Needs a couple more years, but with a decant was excellent. Blue/black fruit-forward, oak is starting to settle, definite charcoal and savory notes behind the fruit. Not peaking yet.
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Allowed to decant for 3+ hours. Explosive aromas spout from the glass carrying intense scents of boysenberry, marrionberry, blackberry and plum are heavily laced with scents of graham cracker crumbs, cinnamon, vanilla, violets, pastry dough, black licorice and milk chocolate. On the palate rich texture with medium to medium-plus density. Ripe, soft tannins and juicy berry acidity. Flavors confirm the nose with rich flavors of boysenberry, blackberry, marionberry, and plum with graham, vanilla, violets, cinnamon, milk chocolate, black licorice and freshly proofed pastry dough. Expressive through the lingering finish. Still a rock solid fruit forward syrah.
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No idea where this will head. SO BIG and OAKY. Gonna wait for at least 3 years to see where it lands. My instinct is that it will be terrific down the road a good ways.
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This one is more of an old world style I suppose. Not much fruit going on. Vanilla, cloves, woodsmoke, and some restrained oak without going overboard. A very nice wine from the fine folks at Dunham. We visited their tasting room in Walla Walla last year and really enjoyed ourselves. They have friendly dogs roaming around there too!
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Very dark in color; nose screams vanilla, some blueberry and blackberry pie as well; same on palate in a thick milkshake like consistency only milkshakes have less sugar; would have called Barossa given the opportunity; it seemed like very good grapes but the intervention here overwhelms any natural beauty.
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Shocked by reviews on here. I'm a huge Dunham fan from the past and belong to their wine club, but was tasted on this today and would've never guessed this was a Dunham. My tasting note would read something like this:
"Disgusting - notes of "licking the side of a tree after cutting through the bark, getting a piece of wood, toasting it, then toasting it some more. Could not finish 2 oz. taste I was given." I'm sure fruit was involved in making this wine, but could not get past the overwhelming amounts of "fresh off the press" oak. Had to open 3 other syrahs from disparate producers just to make sure it was wine and I wasn't crazy.
Ready to cancel wine club membership, but hoping this vintage was end of Parker-era winemaking and that newer vintages more restrained (I have a 2010 that was just delivered). Maybe I need to open some of my more recent club deliveries to see this is how his winemaking is now (as opposed to mid-200's when I enjoyed the wines), but this does not inspire to do so.
Also hoping for the old adage of "There are no great wines, just great bottles."
Solid dark purple core with plum hues on the rim. Medium-plus viscosity is visually appealing with day bright reflections. After generous decant aromas explode from the glass with boysenberry, marionberry and graham cracker. Ancillary aromas of blackberry, plum,violets, chocolate, spice and wood. The palate is juicy with bright acidity, tannins are soft. The wine remains fresh through the mid-palate where it brings density. Soft full texture. Flavors completely echo the nose, with graham cracker dusted, boysenberry, marionberry, plum, spiced blackberries, wood, mocha, and floral tones. The finish is long and expressive lingering on blackberry and cinnamon.
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Outstanding. Great balance of fruit, structure, and finish. Nuances unfold as this opens in the bottle and glass. Dunham does amazingly good wine in my opinion.
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This syrah was dominated by currant and mocha notes with hints of blackberry and herbs. Fairly simple at this stage, and another year in bottle could do some good. Definitely more on the fruit forward side stylistically and lacking syrah’s savory characteristics, though still a well-made wine.
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8/6/2018 - Mark Brandon Likes this wine: 92 Points
Needs a couple more years, but with a decant was excellent. Blue/black fruit-forward, oak is starting to settle, definite charcoal and savory notes behind the fruit. Not peaking yet.
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1/31/2017 - sophiesmom Likes this wine: 92 Points
Perfect smooth black fruit with good oak but not too many tannins. Blackberry and tobacco. Well balnced and medium to short finish.
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8/17/2016 - bjamesclark wrote: 92 Points
Allowed to decant for 3+ hours.
