9/25/2020 - raccah Does not like this wine:

Oxidized mess - drink now!

9/3/2017 - raccah Likes this wine:

This nose is very nice, with pure gooseberry and kiwi heaven, guava, strawberry, and crazy fruit, with lovely mineral, and herb. The mouth is awesome, truly rich, layered, and controlled, with layers of dirt, saline, acid, and good fruit, like a sauvignon blanc but in a rose format. Awesome finish with a crazy acid lingering, with good mineral, slate, and great tart fruit lingering long. Nice! DRINK UP!!!

3/3/2017 - raccah Likes this wine:

WARNING! This wine needs time, LOTS of it, please do NOT jump to any conclusion about this wine before you have had it open for at least 6 hours and not overly chilled either., the cold mutes the already non-redolent nose.
When you first open this wine, this wine is a complete letdown, but as stated let this puppy open! Still, to a dry wine freak like me, it is a letdown from the 2014 vintage. So, where is it actually? It is sweet, no way around that, but it is very balanced and well integrated. The 2015 Hagafen 2% Riesling is also sweet, but the acid is more in your face and balanced, but it is also far more tropical, while this wine is not tropical in any way.
What is shocking is that this wine has a 9.5% ABV! While the wine has lots of RS, its profile shows clean and lean, which makes for an interesting wine, just not sure how interesting it will really be long term. Right now, I would prefer the Hagafen, but this wine has lots of potential, and its lean markings can make for a fun wine a few years from now.

The nose on this wine is dry, it is in NO way tropical like the Hagafen and other sweet Rieslings, which is very different than its mouth, the aromas are not redolent, like the 2014 vintage, it shows yellow apple, stone fruit, with flint, honeysuckle flowers, and other floral notes. The mouth takes time to open, but with time it does come around, it shows like a wine with 2% RS or more, showing nice integrated acidity, with crazy honeyed fruit, impressive citrus blossom, with sweet-tart lemon, almost like a limoncello, with peach, apricot, nice mineral, slate, with a viscous mouthfeel from the abundant residual sugar, but a wine that is clean, and really focused.

Now, will this wine appeal to many? I think so. The wine freaks who crave the dry 2014 vintage, will like that better. The people who like sweeter wines will find this wine well balanced and all-around a very enjoyable wine to taste and drink, with a plethora of food combinations, from fish, cheese, Asian and spicy dishes, and roasted fowl or fish. Nice!

1/23/2016 - raccah Likes this wine:

This wine is the flagship of the winery and is a blend of 44% Cabernet Sauvignon, 44% Shiraz, 6% Petit Verdot and 6% Cabernet Franc. There were only 2000 bottles of this wine made, and this wine was aged in French oak for 24 months. This wine is big bold and in your face.

The nose on this wine is lovely and rich with black and blue fruit, licorice, olives, mineral, black pepper, rich spices, and sweet oak. This wine has very clear Cali leanings, gone are the intense mineral and saline, from the previous reds, now there is ripe and controlled fruit abounding. The mouth on this full bodied wine is lovely and ripe, rich and layered, inky in structure, with layers of vanilla, tobacco, spice, blackberry, purple plum, boysenberry, with layers of sweet spices, watermelon, green notes, foliage, along with intense white pepper, all wrapped in mouth coating tannin, mineral, slate and graphite. The finish is long and richly tannic with leather, olives, and more green notes – BRAVO!!!

2/28/2017 - raccah wrote:

What a wine! This is the first kosher German Riesling from Mosel that I know about and it is a major hit. This is old world, with a great sweet body. The nose on this wine is insane, showing intense orange blossom, absolutely insane flint and smoke, followed by peach, honeysuckle, lovely green apple, and honeyed notes, with a bit of time the incredible petrol comes through beautifully. The mouth on this medium bodied wine is in your face from the get go, with impressive floral notes, wrapped in an incredible oily texture, followed by orange, nectarines, impressive mineral, saline galore, sweet notes, with guava, kumquat, mad ripe and juicy grapefruit, and pineapple. The finish is long and really well balanced with ripping acid, spice, great flint and sweet spices on the long and lingering finish. BRAVO!!! Drink now till 2023. I really want to watch this age.

With five days of air, this wine is still great, the wine becomes really earthy, mineral, honeyed, with great oily texture, and crazy floral notes, balanced with mad acid, smoke and intense flint. Bravo!!! For now, I will wait two more years to taste it again.

3/22/2013 - raccah Likes this wine:

This wine has finally come together - when I have no more - LOL!! We have been waiting for this wine to find its sea legs and we have all sacrificed many bottles of this wine too early - before it was ready. If you have any left drink it now - it is lovely!!!

