This wine is throwing a lot of sediment. The flavors are a little oxidized but still retaining some pleasant plummy/prune fruit. Sadly, this is past it's prime in this format. Hopefully my mag will fare better. I'm going to pop it soon, based on this performance.
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Pulled out of cellar too cold, but was pleasantly surprised by the liveliness of the nose even at ~50-55 degree. Dried flowers, tobacco, mulberry and a depth and complexity I can't put my finger on. Great acid and very enjoyable grainy tannins. Main knock is the finish- wish it was longer, but I'm a nose girl and I could smell this wine for hours. Can't wait to see how it open ups tonight/tomorrow.
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I really wasn't expecting much from this bottle, since my tastes have clearly moved away from california since acquiring this bottle. However, I'll be smitten to admit that the wine was pretty enjoyable with a small batch of BBQ'd animals shared among friends. Nose: sharp raspberry scent, no oak perceived, just glorious pure grenache (tank fermented?). Palate: plush, smooth and perfectly mature grenache, with a long finish exuding herbs and more raspberries. A great bottle, much to my surprise. No decanting after opening, from my own cellar. Not sure I'd want to age this much more, as it may start to fall apart in a few years. With this plushness and pure fruit, I was expecting a14.5%abv wine. Turns out it's 13.5; just perfect.
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Really a beautiful and mature Southern Rhone blend. Beautiful herbs and spices on the nose and the palate. The tannin is silky soft. It is that extra bit of (pleasant) sweetness of the very ripe fruits, which gives away this wine is not from France. Probably at its best now, but no real hurry.
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With roasted lamb, no decant. Smell: Leather was more distinct relative to recent bottles. Woft of violets to boot...really very nice. Taste: Meatier than recent bottles, strawberry (some cherry too) and strong mineral components remain. An elegant expression of earthiness - downright delicious. Unlike the last bottle, this held up perfectly over the hour we drank it. Some of these '01s clearly have some life left, but they're singing now.
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What an elegant Rhone blend! Like riverbed rocks drenched in strawberry jam. Left in bottle, was great for the first 30-45 mins but faded with the main course, which seemed to overpower.
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Made from a blend of 34% Grenache, 33% Syrah, 27% Mourvèdre and 6% Viognier this wine is showing lovely maturity and great complexity. Ruby red with berry fruits and liquorice on the nose. The palate shows excellent balance and fresh acidity, even after a decade. Excellent.
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With black bass, sauteed mushrooms & carrots. Strawberry and mineral notes dominate the taste. No decant - sung from the first glass. Acidity was perfect for a light but flavorful meal.
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Corks: Rhone v. Rangers: Big nose, interesting - black fruit, cigarette, green coffee beans. Round. Medium- tannins, medium+ acid. Juicy. Big. Newer-tasting than the other bottle I remember. Ripe. Nothing funky. Fruit-forward. $26
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Perfumed nose, older, meaty. Riper than the 05 on the palate, grape jelly, delicious. More like a Priorat than a Chateauneuf. Elegant. Medium+ tannins and acid, medium body. Extracted. Proof that screw-tops can age gracefully! $30
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Opening the screw cap, the cap suddenly popped away like I opened a bottle of champagne. I expected the wine to be flawed, but that wasn't the case. Well, there is a certain smell of aged wine, but after a while, it was gone and the wine opened up. Taste of black fruits, some smokey, toasted aromas, pepper and a little acid. Not as good as I remembered it. Only tasted the half of the bottle to try it the next day with goulash of doe - I was surprised how well the wine was with it! I have another bottle left, but I will not wait much longer to drink it, as I think, the wine is over his horizon
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A bit of a disappointment after reading the reviews. A lot of dried cherry and a slight sweet taste. We served it with a spinach salad with goat cheese, panchetta, and dried cherries - it complimented it quite nicely but by itself not so great.
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Still has good fruit and some complexity trying to shine through some rather bitter if short tannins. Generally good if not spectacular. Almost had a NZ Pinot quality to it.
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Warm dark red, purple edges. Bacon, lard, spice, dark fruit on the nose. Warm grenache palate, distinct cherries in the middle. Long finish. Beautiful bottle.
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clear, medium ruby with a hint of legs. clean, medium intensity youthful aromas of black fruit, licorice, black pepper, and meat. dry, medium acid, medium tannin that develops broadly across the palate, med(+) intensity flavors of black pepper, black fruit, and bacon. medium(+) finish. good quality due to complexity on nose and palate and lingering finish. tannin should be more focused. drink now, will last 3-5 years.
