wrote:

same as my last note, blew everyone away this night.

4/6/2012 - Gargamel wrote:

this was not a strong showing for this bottle. it was a nice cab with good balance, but not impressive. showed a bit of earthy, rose petal laced fruit as i have found typically, but it was otherwise one dimensional.

3/18/2012 - Gargamel wrote:

Recovering from a cold so take that into consideration. However this bottle, while not more complex than my last seemed a bit more balanced and enjoyable. Fruit driven, this was perfect for the the palate impaired.

3/10/2012 - Gargamel wrote:

decanted for only 3 hours, not long enough at this young age. this bottle did not match my last experience with this wine, but it may have faced a stronger comparison in a 2001 casanova di neri tenuta bdm. plenty of fruit and oak, this just didn't seem to have the complexity of my last bottle, but it was still well received by the group.

3/10/2012 - Gargamel wrote:

drank at dinner party so notes from memory. this was decanted for 12 hours and still showed its best developement near the end of my glass. typical red fruit with earth and a nice note of spice box. the tannins are still holding strong so i plan to hold my bottle for another year at least.

3/10/2012 - Gargamel wrote:

nose has plum, black olive, tar, spice and a bit of heat. palate is similar with lots of tar and some smoke. bit more of a red tinge to the fruit on the palate than on the nose. finishes smoothly with smokey game as it fades. a pretty serious bottle.

3/10/2012 - Gargamel wrote:

nice plum and currant palate. good acidity. fairly tasty but simple.

3/10/2012 - Gargamel wrote:

on my third trip to the release event, this is the first year the red wine did not out show the flagship cab. this wine seemed a bit lighter than some of the previous vintages, although still a big wine. showed nice raspberry, plum and a hint of anise followed by vanilla oak. my favorite of the last three vintages is still the 07, but this is always a great qpr at release pricing.

3/10/2012 - Gargamel wrote:

tasted at the release party, so not decanted. it took a lot of swirling for the nose to start to open up, but as it warmed a bit the typical quilceda fruit profile started to emerge. started with a dose of heat but as the wine warmed in glass, the heat balanced a bit better with the fruit. to me this was similar in approachability as the 08 vintage, but seemed to have just a touch more tannic structure. this would be my pick of the most well rounded vintage of the last three. this was my third trip to the release, and the first time the flagship cab clearly outshined the red wine upon release. 94-95 points, hard to call it.

2/15/2012 - Gargamel wrote:

this wine always shows much better with food. consumed at delancy's pizza, was outstanding with the bacon-onion pizza!

2/15/2012 - Gargamel wrote:

very nice bottle of wine. didn't make any notes, but it could easily use a couple additional years in bottle.

2/3/2012 - Gargamel wrote:

a fairly simple pinot with mainly cherry and a touch strawberry. still has some tannins that need more time to reslove. drink 2013-2016

2/3/2012 - Gargamel wrote:

palate shows white pepper and dark tree fruit/plum with lots of floral notes interwoven. dense flavors with sweet flower. good acidity but just a touch of heat. oak is mostly integrated, drink now thru 2016.

2/3/2012 - Gargamel wrote:

the nose jumps out of the glass with earth and cherry, with a touch of espresso and a very faint hint of pepper. the palate is fairly simple with cherry and some black tea on the finish. silky as smooth at this point. not much room to improve, drink away.

1/18/2012 - Gargamel wrote:

Very nice press wine. Hope I have patience to hold one for a few years. Give it a hefty recant in the near term.

1/18/2012 - Gargamel wrote:

Decanted and returned to bottle, served at 62 degrees. Dumol chardonnays always seem to peak as I get to my last glass, finding the right drinking window takes some patience I tend to lack. When at peak the wine is full bodied with lots of tropical fruit while maintaining crisp acidity and mineral notes. Always sad to see the last sip go.

1/18/2012 - Gargamel wrote:

Very nice bottle with typical dark vitaminlike minerality I find typical from bookwalter. Lots of fruit with a long finish (45 sec). Still showing plenty of barrel so I would suggest another year before opening.

1/18/2012 - Gargamel wrote:

This bottle had better balance than my first, showing more fruit and less chocolate.

12/26/2011 - Gargamel wrote:

wow what a change from a year ago! the palate started with green tobacco on the front, followed by mixed berry, blue fruit, blackberry, pepper and some funk all riding over a bed of chalky mineral. deftly balanced acid provides a smooth finish. this is what i hoped for from cayuse.

12/22/2011 - Gargamel wrote:

sad to drink my last bottle of this. such a great wine for the price. the tannins have softened just a bit, so it seems to be moving into its drinking window and will be good for several years at least.

12/21/2011 - Gargamel wrote:

decanted for 60 minutes, maybe too long. nose has dark muddled fruit with beef and earth. the palate has plum with earth, mushroom and a dark mineral note. the tannins are completely integrated and the wine started out very smooth. problem is, over 3 hours, the acid became stronger and stronger with each glass, and was fairly harsh by the last glass. probably a textbook example of an older wine falling apart in the glass. drink now, or drink it quickly.

12/21/2011 - Gargamel wrote:

still needs a few hours in the decanter, but a nice bottle. still a couple of years left for this one, but it probably won't get any better.

12/4/2011 - Gargamel wrote:

palate is a chocolate covered cherry, covered with espresso nibs, rolled on freshly ground tobacco leaves, then dropped on the ground to pick up a bit of earth. tastes like a low alchohol port with stronger acidity. that was our group note, and pretty accurate. more chocolate than any wine i have ever tasted, more than some "chocolate wines" i have been forced to choke down! not quite as layered and doesn't have the balance of the mclaren vale wine of the same vintage, but impressive for the dark fruit profile it has maintained after a decade.

11/13/2011 - Gargamel wrote:

this bottle had really fleshed out since my last experience. the acid was in much better balance and the fruit was great. lots of black cherry and plum, held back by good minerality. the best showing of the 3 bottles i purchased.

12/3/2011 - Gargamel wrote:

no notes taken, but this bottle was just bit of a letdown. the acidity was strong and seemed to hold back the palate a bit. still good wine of course, but i enjoy his other wines more.

12/3/2011 - Gargamel wrote:

pretty close to brigcampbell's note, no need to duplicate it...

12/3/2011 - Gargamel wrote:

decanted for 4 hours, very little sediment. nose has earth, cherry, mineral, sage, and lightly herbed cherry. the palate has lots of cherry with herb, light spice, and mineral with a moderate length finish. lots of tannins which have softened considerably since my last bottle, but they still need a few more years before peak. well balanced food wine that paired well with minestrone. easily the best barolo i have had, in my limited experience. i do believe it will get better with a few more years in bottle. easy 94 now, 96ish in the future. drink after 2014, if you can wait.

12/3/2011 - Gargamel wrote:

another solid bottle, very surprising quality.

11/23/2011 - Gargamel wrote:

couldn't keep my hands off this. needed a tuesday night bottle and since it was only $8 it was the winner. didn't take notes, but the oak was much more integrated thasn my first bottle. a real surprise since it had only been 6 weeks since the last one, so maybe bottle variation or travel shock. anyway it was much cleaner and shows promise. hopefully i can hold off on the next for 6 months.

11/3/2011 - Gargamel wrote:

drank this bottle a month ago with no note, but it was a great bottle. it did have a bit less fruit than the first bottle i opened in may. but it has gained a nice mineral backbone and has improved balance. it didn't last to long in the glass, it was too good and one person called it the best pinot he's ever had, and he's french!

11/12/2011 - Gargamel wrote:

have had a couple of these lately that have been pretty good. but maybe it was just that i needed a glass of wine so badly that anything would have been good.