Rich and creamy, this wine shows charred wood, dark black cherry and ripe blueberry jam fruit, and some decent spiciness. Drinking well now, I think it should ideally be consumed now through 2017.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
/ Comment
Viscous, with a dark red color bordering on oven brick with black plum hues. the thick legs show medium/medium+ staining. Decanted 1.5 hours+ Hugely complex and impeccably well developed. This shows the progression that Russell's wines take with a little bottle age.
A complex blend of scents waft up from the glass with intensity including violets, blueberry, brambly blackberry, sun baked strawberry, red meats, sarsaparilla, black licorice, roses, spices of cardamom and white pepper, freshly rained forrest floor and wood notes that encompass cedar, cigar box and pencil shavings. The palate is full bodied with medium-plus acid, medium ripe tannins and higher alcohol levels though the perception is not as high as the actual. Flavors are well blended showing violets and blueberries with bramble, strawberry compote, vanilla, baking spice, dark cherry, blackberry, sarsaparilla, licorice, shisha tobacco, oak and a hint of brown sugar. The finish is long and lingers. Overall, classy and elegant. A spectacular showing.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
/ Comment
Time has been kind to this bottle. Rich and brooding (the hallmark of HS wines, really). But this is slowly shifting to a lively softness and elegance. Love. Salud!
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
/ Comment
Delicious as always. The wine has settled down over the past couple years since my last tasting. One more left. We'll see how long I can keep my hands off of it.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
/ Comment
We opened the bottle three hours before we poured. Nice berry fruit with some spice and very smooth tannins. Held up nicely against a kale salad and a rice curry dish.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
/ Comment
Big and burly. Oak a bit more integrated, less "char" on the nose and palate. Blue fruit with syrupy richness, but ample acidity to keep the wine from being clunky and cloying. Will likely continue drinking well for another 2 years or so. Very nice overall, a crowd pleaser for sure, but a bit ripe for my liking.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
/ Comment
Big, hedonistic fruit bomb. Serve it below 70F and allow it a few minutes to breath in the glass and it's quite enjoyable, if you're in the mood for this style of wine. Drink now-2015
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
/ Comment
I thought the syrahs were my favorites from Herman Story but man was this good. We opened the bottle 1 1/2 hours before our friends arrived. It was a great bottle.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
/ Comment
Decanted 1 hr then consumed over the next 5 minutes (well, it was more like an hour but it was so good it felt like 5 minutes).
Black and blue fruits along with smoky, gamey, meaty, savory elements showcase the syrah and mourvedre while raspberry type red fruits and licorice show up from the Grenache. But rather than individuals these work as a collective to form such a well integrated pleasure bomb. Over-analyzing this just feels wrong. It's delicious, it's interesting, it's compelling, ... it's Herman Story. It's also 93.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No
/ Comment
There just in not a wine that Russel Story holds back on. His expressions of density and power is unreal. He is driven to make powerful wines with deep fruit intensity driven by the terrior there grown on. I would drink this with Pot Roast or Short Ribs if I were eating but, Just a glass is terrific.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
/ Comment
Big red fruit forward wine. Popped and poured for New Year party. Was hit compared to other wines opened. Very easy and great to drink. Nice strong finish with medium tannins.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
/ Comment
initial aromas of stemmy Grenache fruit and meaty Mourvèdre. these morphed over the course of the evening into sappy foresty aromas and pure fruit expressions with density and power. driven and focused in the mouth, where the balance and texture were perfect. the finish was long, complex and exciting with loads of raspberry, blackberry, spiced meat, baking spice, and earth. this was wonderful. if scoring, 94-96. I drank the whole thing by myself and it only got better with each sip. drink over the next 3-5 years.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
/ Comment
Popped and poured at restaurant, paired with steak au poivre. Explosive nose with bright red fruit, pepper and licorice notes. Opened up quickly on the palate. Creamy mouthfeel. Plenty of fruit up front, with coffee and dark chocolate notes on the finish. May be my favorite HS.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
/ Comment
Greedily consumed immediately after an HS 2009 Larner Syrah. Great wine but the cool thing about these Story 09's is each one is directly reflective of the winemaker Russel... a big, fleshy, friendly, rich, expressive, open, enjoyable teddy bear of a wine.
