Community Tasting Notes 12

• RichEB1 Likes this wine: 90 points

  September 3, 2023 - Tasty and interesting PS. Hungarian oak def adds a different and enjoyable element to the wine. No rush at all but drinking well with some air (assuming you don't mind a little tannin on the finish).

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• RichEB1 Likes this wine: 91 points

  October 14, 2021 - I haven't opened one of these in a handful of years, but I loved it then and still do now. Honestly, its barely budged in that time frame. Huge black fruits and a ton of tannin, but its very well made/delicious and I think the fruit should (hopefully) outlive the tannin and create a great wine down the road. Not sure how the Hungarian oak impacts the flavor profile but its a really tasty PS.

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• ddingley Likes this wine: 93 points

  May 21, 2016 - This was a very fun wine, as big as you'd expect when you pour this dark ink into your glass. Agree with the decant; was better on 2nd night. Blackberry, spicy, rich, just outstanding

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• csimm wrote: 93 points

  November 12, 2015 - Very similar to my CT notes on the 2009 Aratas, with the 2008 coming off just a little more nuanced and complex than the 2009.
  
  On initial PnP, very tight, with chalky black and purple fruit, slate, and faint licorice. Needed about 45 minutes in the decanter to shake itself out. With the decant, deep blueberry, blackberry, black licorice, asphalt, and slate/limestone flavors emerged. Some very faint spice on the back end.
  
  Like the 2009, this 2008 was still a little chunky, never fully shedding itself of its chalky tannic spine. Still a pleasant PS, but I would recommend about an hour decant to take best advantage of the fruit needing to unwind, or wait to pop the cork until early 2018 (in hopes it will mellow out and better integrate a bit more).

  1 person found this helpful Comments (2)

• Joegish wrote: flawed

  October 9, 2013 - Purchased from winery. Normal cork and color. Nose was off. Tasted just like wet newspaper - definite TCA. Bummer. First off bottle from Aratas and first bad bottle this year. Hope the others are ok.

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Wine Definition

• Vintage 2008
• Type Red
• Producer Aratas
• Varietal Petite Sirah
• Designation n/a
• Vineyard n/a
• Country USA
• Region California
• SubRegion Napa Valley
• Appellation Napa Valley

Community Holdings

• Pending Delivery 0 (0%)
• In Cellars 73 (40%)
• Consumed 110 (60%)

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