7/4/2022 - Matches Likes this wine:

Rich, ripe. Good tannins, acid sufficient. Interesting mix of ripe fruit stew but balanced by tart cherry

6/27/2020 - Matches Likes this wine:

I like the 2004 so much more than 2005. This is everything I love I'm Rioja. Fruit is still plenty but the secondary and tertiary are the main show. Fabulous vein of acid keeps you lifting the glass all night long

6/21/2020 - Matches Likes this wine:

Seems to have lost some freshness. Maybe just this bottle

7/24/2017 - Matches wrote:

Very good wine, on the second day. First night was too tannic and bitter. Needs more time in the bottle!

6/15/2017 - Matches wrote:

I can't believe how good this stuff is, especially for the price!

Creamy texture, clean fresh acidity that is beautifully refreshing without being so aggressive it needs food. White stone fruit flavors, not tropical. A little floral.

Very very pretty and easy to drink. You'll plow through a bottle before you even realize it

6/15/2017 - Matches wrote:

Lovely stuff. No hurry to open

3/20/2016 - Matches Likes this wine:

Astonishing. Excellent balance. So great to have a low alcohol wine like this, doesn't beat up your pallet or try to wow you with huge fruit. After getting some air the hint of balsamic blew away and left just the lovely fruit; perfectly ripe cherry and berries with refreshing acidity. Tannins on the finish have plenty of grip but are not agressive at all. Just an absolutely wonderful wine. I don't have a lot of experience with wine this old, but most of what I have had before were past prime. This bottle seems to be doing just fine, no particular hurry to open.

4/25/2015 - Matches wrote:

Flawed bottle

4/18/2015 - Matches wrote:

Always good, always better night two once some of the oak has blown off

4/15/2015 - Matches wrote:

Brother drank it

4/10/2015 - Matches wrote:

Lovely and elegant. Fragrant. Not too much oak like many rioja. I'll buy more

1/2/2015 - Matches Likes this wine:

I REALLY like this wine!

Very different from anything I've tasted before. Never heard of the grape before.

This wine has a flinty, peppery, spicy, nose. Taste is more flint, pepper, and gamey-ness. There is fruit in there, but it's not what's interesting here. The fruit is good and ripe, but takes a backseat to the exotic mineral content.

I've gone through 3 bottles of this, and all tasting notes the same. Can't wait until the shop stocks more

12/27/2014 - Matches wrote:

Smoky fireplace affecting my senses, so this won't be a very high quality review.

Pretty dark ruby in the glass. Fresh and young nose, lovely berry pie notes.

Ripe, full fruit. Rich flavor. Focused and clean. A bit of grain to the fine tannins, and enough acid to keep things defined.

In my limited experience, these type of wines don't gain a lot of complexity over time. I would drink this stuff now before the fruit starts to fade.

11/24/2014 - Matches wrote:

Nice Napa Cab. Not the huge overblown style, but a refined wine of good structure. Aromatic nose, reminds me of a Saint Julian Boreadux.

Not worth the price. Excellent wine at the steep discount I paid.

10/19/2014 - Matches wrote:

Needs time. If you drink now, give it plenty of time to open up. As the evening went on, the fruit deepened and more perfume developed. The tannins and acids are beautiful and well balanced.

I got fresh bright cherry and strawberry early on, and darker ripe black cherry as the wine opened. Lovely underbrush and soil notes. A pure and mouthwatering calcium minerality.

Give this wine time. Plenty to enjoy now, but the show has yet to start.

10/18/2014 - Matches wrote:

Boozy fruit preserves. This is a Pinot? Tasted blind I would have guessed a Turley Zin.

Don't like this style at all. Too unbalanced to age. Drink before it decomposes into nothing more than jammy fruit and hot alcohol.

10/16/2014 - Matches Likes this wine:

Really really nice stuff!

Pretty fruit, ripe, well balanced, good acidity.

Only complaint, the wine is a touch "hot"

I've gone though 4 bottles of this. Loved every one

10/4/2014 - Matches wrote:

I waited too long I think. Lots of the acids definition has gone, leaving mostly a lot of rich ripe fruit. Good wine, but l think it's lost much of its verve

9/29/2014 - Matches Does not like this wine:

This bottle wasn't nearly as bad as the last. Maybe the last had a defect.

The fruit is fading, but is still a big wine.

Totally dominated by green bell pepper

9/13/2014 - Matches Likes this wine:

A nice wine, but not a lot of character that I can detect on night one. If I were drinking blind, I would have thought it a very good Napa wine.

8/20/2014 - Matches wrote:

What a lively bottle! An absolute pleasure, easy to gulp but serious enough to stand up to a substantial dinner. Like a Nebbiolo but more fruit and flesh. I'll be buying more.

8/7/2014 - Matches wrote:

The wine seemed to lack verve. Not much on the nose, not much on the palate either. Nice wine, but I'm not thrilled. Won't rate

6/17/2014 - Matches wrote:

Good wine, but might be from California. Lacks sense of place. Very ripe and a little hot

6/10/2014 - Matches wrote:

Too old

6/8/2014 - Matches wrote:

What a beautiful, classical Rioja. Special wine.

Savory, mouth watering acids. Fragrant, exotic nose. Fruit dialed back, with a gentile and smooth body. Plenty of fruit still, however. Cherry, orange rind, sweet tannins.

Well defined and balanced. A bit sharp without food, but simply perfect with savory food.

Likely many years left in this bottle, but I see no reason to wait. The wine will only shed more fruit from here on.

5/29/2014 - Matches wrote:

Bought this on closeout sale at BevMo for $5.