............. Sorry bout that "fleshy" thing Russel.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No
/ Comment
2 hour decant. Very dark in color. Plush and full bodied with plum and leather aromas. Shows both up front fruit and earthy notes. Very similar to previous bottle. Plenty of aging potential, but why wait?
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
/ Comment
Zoftig! Full and fleshy on the palate with moderately sweet raspberry syrup and balsamic mixed with a hefty amount of macerated blackberries, smoked meats with a fair amount of rendered fat, baking spices, violets, and well integrated wood. Good richness yet tempered nicely by sound acidity. Incredibly balanced and gracefull... manages its heft well for such a big ole wine. It's like a beautiful but thickly built woman on impossibly high heels who manages to move confidently with grace and elegance, never once in the slightest danger of losing her balance or allure. This wine is sexy fat!
2 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No
/ Comment
Excellent depth and structure. Good balance of fruit and earthiness with moderate tannins. Minimal heat coming through. Barely faded at all over several days. Really enjoyed this one. Drink now or hold off for 3-5 years.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
/ Comment
Deep red colored wine that leaves long thick legs that traverse the glass slowly, Great concentration. Heavy aromas of blueberry and blackberry lead the way with cedar and violets notes that are enticing. Ancillary notes of forest floor after a spring rain. The palate is fruit forward with raspberry, blueberry and blackberry fruits, sweet violets and vanilla mix with notes of sweet oak and subtle spice. Good acidity and balanced tannins with a lasting finish. still young. will love to see how this evolves.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No
/ Comment
My favorite new-world winemaker. Crazy QPR; delicious, beautifully- and meticulously-made wine. The equivalent of a perfect three-chord pop song--true, it's not the most complex piece of music, but you just want to listen to it over and over again. And what's so wrong with that? Big boy, but the alcohol wasn't showing--a testament to Russell's chops.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No
/ Comment
So f'ing good. In my opinion, this tasted better a little hot, with no decant time. A really good Rhone style blend, but with a sweetness/citrus you don't typically find. Some of the dark fruit seems replaced with red fruit. Mixed a small amount in my glass with a small amount of Cayuse Syrah we had open with great results. Would recommend.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
/ Comment
Pop and pour ... Over the past holiday week we've had a lot of higher-end "celebration" bottles for various special occasion events and dinners, and all were good to very good and throughly enjoyable. Tonight, basking in the post-holiday calm and watching a movie, we popped a Casual Encounters and were reminded that Herman Story stands up to--and perhaps even surpasses--just about any of the big(ger) dollar wines in our cellar. As always, the quality here is outstanding and, honestly, my husband and I both preferred this one to some of the "better" bottles we've had recently.
Amazing nose of black fruit and vanilla, with the palate following suit. Starting with tart, bright cherry fruit that transitions to darker, blue-black berry and spice on the long finish. Dry, with great balance and a firm backbone, this drinks like a dream. Fruit forward, yet complex, this is another winner from a winery that seems to produce nothing but.
2 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No
/ Comment
Decanted approx. 3 hours ... This was one of my first Herman Story bottles a few vintages back and it's still really good stuff. Bright red fruits on the nose; almost purple in the glass. Easy to drink and hard not to love. Big and bold are definitely the signature from this winery.
Rich, lush and clean this is smooth-drinking with a big hit of up-front fruit and a dry, crisp finish. Not as complex as some of Story's other blends, this is still a really nice wine. Honestly, haven't tried a bad bottle of H.S. yet.
As always, super QPR and super yummy. The only thing to complain about is that it might be slightly less exciting than Russell's other recent releases (On the Road and Nuts and Bolts), which were just SOOOOO good.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
/ Comment
Another big ol' boy from HS. Decanted 1 hour. Lush and concentrated with a sweet balsalmic foundation with ripe black plums, figs, some smokey herbs that remind me of throwing herb branches into my smoker, and a medicinal note that was pleasant. Full body and very round with a velvety texture - this is down pillow soft - though it does have sound structure to it. Melt in your mouth tannins, decent acidity, and excellent balance - it flows effortlessly acorss the palate and manages to carry its weight quite well. To me, this is really a balsalmic driven wine with pronounced richness. It's like liquid food - eat some, it's delicious!.
