January 18, 2020 - Impenetrable color. Sweet nose with vanilla and creamy fruit and spices. Very hot wine as expected with 18.5 percent alcohol. Decent acidity though. Vanilla Pudding nuance. An experimental wine that shows what happens when the boardaries are exceeded. One glass is enough! Use as after dessert by the fire.
July 23, 2018 - There‘s plenty of dark ripe fruit and spices, there‘s a well measured acidity to handle all the fruit, there’s a solid round and soft tannin structure but there‘s 18.5% alcohol too. Seems well made but it’s definitely more a liqueur than a red wine. Served chilled enough and with some cheese this might work well... as port wine placeholder.
January 28, 2018 - Important note first: I opened the bottle two days before the drinking date and then decanted it three hours before drinking.
This very solid dose of oxygen really transformed the wine from a dark, alcoholic, porty monster into something very enjoyable. Full bodied (of course!), blueberries, eucalypts, well integrated sweet wood and polished tannins are enough to balance the alcohol. So much going on, but all very balanced. It was a lovely companion to our roast lamb with loads of garlic.
I'd think peak drinking right now
December 2, 2017 - Judy Blue's Over the River & Through the Old Wines Event (Judith's House, WI): Very dark purple/red color. PNP, followed a glass over an hour plus. This appears to have run its course, and now the 18.5%ABV and heavy handed wood has hamstrung the weakening blackberry liqueur fruit. Not really something that is drinkable at this point.
June 1, 2017 - Vanilla, caramel and christmas pudding.
Almonds and toasted roses.
18.5%, If it can last without the alcohol becoming overbearing it could do very well. But I feel it may overwhelm the wine.
February 24, 2017 - Deep, intense flavor, got better and better as it aired.
January 27, 2017 - Friday Afternoon (Rocknroller's (Kevin & Vicki's Place)):
First shock, the label: 18 ½ % alcohol. Is this an Aussie Port?
Second shock, the alcohol did not jump out on nose or palate!
Appearance suggests a deep dark brooding wine. Rather unusual nose funky, eucalyptus, earthy; just seems atypical, can’t put my finger on it. Very full bodied, viscous rich mouth feel; suggestive of an old Tawny
January 27, 2017 - Friday Afternoon (Rocknroller's (Kevin & Vicki's Place)): Purple red color. PNP, drank 1 glass over 90 minutes. I vaguely remember having had this in the past. Somehow the shockingly high 18.5% ABV slipped my memory. I will say it is fairly remarkable how it hides most of the alcohol. There is some on the back end of the palate, but not nearly what you might expect. That being said, it is what you might expect in terms of a very ripe, liqueurish type of wine. On the nose: milk chocolate, blackberry liqueur, blackberry, port-like, kirsch, pepper and a little alcohol. The palate is dense and chewy, tons of glycerin, black raspberry and blackberry liqueur, chocolate, very ripe, pepper and wood with a little alcohol again on the end. Might have been better with some BBQ to pair with, as it was, only the creamy Cambazola blue could cut through it. Reminds me of Amarone as well as Port. 88+pts.
July 8, 2016 - Difficult to rate this wine as it is SO high in alcohol (18.5%). Black as the night and fiery in the mouth, this has hyper-ripe syrah fruit, and earthy American oak. This is as close to a new world Amarone as I have tried, and like these wines, it will prove equally difficult to match to food. It certainly did not work with a braise of lamb shanks - a dish that one would imagine could be a reasonable match for a rich, ripe and high alcohol wine. Currently unbalanced (and I imagine that age may not improve this) and tiring to drink. There is an aspect of the wine that is fun and there is certainly high-quality fruit and wine making here, but pushing syrah to these alcohol levels seems to court imbalance. I can understand tasters rating this as outstanding and it is a "good" wine, but the lack of balance leads me to be a little rough, in terms of score. I hope (possibly in vain) that this may come into some equilibrium with time. I will give it a decade. (79+- 90+???)
June 24, 2015 - Perfect cork. Dark garnet. Surprisingly light, red fruit nose. Tannic, raisiny, intense but not complex. Prominent bitterness. Overpowered by 18.5% alcohol. I can't see how it could further evolve or improve.