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Dark, rich red color. Dark fruit on the nose, spicy. Full, warm Grenache comes through strongly, a little less layered than I would have expected. Nice finish, a little tannin shining through in the onset.
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A very nice wine. Deep purple color. Black cherry, plum and raspberry nose, slightly jammy. Cherry, plum and strawberry on the palate. It has a medium finish with fairly bold tannins. Overall a very enjoyable wine.
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Tasted against two French Rhones, 2001 Château Mont-Redon Châteauneuf-du-Pape and a 2002 Vieux Telegramme (also Chateauneuf du Pape). The Le Cigare was much bolder than either of the two French wines - more fruit on the nose, a fuller mouth, and a longer finish. The 2001 Le Cigare is a good year, I think, and it was an interesting comparison.
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87 on my absolute scale but the QPR, to my way of thinking, may be up around 92-93, so I settled for an 89. This is a very nice wine to take to or order in a restaurant, where you don''t have time to decant. It tastes like a nicely balanced CdP or Australian shiraz, or something in between, is sure to offend no one, and it drinks well right out of the bottle. I chipped in for a case. Put it in the bin with your vin ordinaire's for everyday consumption, or serve it to the average joe's in your life and look like a sophisticate at a relatively modest price.
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I want to like it. I want to like all of his wines because he's such as nice guy and is one of the best wine marketeers around. And it's decent. A simple red blend with nice raspberry and strawbery coming out in the front palate. But then it turns dry and astringent with a finish that just kind of sits there without moving much. Not awful, but not coming close to being worth the price.
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Inky black colour; dark fruit on the nose; on the palate the dark fruit comes through clearly but with a jammy undertone. Reminds me more of an Australian style Grenache/Syrah blend than a CdP. An enjoyable wine to drink on its own
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A screw cap closure. Tight nose, with red meat, black fruits, eucalyptus and leather aromas. Well balanced, medium to full bodid, focused black cherry, white chocolate and a touch of blueberries on the palate. Despite the focused fruit, this is an elegant and balanced wine, reasonably high acidity, more akin to cool European climates wines than CA-- tastes "light on it's feet" but is lacking some depth. Tangy red fruits and medium intensity tannins on the short-ish finish. A nice enough wine, a good match to certain foods and ocassions, but not a good value @ $30.
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with all the negative notes being published, i thought i would take a look to see what this wine was about. i did not have the opportunity to taste this wine when it was a cult product 10 years ago, so i can't make any objective comparisons. nevertheless, it would seem that the winemaker has, indeed, changed his stylistic practices. i did not find the wine to be thin, but it was rather uni-dimensional. possibly cherries but a little plum jammy as well. the wine is young and therefore has some teeth staining characteristics. yet, it does not seem that this will develop any voluptuousness as it matures. the screw cap closure was impossible to remove using standard tools. had to puncture the top. caused laceration of the fingers removing metal. i will not suffer these indignities again.
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Le Cigare Volant vertical: Soft nose with alcohol dominating faint herbals. Some fruit, slight herbal notes, short finish. Very much low-level Cotes du Rhone like.
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Not very concentrated. Lacked significant structure. Took a lot of proding and air time to show any flavors and once it did the flavors were quite muted, one dimensional bing cherries, maybe some anise. At $35, awful QPR.
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This used to be one of my favorite wines and recently my last bottle of 1985 turned out to be the best yet and shocked a group of jaded palates. Now bottled in screwcap, this wine reflects that Randall Graham has moved from being in love with the praxis of winemaking to being in love with the idea of winemaking. Generic fruit, still rather creamy and yeasty even after 6 mos in the bottle. Short finish with low acidity and maybe a slight tinge of spice. Carafe table wine fare. Most tellingly, this wine became an undrinkable disjointed mess after about 4 hrs in the decanter. PAR, at the beginning. Paired: Roasted chicken.
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Nice. Started off very yeasty. After about 1/2 hr opened up to nice fruit and good body. No real nose suprisingly. Clean finish, short. Some cassis and tiny leather. Not very complex, but enjoyable. Good pairing with Grilled skirt steak w/ veg and guacamole
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7/20/2013 - ed-d wrote: 83 Points
This wine is throwing a lot of sediment. The flavors are a little oxidized but still retaining some pleasant plummy/prune fruit. Sadly, this is past it's prime in this format. Hopefully my mag will fare better. I'm going to pop it soon, based on this performance.