2 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No
/ Comment
Dark garnet with medium viscosity in the glass. Chocolate, earth, black fruit and spice on the nose. Secondary vanilla and gaminess. Med-full body and ditto the nose on the palate with more gaminess. Wet stone minerality kicks in mid-palate. Balanced, structured and showing great mouthfeel. Med-long finish. A risky and successful co-fermented effort.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No
/ Comment
winemaker: nose of raspberry brambles, cedar chest, fresh forest, minced meat pie and dried violet. inky palate of apple from the roast pigs mouth, leather, fig, white smoke and the sense of summer turning into fall. 40% syrah / 30% grenache / 30% mourvedre
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No
/ Comment
5/12/2018 - EvanJB wrote: 93 Points
Has aged wonderfully. Still has plenty of fruit, but has mellowed
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
12/27/2016 - drrobvino wrote: 89 Points
Rich and creamy, this wine shows charred wood, dark black cherry and ripe blueberry jam fruit, and some decent spiciness.
Drinking well now, I think it should ideally be consumed now through 2017.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
9/22/2016 - Bob & Sue Atlanta wrote: 93 Points
Good structure, typical HS wine. Never would have guessed this was from 2009. Tasted much younger. highly enjoyable...
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
7/26/2015 - bjamesclark wrote: 93 Points
Viscous, with a dark red color bordering on oven brick with black plum hues. the thick legs show medium/medium+ staining.
Decanted 1.5 hours+
Hugely complex and impeccably well developed. This shows the progression that Russell's wines take with a little bottle age.
A complex blend of scents waft up from the glass with intensity including violets, blueberry, brambly blackberry, sun baked strawberry, red meats, sarsaparilla, black licorice, roses, spices of cardamom and white pepper, freshly rained forrest floor and wood notes that encompass cedar, cigar box and pencil shavings.
The palate is full bodied with medium-plus acid, medium ripe tannins and higher alcohol levels though the perception is not as high as the actual. Flavors are well blended showing violets and blueberries with bramble, strawberry compote, vanilla, baking spice, dark cherry, blackberry, sarsaparilla, licorice, shisha tobacco, oak and a hint of brown sugar. The finish is long and lingers.
Overall, classy and elegant. A spectacular showing.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
7/12/2015 - armchairsommelier wrote: 93 Points
Time has been kind to this bottle. Rich and brooding (the hallmark of HS wines, really). But this is slowly shifting to a lively softness and elegance. Love. Salud!
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
7/12/2014 - fredman wrote: 92 Points
One hour decant. Dark fruit, spice, and dark chocolate. Drinking wonderfully at this time but should be fine for another 3-5 years.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
6/4/2014 - Reno-Rhone Likes this wine: 92 Points
Great wine with a deep ruby color. Upfront fruit and great finish. We are disappointed that this is our last bottle. We love HS!
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
2/3/2014 - Bob & Sue Atlanta wrote: 93 Points
Typical HS - great value - awesome wine....
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
1/22/2014 - michal Likes this wine:
Delicious as always. The wine has settled down over the past couple years since my last tasting. One more left. We'll see how long I can keep my hands off of it.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
1/6/2014 - Ltomanek wrote: 92 Points
We opened the bottle three hours before we poured. Nice berry fruit with some spice and very smooth tannins. Held up nicely against a kale salad and a rice curry dish.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
12/14/2013 - drrobvino wrote: 89 Points
Big and burly. Oak a bit more integrated, less "char" on the nose and palate. Blue fruit with syrupy richness, but ample acidity to keep the wine from being clunky and cloying. Will likely continue drinking well for another 2 years or so. Very nice overall, a crowd pleaser for sure, but a bit ripe for my liking.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
10/12/2013 - DarinC wrote: 88 Points
Big, hedonistic fruit bomb. Serve it below 70F and allow it a few minutes to breath in the glass and it's quite enjoyable, if you're in the mood for this style of wine. Drink now-2015
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
9/3/2013 - lushlife wrote: 88 Points
disappointing, all I got was alcohol
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
4/20/2013 - vino nut Likes this wine: 94 Points
I thought the syrahs were my favorites from Herman Story but man was this good. We opened the bottle 1 1/2 hours before our friends arrived. It was a great bottle.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
3/21/2013 - Redguy Likes this wine: 93 Points
Decanted 1 hr then consumed over the next 5 minutes (well, it was more like an hour but it was so good it felt like 5 minutes).
