Pop and pour and served with food (a mix of jerk pork ribs, grilled ribeye steak with grilled baby bok choy, and rice noodles). Poured half into a 375 ml bottle and recorked and refrigerated. Tatsed the follow gbtwo evenings without food. Dark purple color. Nose shows black olives and a mint/herbal note. Flavors of black olives predominates, with some black cherry as an accent. Sufficient acidity to keep one interested. Nice savory wine with the black olive tapenade in the forefrnt, and a peppery note on the finish. Very good.
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Drank this straight from the cellar, enjoyable, would likely improve with decanting. Nice nose, medium duration. Has the tartness effect of citrus, but with the taste of grapes.
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Cherries, tobacco, sweet herbs in the nose, blue fruits on the palate with a very nice balance of acidity and tannin. Decanted three hours ahead of time
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Just realized that last night I put this TN in the wrong wine, the Myriad Esther Block, not the Las Madres 100% whole cluster I was actually drinking...oops, fixed now!
Decanted 3+ hours. 14.4% ABV...much different than I remember the last bottle.
Black olives really jump out at me from this wine. Along with it come vanilla, smoked meat, bacon fat, allspice, clove, red fruit...but more like dark cherry than raspberry, sassafras, hint of cream, subtle florals, all sorts of stuff. I have to say there were a couple times that the nose reminded me of the vanilla/spice aroma of Captain Morgan rum :)
Palate shows the olives, red fruit, cola, meat, spice, and an almost sweet vanilla that segues into a hint of coffee that accompanies the fairly smooth, softer tannins.
Not a big, forward Syrah like the '08 Lillians I've been drinking recently. It's softer, more restrained, but shows a ton of character. Really good wine that I'm sure will evolve more in the coming years.
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Popped and splash decanted. Deep, brilliant purple hue. Crushed black raspberries, fresh plums, herbed salumi, clove incense, black pepper, and gravelly minerals on the palate. An herbaceous perfume grows and expands with air. Medium-plus body, touch of heat. Black raspberry, black cherry, green/menthol, and a hint of teriyaki on the palate. Similar to the nose, additional herbaceous notes develop over time with aeration. The chalky tannins are somewhat chewy yet thoroughly refined on the lengthy close. Drinking nicely right now with air. Quite delicious.
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Dark fruit, cream...I caught like a whiff of Belgian Ale or something off of this...don't know if I'm really picking out yeast aromas or what. Pretty tasty though.
Decant now for at least 4+ hours, or give it more time in the cellar.
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Popped and poured. Medium-plus violet hue, intense. Huge aromas immediately upon pouring of fresh blackberry, mountain fruits, charcoal ember, anise, eucalyptus leaf, menthol, and crushed spices from oak. With air, additional herbaceous florals emerge. Medium-plus body. On the palate, dark fruits, spiced incense, fresh herbaceous, and toasted oak flavors work in perfect harmony, no particular element ever too overt yet each still maintaining absolute distinction from one and other...ebbs and flows. Moderate to light acidity. Despite tannins that are slightly chalky, this has a smooth profile and excellent finesse through the moderate-plus close. Really, this veers on the profound. A benchmark in > $50 CA Syrah, drink now and through the next 5+ years.
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Let breathe for two hours. WOW! A savory, masculine beast upon initial sniff. Quite NoRhone-ish! Iron, iodine, earth, tobacco, smoke. All savory...no fruit. Got some rye notes. Opening up quite nicely. Great nimbleness in the mouth...acid, but with a long finish. Very chalky...and grippy from all the stems. Some very ripe, dark blueberries with hint of oak on the very end as it slips down the gullet. Holy crap, is this a beautiful wine.
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On first opening a little reticent. After 24 hours flowers and cocoa on the nose. Palate fairly intense with beautiful dark fruits, meat, pepper, a hint of licorice. Medium finish. Really nice!
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12/23/2019 - Backdoctor wrote: 92 Points
Fruit forward with a slightly tart red raspberry on palate. Wish I had more
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5/28/2017 - t_moderne wrote: 89 Points
Pop and pour and served with food (a mix of jerk pork ribs, grilled ribeye steak with grilled baby bok choy, and rice noodles). Poured half into a 375 ml bottle and recorked and refrigerated. Tatsed the follow gbtwo evenings without food.
Dark purple color. Nose shows black olives and a mint/herbal note.
Flavors of black olives predominates, with some black cherry as an accent. Sufficient acidity to keep one interested. Nice savory wine with the black olive tapenade in the forefrnt, and a peppery note on the finish.
Very good.
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1/24/2016 - Screameagle Likes this wine: 89 Points
Just not my cup of tea. Joan liked it more than I did.
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11/15/2015 - wendyinwlv wrote: 92 Points
Great wine and drinking wonderfully now. Got a hint of olives this time around. Really enjoyed it!
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3/28/2014 - J0R0 Likes this wine: 90 Points
Last wine of the night. Even with 4+ hours of air, it could have used more. Tight with dark fruit but still very well made.
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2/4/2014 - oceanspirit Likes this wine: 90 Points
Drank this straight from the cellar, enjoyable, would likely improve with decanting. Nice nose, medium duration. Has the tartness effect of citrus, but with the taste of grapes.
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10/12/2013 - wendyinwlv wrote: 94 Points
Yum!
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3/3/2013 - DavidDay Likes this wine: 93 Points
Cherries, tobacco, sweet herbs in the nose, blue fruits on the palate with a very nice balance of acidity and tannin. Decanted three hours ahead of time
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2/22/2013 - wineberg Likes this wine: 92 Points
Just realized that last night I put this TN in the wrong wine, the Myriad Esther Block, not the Las Madres 100% whole cluster I was actually drinking...oops, fixed now!
Decanted 3+ hours. 14.4% ABV...much different than I remember the last bottle.
Black olives really jump out at me from this wine. Along with it come vanilla, smoked meat, bacon fat, allspice, clove, red fruit...but more like dark cherry than raspberry, sassafras, hint of cream, subtle florals, all sorts of stuff. I have to say there were a couple times that the nose reminded me of the vanilla/spice aroma of Captain Morgan rum :)
Palate shows the olives, red fruit, cola, meat, spice, and an almost sweet vanilla that segues into a hint of coffee that accompanies the fairly smooth, softer tannins.
Not a big, forward Syrah like the '08 Lillians I've been drinking recently. It's softer, more restrained, but shows a ton of character. Really good wine that I'm sure will evolve more in the coming years.
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2/13/2013 - *Vine* wrote:
Popped and splash decanted. Deep, brilliant purple hue. Crushed black raspberries, fresh plums, herbed salumi, clove incense, black pepper, and gravelly minerals on the palate. An herbaceous perfume grows and expands with air. Medium-plus body, touch of heat. Black raspberry, black cherry, green/menthol, and a hint of teriyaki on the palate. Similar to the nose, additional herbaceous notes develop over time with aeration. The chalky tannins are somewhat chewy yet thoroughly refined on the lengthy close. Drinking nicely right now with air. Quite delicious.
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11/9/2012 - wineberg Likes this wine: 91 Points
8+ hour decant.
Dark fruit, cream...I caught like a whiff of Belgian Ale or something off of this...don't know if I'm really picking out yeast aromas or what. Pretty tasty though.
Decant now for at least 4+ hours, or give it more time in the cellar.
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8/15/2012 - *Vine* wrote:
Popped and poured. Medium-plus violet hue, intense. Huge aromas immediately upon pouring of fresh blackberry, mountain fruits, charcoal ember, anise, eucalyptus leaf, menthol, and crushed spices from oak. With air, additional herbaceous florals emerge. Medium-plus body. On the palate, dark fruits, spiced incense, fresh herbaceous, and toasted oak flavors work in perfect harmony, no particular element ever too overt yet each still maintaining absolute distinction from one and other...ebbs and flows. Moderate to light acidity. Despite tannins that are slightly chalky, this has a smooth profile and excellent finesse through the moderate-plus close. Really, this veers on the profound. A benchmark in > $50 CA Syrah, drink now and through the next 5+ years.
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6/25/2012 - pcarpe41 wrote:
Let breathe for two hours. WOW! A savory, masculine beast upon initial sniff. Quite NoRhone-ish! Iron, iodine, earth, tobacco, smoke. All savory...no fruit. Got some rye notes. Opening up quite nicely. Great nimbleness in the mouth...acid, but with a long finish. Very chalky...and grippy from all the stems. Some very ripe, dark blueberries with hint of oak on the very end as it slips down the gullet. Holy crap, is this a beautiful wine.
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5/17/2012 - winopops3 wrote: 92 Points
On first opening a little reticent. After 24 hours flowers and cocoa on the nose. Palate fairly intense with beautiful dark fruits, meat, pepper, a hint of licorice. Medium finish. Really nice!
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