Explosive aromas spout from the glass carrying intense scents of boysenberry, marrionberry, blackberry and plum are heavily laced with scents of graham cracker crumbs, cinnamon, vanilla, violets, pastry dough, black licorice and milk chocolate.
On the palate rich texture with medium to medium-plus density. Ripe, soft tannins and juicy berry acidity. Flavors confirm the nose with rich flavors of boysenberry, blackberry, marionberry, and plum with graham, vanilla, violets, cinnamon, milk chocolate, black licorice and freshly proofed pastry dough.
Expressive through the lingering finish. Still a rock solid fruit forward syrah.
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7/20/2015 - psjj Likes this wine: 89 Points
Fairly oak-ey and a lot of the fruit flavor was absent. Still, it was smooth and pleasant and had somewhat smokey, saline components to it.
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4/26/2015 - Mark Brandon wrote: 90 Points
No idea where this will head. SO BIG and OAKY. Gonna wait for at least 3 years to see where it lands. My instinct is that it will be terrific down the road a good ways.
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3/30/2014 - brown57 Likes this wine: 91 Points
This one is more of an old world style I suppose. Not much fruit going on. Vanilla, cloves, woodsmoke, and some restrained oak without going overboard. A very nice wine from the fine folks at Dunham. We visited their tasting room in Walla Walla last year and really enjoyed ourselves. They have friendly dogs roaming around there too!
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12/21/2013 - Rezy13 wrote:
Very dark in color; nose screams vanilla, some blueberry and blackberry pie as well; same on palate in a thick milkshake like consistency only milkshakes have less sugar; would have called Barossa given the opportunity; it seemed like very good grapes but the intervention here overwhelms any natural beauty.
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7/18/2013 - elratoncolorao Does not like this wine:
Shocked by reviews on here. I'm a huge Dunham fan from the past and belong to their wine club, but was tasted on this today and would've never guessed this was a Dunham. My tasting note would read something like this:
"Disgusting - notes of "licking the side of a tree after cutting through the bark, getting a piece of wood, toasting it, then toasting it some more. Could not finish 2 oz. taste I was given." I'm sure fruit was involved in making this wine, but could not get past the overwhelming amounts of "fresh off the press" oak. Had to open 3 other syrahs from disparate producers just to make sure it was wine and I wasn't crazy.
Ready to cancel wine club membership, but hoping this vintage was end of Parker-era winemaking and that newer vintages more restrained (I have a 2010 that was just delivered). Maybe I need to open some of my more recent club deliveries to see this is how his winemaking is now (as opposed to mid-200's when I enjoyed the wines), but this does not inspire to do so.
Also hoping for the old adage of "There are no great wines, just great bottles."
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3/25/2013 - RPerro Likes this wine: 93 Points
Nice and peppery! Great fruit too, but the pepper is the standout for me.
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3/23/2013 - 1964vintage wrote: 93 Points
Outstanding. Similar to the previous bottle notes. Just scrupmtious all around from nose to finish. THE party favorite hands down.
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2/2/2013 - bjamesclark wrote: 92 Points
Solid dark purple core with plum hues on the rim. Medium-plus viscosity is visually appealing with day bright reflections.
After generous decant aromas explode from the glass with boysenberry, marionberry and graham cracker. Ancillary aromas of blackberry, plum,violets, chocolate, spice and wood.
The palate is juicy with bright acidity, tannins are soft. The wine remains fresh through the mid-palate where it brings density. Soft full texture. Flavors completely echo the nose, with graham cracker dusted, boysenberry, marionberry, plum, spiced blackberries, wood, mocha, and floral tones. The finish is long and expressive lingering on blackberry and cinnamon.
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12/25/2012 - 1964vintage wrote: 94 Points
Outstanding. Great balance of fruit, structure, and finish. Nuances unfold as this opens in the bottle and glass. Dunham does amazingly good wine in my opinion.
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9/5/2012 - wineaux2 wrote: 89 Points
This syrah was dominated by currant and mocha notes with hints of blackberry and herbs. Fairly simple at this stage, and another year in bottle could do some good. Definitely more on the fruit forward side stylistically and lacking syrah’s savory characteristics, though still a well-made wine.
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