Black and blue fruits along with smoky, gamey, meaty, savory elements showcase the syrah and mourvedre while raspberry type red fruits and licorice show up from the Grenache. But rather than individuals these work as a collective to form such a well integrated pleasure bomb. Over-analyzing this just feels wrong. It's delicious, it's interesting, it's compelling, ... it's Herman Story. It's also 93.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
2/24/2013 - tc from santee Likes this wine: 93 Points
There just in not a wine that Russel Story holds back on. His expressions of density and power is unreal. He is driven to make powerful wines with deep fruit intensity driven by the terrior there grown on. I would drink this with Pot Roast or Short Ribs if I were eating but, Just a glass is terrific.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
1/2/2013 - Azbearoh wrote: 93 Points
Big red fruit forward wine. Popped and poured for New Year party. Was hit compared to other wines opened. Very easy and great to drink. Nice strong finish with medium tannins.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
12/18/2012 - caeleric wrote:
pnp consumed over 4 hours
initial aromas of stemmy Grenache fruit and meaty Mourvèdre. these morphed over the course of the evening into sappy foresty aromas and pure fruit expressions with density and power. driven and focused in the mouth, where the balance and texture were perfect. the finish was long, complex and exciting with loads of raspberry, blackberry, spiced meat, baking spice, and earth. this was wonderful. if scoring, 94-96. I drank the whole thing by myself and it only got better with each sip. drink over the next 3-5 years.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
10/21/2012 - The Wine Write wrote: 93 Points
Popped and poured, shared with friends. A big hit as expected. Notes in line with last night's. Spectacular.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
10/20/2012 - The Wine Write wrote: 93 Points
Popped and poured at restaurant, paired with steak au poivre. Explosive nose with bright red fruit, pepper and licorice notes. Opened up quickly on the palate. Creamy mouthfeel. Plenty of fruit up front, with coffee and dark chocolate notes on the finish. May be my favorite HS.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
9/20/2012 - philipmac wrote: 93 Points
2 hour decant. Priceless. Russell (and Hank) rocks!
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
9/19/2012 - Redguy wrote: 93 Points
Greedily consumed immediately after an HS 2009 Larner Syrah. Great wine but the cool thing about these Story 09's is each one is directly reflective of the winemaker Russel... a big, fleshy, friendly, rich, expressive, open, enjoyable teddy bear of a wine.
............. Sorry bout that "fleshy" thing Russel.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
8/5/2012 - rdf58 wrote: 93 Points
2 hour decant. Very dark in color. Plush and full bodied with plum and leather aromas. Shows both up front fruit and earthy notes. Very similar to previous bottle. Plenty of aging potential, but why wait?
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
8/5/2012 - wendyinwlv wrote: 90 Points
Another great bottle from Russell. Still young, but wanted to share a Herman Story with everyone
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
6/12/2012 - lushlife wrote: 93 Points
rich and concentrated with deep black fruit. acid and tannins balanced, smooth finish.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
6/9/2012 - Redguy wrote: 93 Points
Zoftig! Full and fleshy on the palate with moderately sweet raspberry syrup and balsamic mixed with a hefty amount of macerated blackberries, smoked meats with a fair amount of rendered fat, baking spices, violets, and well integrated wood. Good richness yet tempered nicely by sound acidity. Incredibly balanced and gracefull... manages its heft well for such a big ole wine. It's like a beautiful but thickly built woman on impossibly high heels who manages to move confidently with grace and elegance, never once in the slightest danger of losing her balance or allure. This wine is sexy fat!
2 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
6/2/2012 - wendyinwlv wrote: 82 Points
Really good, will probably get better with a little age,
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
4/4/2012 - Fugu Me wrote:
Consumed over two days. As with other HS wines, showed excellent balance that kept the high ABV in balance. Tremendous QPR.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
3/20/2012 - rdf58 wrote: 93 Points
Excellent depth and structure. Good balance of fruit and earthiness with moderate tannins. Minimal heat coming through. Barely faded at all over several days. Really enjoyed this one. Drink now or hold off for 3-5 years.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
3/17/2012 - bjamesclark Likes this wine: 92 Points
Deep red colored wine that leaves long thick legs that traverse the glass slowly, Great concentration.
Heavy aromas of blueberry and blackberry lead the way with cedar and violets notes that are enticing. Ancillary notes of forest floor after a spring rain.