I won't rate the bottle becuase it seems to have lost a bit of verve. Too old? Got too hot?

Not sure, but still pretty good. And certainly can't do better for $5

5/28/2014 - Matches Likes this wine:

A nicely balanced pinot. Nothing special, just generally good and enjoyable. Shows variatel characteristics and cool pinot fruit.

5/28/2014 - Matches Likes this wine:

A very nice wine. Strongly flavored and nicely aromatic. Wine a bit hot feeling in the mouth.

Got the bottle for $20 at close-out price in a BevMo, glad I didn't pay more for it.

My big critisim is the wine feels agressive. I wished for something less powerful and more food friendly.

Overall, a nice bottle of wine

5/26/2014 - Matches wrote:

This is really awful stuff. I can't believe the price this junk sells at. Glad I only paid $6 for it.

Artificially ripe, and sill shows that ugly cab bell pepper note that is so prominent from Sonoma cabs. Bottom of the glass clearly shows the grape must additive that many producers add to help achieve that 90 point style that is so critical to businesses.

Wines like these are why i rarely buy CA wine.

5/15/2014 - Matches wrote:

Very nice wine. Cool, fresh, Pinot fruit. No detailed notes

4/29/2014 - Matches Likes this wine:

A beauty in the making, but much much too young!

Fresh and fruity, silky. A more modern style of Rioja.

Be patient, the show has yet to start

4/28/2014 - Matches wrote:

A nice wine, but very tart. Settled down a bit after a few hours being open, but remained tart. I enjoyed the 2010 quite a bit, but won't buy the 2011 again.

4/19/2014 - Matches wrote:

A very pretty and elegant wine. Lots of fruit. A bit of a petro-mint sort of thing, and Nebbiolo typicity.

Will be fine in the bottle a few more years, but not likely another ten

4/12/2014 - Matches Likes this wine:

Nice wine. Improves with air. Simple, easy drinking. At $12 you can't do much better

4/12/2014 - Matches wrote:

A thing of beauty

3/30/2014 - Matches Likes this wine:

I liked this bottle better than the last.

Rich, lush classical Rioja, but with out the huge pile of new oak that so often accompanies these wines.

Well balanced acids. I wouldn't wait on this bottle any longer for fear of losing that lovely fruit

3/22/2014 - Matches Likes this wine:

Beautiful! Classic Rioja. Polished, excellent fruit, clean acids.

No reason to wait on this stuff, but will live happily in the bottle for some years to come

Wish I could find some more!

3/18/2014 - Matches wrote:

Lovely. Better in 2 years

3/15/2014 - Matches wrote:

Lovely wine. Big fruit, but not overblown. Plum, ripe black and blue fruits. Good structure.

3/8/2014 - Matches Likes this wine:

Aromatic, beautiful, mouthwatering briar fruit acids, rich fruit.

This is just a baby. Wonderful to drink now, but do decant. And hold some for later. Much later.

In fact, wiping out your life savings to own as much as you can is a smart move.

3/7/2014 - Matches wrote:

Good stuff. Some critic gave it 94 points, which is silly, but the wine is very good.

Dense and powerful. Lots of ripe fruit, but a bit hot like Grenache can be. A bit simple and grape-y. It calms down and is better on night two.

Im glad I've got a few bottles

3/3/2014 - Matches Likes this wine:

Still lots of oak, but I got less from this bottle than the last. Probably just my palate and no indication of inconsistency.

This time I had one glass night one, then saved the rest for night two. That was a good move, as the oak blows away a bit and leaves you with more of the terrific Rioja underneath.

Good fruit, rich and perfumed. Dark colored wine, ruby with brown.

Wife said this was one of the best wines we had opened lately. Don't completely agree, but terrific wine never-the-less.

2/28/2014 - Matches Likes this wine:

Pretty and lovely.

Nice bottle. Not too complex, just a nice wine to know

2/23/2014 - Matches wrote:

Perfumed and exotic. This is all secondary notes now both on the nose and palate. Acids still bright and balsamic, but fruit fading and all but gone save for some lighter bodied strawberry and cherry notes.

I don't have enough experience with old wine to say what will happen over the next few years, but I can't see anything positive coming from more cellar time.

2/21/2014 - Matches Likes this wine:

Bright, fresh, young cherries on the nose. Some earth, alchohol fuming off. Very pretty nose.

More cherry on the palate. Fresh, young cherries. Cherry liquoir. Rather seriously tannic. Rose petal.

Much, much too early to be drinking this beauty. Better in 2 years. Even better well beyond the 10 year mark. These tannins need time to resolve, and the secondary complexity to evolve.

2/18/2014 - Matches wrote:

This bottle better than the last. Likely my palate and not actually bottle variance.

Classic old school Rioja, but a touch less fruit-stew-y than others. The lovely acids give a bright lift to the wine.

Wonderful!

2/9/2014 - Matches wrote:

Still young. Has years to go. A beautiful thing now, but the show has yet to start

2/9/2014 - Matches wrote:

Beginning to mature. Still has years to go. Pale at the edges, some brick color. Very pretty underbrush, olive, dry flowers, and fruit. Remarkably tannic still. Glad I opened now because the cork was in bad shape

2/6/2014 - Matches Does not like this wine:

Sweet cherry syurp. Little in the way of structure. All definition of the gape swallowed up by overripe fruit stew.

This is an indelicate Pinot for lovers of big fruit-stew California Zin and Merlots.

2/3/2014 - Matches wrote:

Nice little wine. Fruity and approachable, but solid enough structure that it didn't taste cheap