The nose is super redolent and perfumed with ripe black and red fruit, tobacco, licorice, smoky notes, and sweet wood. The mouth on this medium bodied wine is rich and layered and concentrated with rich butterscotch that hits your palate first, followed by raspberry, blackcurrant, blackberry, plum, and insane mouth coating tannin that are soft and caressing, but with tons of gas still in the tank, along with sweet cedar to bring it all together. The finish is long and mineral with nice graphite, chocolate, tobacco, and more sweet notes on a long and luscious finish.

Even still, after an hour of being open the wine goes back into a dead spot, do not fear, it reemerges in another hour or so. So, drink right up or drink a little and watch it evolve back and forth!

10/28/2016 - raccah Likes this wine:

THis wine is a blend of 85% Bobal and 15% Cabernet Sauvignon. The nose on this wine is rich with lovely umami, soy sauce, ripe plum, rich earth, loam, mushroom, raspberry, and black cherry. The mouth on this medium bodied wine is rich and impressively structured for such an old wine, showing really nice acidity, still integrated tannin, with an inky mouthfeel of velvet and texture with crazy mushroom, earth, barnyard, dark concentrated fruit, blackberry, ripe fruit, perfectly balanced with ripe currant, dark red forest berry, and green notes. The finish is long and tart with more dirt, and barnyard, showing still gripping tannin, and nice ripe and rich fruit. The oak does not show strongly in the mouth but it’s influence is felt nicely. BRAVO!!

12/23/2011 - raccah wrote:

This wine is a 50/50 Moscato and Sauvignon Blanc blend, one that is not very common to me. The first time we tasted this wine, a few months ago, the wine was showing far more Sauvignon Blanc than the Moscato. Now, the wine is showing far more of the Moscato and the honeyed nose and mouth are screaming with pineapple and melon. The nose on this gold colored wine is screaming with rich honey, mango, bright citrus, pear, melon, pineapple, floral notes, smoky toast, minerality, with a nice sweet and bright/tart nose to boot. The mouth on this medium to full bodied wine is off dry to semi-sweet with more rich honey, floral, bright citrus, pineapple, melon, mango, and pear. The mid palate is bright and acidic with toast, dirt, mineral, floral notes, and honey. The finish is super long and spicy with rich mango, honey, pineapple, and toast. This is quite a unique wine and one we really enjoyed. This has a year or less left in the tank.

6/12/2015 - ATH44 wrote:

Not as good as the 2013, this was still a solid value. It had an interesting bitter streak that I don't recall the 2013 having.

9/5/2015 - raccah Likes this wine:

The nose on this lovely wine is ripping with mineral and lovely green notes, followed by classic black and red notes, and lovely mineral commands your attention. The mouth on this full bodied wine is plush and alive with amazing concentrated blackberry, currant, plum, intense graphite, along with nice green olives, saline, all elevated by a rich backbone of of black fruit structure, with lovely acid, and still searing tannin. The finish is long with dill, mounds of green notes and foliage, herb, slate, more mineral, chocolate, vanilla, and mad menthol - BRAVO!!

5/9/2015 - raccah Likes this wine:

This wine is 100% shiraz and is a mad for with cali like structure and notes. The nose on this super ripe but controlled nose is richly extradited with heavy smoke and toast, along with garrigue and rich sweet spices, this is a rich attack of blue and black fruits that does not apologize for its brash-ness. The mouth on this full bodied and richly extracted wine is a killer attack of blueberry, boysenberry, dark tea, mounds of earth and searing tannin that give way to rich layers of chocolate, and blackberry with sweet cedar and crazy tar bringing it all together. The finish is long and sweet with nice tobacco, leather, roasted coffee, and black currant lingering long with leather and lovely cloves and warm spices. Bravo

4/11/2015 - raccah Likes this wine:

What can I say - way to go Benyo! This is a classic Benyo merlot nose, a brilliant purple colored wine, showing a lovely rich and redolent nose with great blue and black fruit, blueberry, blackberry, oriental spice, crazy rich roasted herb, sweet oak and pomegranate. This is a lovely rich and dark and full bodied wine with ripping acid, lovely saline, mineral, butterscotch, black fruit, green notes, all wrapped in rich layers of tannin, concentrated fruit and spice. The finish is long and spicy with chocolate and spice and cloves, nutmeg and vanilla. BRAVO!!!

4/16/2014 - raccah Likes this wine:

This wine is 100% Syrah from Alder springs in Mendocino county. The nose on this wine is ripe and rich with blackberry, strawberry, boysenberry, and root beer. The mouth on this medium bodied wine starts off almost hollow, but with a few hours the wine opens up and shows lovely nice extraction and good spice, with blue and black fruit, red berries and lovely mouth coating tannin that grips to the mouth. The finish is long and spicy with rich leather, tobacco, sweet fruit, and coffee. This is a lovely wine and one that needs time to open, but it is a lighter wine than previous vintages, but 2011 was a hard year. The wine is 13% ABV, not your classic Weiss Brothers number :-)