The palate is fruit forward with raspberry, blueberry and blackberry fruits, sweet violets and vanilla mix with notes of sweet oak and subtle spice.
Good acidity and balanced tannins with a lasting finish. still young. will love to see how this evolves.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
3/3/2012 - Kurt and Ruthann wrote: 94 Points
Terrific. Big, bold, full of fruit and strong finish. High alcohol, great wine.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
3/1/2012 - rockguit wrote: 93 Points
My favorite new-world winemaker. Crazy QPR; delicious, beautifully- and meticulously-made wine. The equivalent of a perfect three-chord pop song--true, it's not the most complex piece of music, but you just want to listen to it over and over again. And what's so wrong with that? Big boy, but the alcohol wasn't showing--a testament to Russell's chops.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
2/13/2012 - sbtoby wrote: 94 Points
So f'ing good. In my opinion, this tasted better a little hot, with no decant time. A really good Rhone style blend, but with a sweetness/citrus you don't typically find. Some of the dark fruit seems replaced with red fruit. Mixed a small amount in my glass with a small amount of Cayuse Syrah we had open with great results. Would recommend.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
2/10/2012 - michal wrote:
Very good stuff! Lots of stuff going on in this glass. Very big but balanced wine. Will be interesting to see it evolve over the next few years.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
12/26/2011 - markandsusanw Likes this wine: 93 Points
Pop and pour ... Over the past holiday week we've had a lot of higher-end "celebration" bottles for various special occasion events and dinners, and all were good to very good and throughly enjoyable. Tonight, basking in the post-holiday calm and watching a movie, we popped a Casual Encounters and were reminded that Herman Story stands up to--and perhaps even surpasses--just about any of the big(ger) dollar wines in our cellar. As always, the quality here is outstanding and, honestly, my husband and I both preferred this one to some of the "better" bottles we've had recently.
Amazing nose of black fruit and vanilla, with the palate following suit. Starting with tart, bright cherry fruit that transitions to darker, blue-black berry and spice on the long finish. Dry, with great balance and a firm backbone, this drinks like a dream. Fruit forward, yet complex, this is another winner from a winery that seems to produce nothing but.
2 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
11/24/2011 - markandsusanw Likes this wine: 91 Points
Decanted approx. 3 hours ... This was one of my first Herman Story bottles a few vintages back and it's still really good stuff. Bright red fruits on the nose; almost purple in the glass. Easy to drink and hard not to love. Big and bold are definitely the signature from this winery.
Rich, lush and clean this is smooth-drinking with a big hit of up-front fruit and a dry, crisp finish. Not as complex as some of Story's other blends, this is still a really nice wine. Honestly, haven't tried a bad bottle of H.S. yet.
As always, super QPR and super yummy. The only thing to complain about is that it might be slightly less exciting than Russell's other recent releases (On the Road and Nuts and Bolts), which were just SOOOOO good.
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
11/21/2011 - Redguy wrote: 92 Points
Another big ol' boy from HS. Decanted 1 hour. Lush and concentrated with a sweet balsalmic foundation with ripe black plums, figs, some smokey herbs that remind me of throwing herb branches into my smoker, and a medicinal note that was pleasant. Full body and very round with a velvety texture - this is down pillow soft - though it does have sound structure to it. Melt in your mouth tannins, decent acidity, and excellent balance - it flows effortlessly acorss the palate and manages to carry its weight quite well. To me, this is really a balsalmic driven wine with pronounced richness. It's like liquid food - eat some, it's delicious!.
2 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
11/12/2011 - christophee Likes this wine: 91 Points
Dark garnet with medium viscosity in the glass. Chocolate, earth, black fruit and spice on the nose. Secondary vanilla and gaminess. Med-full body and ditto the nose on the palate with more gaminess. Wet stone minerality kicks in mid-palate. Balanced, structured and showing great mouthfeel. Med-long finish. A risky and successful co-fermented effort.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
10/30/2011 - juiced wrote: 92 Points
winemaker: nose of raspberry brambles, cedar chest, fresh forest, minced meat pie and dried violet. inky palate of apple from the roast pigs mouth, leather, fig, white smoke and the sense of summer turning into fall. 40% syrah / 30% grenache / 30% mourvedre
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment