Round sweet fruit, glycerin texture, long, long ketonic finish. Might not sound enjoyable but it is! Middle aged with lots left to mature into. Moderate tannic structure, but it seems to have lots of acidity. Big wine - more sipping than food. Loads of alcohol but it has the weight to carry it off.
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Decanted for an hour, tasted over 3 hours. Big, jammy, and noticeable tannins and acidity. Slight taint to the nose. Over all, somewhat disappointing compared to prior bottles. 89
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Powerful Cabernet..3 hour decant. Smoky, with dark fruits and wet earth. Long finish of plum and blackberry jam. Medium + tannins ...big finish that lasts
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This was a surprising wine in many ways; it was not as bold and in-your-face as I was expecting. Instead, it displayed a more classic profile than that of a cult cab. Sweet notes of plums, creme de cassis, black cherry, and sage. The palate is fairly fruit driven, rich on the attack, but it mellows out on the mid palate. Medium-low acidity. A tad cloying on the finish. Not a bad wine, but I guess you could say I was expecting a lot more for the price.
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Decanted 5 hours ,nice dark ruby pour with a great nose , very balanced and smooth , this is a great wine it will be hard to keep my hands off the remaining bottles I have.
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This is a big wine that mellows as it decants. Right out the bottle it is huge and almost port like with tons of berries on the palate. The mouth feel is silky and heavy. Decanted for an hour and the fruit bomb mellows a bit and it dries a bit more most likely from the tannins. I think this is a great bottle of wine.
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Garnet color as I decanted, would have pegged as older than a 2008. Tasted over about an hour. Chocolate and some tea notes on the nose, a little disjointed. Palate is red fruit with a touch of porty-ness, again a little disjointed. Medium weight. I really like Checkerboard, this is just okay as a second bottling. (This was allocation direct from winery and I don't believe a flawed bottle.)
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Pretty dark purple in the glass. The nose is alive with dark red fruits, coffee and really let's you know this is a big wine. The mouthfeel is really smooth and not too tannic at all so quite drinkable now. The finish is long and the favors reveal layers as you savor each glass. A great bottle of wine.
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Wine was uncorked to not much of a stain at all, no bleed whatsoever. Uh oh, what have I DONE? At the price paid per bottle, I expected a little more. Would have been a 97 if the wine was priced in the 70's per. The wine was decanted for an hour before even being touched. Poured a dark, dark red into the decanter. Once in the glass, the nose is INTOXICATING. Blackberry, blueberry, truffle, mocha notes. On the palate is a dense, full bodied wine from start to finish that is probably also one of the smoothest, most velvety wines I've had to date. Blackberry and mocha dominate the front palate, with the mid-palate starting to show some cedar wood, some blueberry. The tannins on this wine are young but firm. Finishes strong, with a 30-45 second finish. A great wine, and I reserve the 96 mainly due to the price, and the 97 due to the price and youth. Drinks well now with proper decanting, but this one really needs about 7 years. Done by 2025.
11/6/2021 - Ravi Deshpande Likes this wine: 93 Points
Round sweet fruit, glycerin texture, long, long ketonic finish. Might not sound enjoyable but it is! Middle aged with lots left to mature into. Moderate tannic structure, but it seems to have lots of acidity. Big wine - more sipping than food. Loads of alcohol but it has the weight to carry it off.
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9/9/2018 - Ravi Deshpande Likes this wine: 92 Points
In its drinking window. Fruit beautifully integrated, tannins subdued. Very enjoyable.
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3/24/2018 - Bigtuna wrote: 89 Points
Decanted for an hour, tasted over 3 hours. Big, jammy, and noticeable tannins and acidity. Slight taint to the nose. Over all, somewhat disappointing compared to prior bottles. 89
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1/14/2017 - traxxx Likes this wine: 92 Points
Powerful Cabernet..3 hour decant. Smoky, with dark fruits and wet earth. Long finish of plum and blackberry jam. Medium + tannins ...big finish that lasts
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2/7/2016 - Jbird73 wrote: 93 Points
Lots of life left and at the same time delicious right now. Middle of the road in terms of volume on this one. Right where I like it.
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2/14/2015 - Paul Lin wrote: 87 Points
This was a surprising wine in many ways; it was not as bold and in-your-face as I was expecting. Instead, it displayed a more classic profile than that of a cult cab. Sweet notes of plums, creme de cassis, black cherry, and sage. The palate is fairly fruit driven, rich on the attack, but it mellows out on the mid palate. Medium-low acidity. A tad cloying on the finish. Not a bad wine, but I guess you could say I was expecting a lot more for the price.
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12/9/2013 - CK6865 Likes this wine: 94 Points
Decanted for 5 hours, nice deep ruby pour, nice nose, lots of deep dark fruits , with a nice finish. Overall a very nice wine wish I had more.
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10/18/2013 - CK6865 Likes this wine: 95 Points
Decanted 5 hours ,nice dark ruby pour with a great nose , very balanced and smooth , this is a great wine it will be hard to keep my hands off the remaining bottles I have.
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9/1/2013 - okiedocs Likes this wine: 95 Points
This is a big wine that mellows as it decants. Right out the bottle it is huge and almost port like with tons of berries on the palate. The mouth feel is silky and heavy. Decanted for an hour and the fruit bomb mellows a bit and it dries a bit more most likely from the tannins. I think this is a great bottle of wine.
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3/10/2013 - sqn19 wrote: 89 Points
Garnet color as I decanted, would have pegged as older than a 2008. Tasted over about an hour. Chocolate and some tea notes on the nose, a little disjointed. Palate is red fruit with a touch of porty-ness, again a little disjointed. Medium weight. I really like Checkerboard, this is just okay as a second bottling. (This was allocation direct from winery and I don't believe a flawed bottle.)
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3/2/2013 - Jbird73 wrote: 92 Points
Pretty dark purple in the glass. The nose is alive with dark red fruits, coffee and really let's you know this is a big wine. The mouthfeel is really smooth and not too tannic at all so quite drinkable now. The finish is long and the favors reveal layers as you savor each glass. A great bottle of wine.
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12/4/2012 - mflesh Likes this wine: 95 Points
Wine was uncorked to not much of a stain at all, no bleed whatsoever. Uh oh, what have I DONE? At the price paid per bottle, I expected a little more. Would have been a 97 if the wine was priced in the 70's per. The wine was decanted for an hour before even being touched. Poured a dark, dark red into the decanter. Once in the glass, the nose is INTOXICATING. Blackberry, blueberry, truffle, mocha notes. On the palate is a dense, full bodied wine from start to finish that is probably also one of the smoothest, most velvety wines I've had to date. Blackberry and mocha dominate the front palate, with the mid-palate starting to show some cedar wood, some blueberry. The tannins on this wine are young but firm. Finishes strong, with a 30-45 second finish. A great wine, and I reserve the 96 mainly due to the price, and the 97 due to the price and youth. Drinks well now with proper decanting, but this one really needs about 7 years. Done by 2025.
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