5/22/2006 - nomerlot wrote:

Wild and wooly....I'm impressed by his choice of herbs and flavorings here. This is the first chinato that I've had and found the taste of barolo missing (vs. strangely, the barolo vinegars that I 've had). slightly medicinal....and when I say medicinal, I mean Vicks Formula 44. Heat of 17% offset by some sweetness making it port-like and intriguing.

5/22/2006 - nomerlot wrote:

Good straight ahead power cab....great purity and concentration of fruit. After many of the '98s I've tried, I'm starting to think that Ol' '98 wasn't as bad as it was maligned. The oak isn't well integrated here which would have brought it up a few points.

5/9/2006 - nomerlot wrote:

Great aromas and palate of minerality, lime zest, and slight floral component (less than usual). Sweetness is below what I had expected and braced myself for for "demi-sec". Tasted just as fresh after 72 hours in the fridge....This one has a long life ahead of it....

4/7/2006 - nomerlot wrote:

Great bracing acidity along with fruit to stand up to it. This is how barbera will become the next big wine in america. Thank you God that you did not over-oak this!

4/7/2006 - nomerlot wrote:

After ragging on how I thought Patty Green was overrated, I opened this and essentially ate my words. Great blend of deep dark fruits and slight backbone of acid, typical for '04. She's got my vote for more futures!

4/7/2006 - nomerlot wrote:

Kind of thin and funky for the first few hours. Next day, it opens up and takes on a bit of the swan after being the disjointed duckling for a while....

4/7/2006 - nomerlot wrote:

I am sad. I had such amazing hope for this bottle based on the scores from others. I found this wine to be INCREDIBLY heavy-handed, very much like an Australian Shiraz. Monolithic, syrupy. No finesse, no verve. I think this would be just grand poured over shave ice, however. Wine is not all about amount of flavor/oz.

4/7/2006 - nomerlot wrote:

A great American version of an Hermitage. Very warm and round with a robust thrust of lust. Agree with roses and peach, with a real woodsy essence. The closest I've seen any rhone ranger make a rousanne to the real thing (n. rhone). Beautiful wine....great job Pax! (wish I'd bought more!).

3/18/2006 - nomerlot wrote:

Soaring nose of black fruits and super-sweet vanillin. This seems to be a different level/flavor of oak than I have had from DV before. Different barrels? Nearly integrated components that likely need another 2 years to be perfectly melded. Persistent finish of 40 secs. Great classic DV dark/cocoa/minimally vegetal aromas and flavors. Interesting that the review of this in Food and Wine said the tannins were really supple and soft....I didn't find this here (nor would I want it).

3/16/2006 - nomerlot wrote:

This ain't your mama's Barbera (by the way, does your mama HAVE any barbera?)....opaque purple, nose flush with dark fruits and a palate that hides its high EtOH well...needs some time to become better integrated. 2003 was the right temperature for this varietal which needs heat like zinfandel, but fortunately misses a lot of its briary undertones....

3/10/2006 - nomerlot wrote:

Who knows....an off bottle? Compared to the flavor-fest of the other tasters here, my bottle was thin, reticent, and ?green. It would seem consistent with the year but not B&H.

2/12/2006 - nomerlot wrote:

Wow! Has this wine come together! The grenache is hitting on all cylinders and the tannins are silky. This seems a little atypical for a VT from the 90's given it's tremendous fruit-forward nature, but I loved it! Clearly it's window for drinking started last night.

2/12/2006 - nomerlot wrote:

Amazing color already....that wonderful apricot nose and palate that I have had in older bottles of Suduiraut (esp. the '59) is absent here, but there are some secondary flavors starting to emerge. Great intensity of flavor with a slight petrolic aroma that I love.

2/3/2006 - nomerlot wrote:

Woe be unto me for the silly assumption that this '98 Barolo would be up and at 'em. Tight with the proverbial wall of chunky tannins without a chink. Great aromas of classic violets and licorice and great length. I wouldn't touch this for another 5+ years.

2/1/2006 - nomerlot wrote:

I'm a little down in the mouth w.r.t. this bottle. Previous bottles have been more up-front fruit and good oak integration (at a younger age). Currently, the fruit is fading (so soon?) and the relatively high acid and too-sweet overtones of vanillin make it less than desirable and unbalanced. Dumb stage? Doubt it. I was hoping for more complexity in the wines from Panther Creek.
It never fails to amaze me how different the Shea vineyard bottlings are. No question my favorites are from Shea Vineyards themselves.

1/28/2006 - nomerlot wrote:

Delicious up front fruit with a great black depth and spine. Relatively low acid, briary goodness, and persistence makes this a wine that keeps making you reach for your glass. I personally could have used a little more acid, as it gives sweet fruit a zing like SweeTarts. None of the sur-maturite and port-like elements of Turley(yawn). My only, albeit unrelated, question is, could I ever rate a zin over 95 points?

1/14/2006 - nomerlot wrote:

Guy Davis makes unbelievably sexy and complex pinot noirs (at least for California). This wine shows that he knows how to make a cabernet too....med to full bodied with great purity of flavors and fine tannins. Great length and persistence. This style should be a new benchmark.....drinkable (vs. over-extracted "huge" "monster""one glass reds"), good value from an honest wine-maker.

1/9/2006 - nomerlot wrote:

Drank for my 41st birthday...too young (and so was the wine).