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2/7/2013 - uvaluna wrote: 90 Points
Pulled out of cellar too cold, but was pleasantly surprised by the liveliness of the nose even at ~50-55 degree. Dried flowers, tobacco, mulberry and a depth and complexity I can't put my finger on. Great acid and very enjoyable grainy tannins. Main knock is the finish- wish it was longer, but I'm a nose girl and I could smell this wine for hours. Can't wait to see how it open ups tonight/tomorrow.
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7/13/2011 - Tony Molester wrote:
I really wasn't expecting much from this bottle, since my tastes have clearly moved away from california since acquiring this bottle. However, I'll be smitten to admit that the wine was pretty enjoyable with a small batch of BBQ'd animals shared among friends.
Nose: sharp raspberry scent, no oak perceived, just glorious pure grenache (tank fermented?).
Palate: plush, smooth and perfectly mature grenache, with a long finish exuding herbs and more raspberries.
A great bottle, much to my surprise. No decanting after opening, from my own cellar. Not sure I'd want to age this much more, as it may start to fall apart in a few years. With this plushness and pure fruit, I was expecting a14.5%abv wine. Turns out it's 13.5; just perfect.
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6/9/2011 - Zweder wrote: 90 Points
Really a beautiful and mature Southern Rhone blend. Beautiful herbs and spices on the nose and the palate. The tannin is silky soft. It is that extra bit of (pleasant) sweetness of the very ripe fruits, which gives away this wine is not from France. Probably at its best now, but no real hurry.
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5/21/2011 - kristjan wrote: 92 Points
This is very good. Should have brought more and should have kept more.
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3/26/2011 - jblack323 wrote: 95 Points
Still stellar!
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1/20/2011 - jblack323 wrote: 95 Points
This wine continues to delight.
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12/8/2010 - jblack323 wrote: 96 Points
With roasted lamb, no decant. Smell: Leather was more distinct relative to recent bottles. Woft of violets to boot...really very nice. Taste: Meatier than recent bottles, strawberry (some cherry too) and strong mineral components remain. An elegant expression of earthiness - downright delicious. Unlike the last bottle, this held up perfectly over the hour we drank it. Some of these '01s clearly have some life left, but they're singing now.
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12/1/2010 - jblack323 wrote: 95 Points
What an elegant Rhone blend! Like riverbed rocks drenched in strawberry jam. Left in bottle, was great for the first 30-45 mins but faded with the main course, which seemed to overpower.
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11/19/2010 - jamieirving wrote: 96 Points
Made from a blend of 34% Grenache, 33% Syrah, 27% Mourvèdre and 6% Viognier this wine is showing lovely maturity and great complexity. Ruby red with berry fruits and liquorice on the nose. The palate shows excellent balance and fresh acidity, even after a decade. Excellent.
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11/15/2010 - Benedikt wrote: 90 Points
Fantastic depth, very much an original Rhone deranger...
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11/10/2010 - jblack323 wrote: 95 Points
With black bass, sauteed mushrooms & carrots. Strawberry and mineral notes dominate the taste. No decant - sung from the first glass. Acidity was perfect for a light but flavorful meal.
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8/12/2010 - ggtirevite wrote: 90 Points
Aged beautifully,
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3/4/2010 - joshwoodward wrote: 90 Points
Corks: Rhone v. Rangers: Big nose, interesting - black fruit, cigarette, green coffee beans. Round. Medium- tannins, medium+ acid. Juicy. Big. Newer-tasting than the other bottle I remember. Ripe. Nothing funky. Fruit-forward. $26
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2/26/2010 - amateurwino wrote: 86 Points
The best nose of this vertical, with some fragrant spice and sous bois. However, palate is merely competent, without anything special or distinctive.
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2/13/2010 - joshwoodward wrote: 92 Points
Perfumed nose, older, meaty. Riper than the 05 on the palate, grape jelly, delicious. More like a Priorat than a Chateauneuf. Elegant. Medium+ tannins and acid, medium body. Extracted. Proof that screw-tops can age gracefully! $30
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1/16/2010 - pheck wrote: 86 Points
Opening the screw cap, the cap suddenly popped away like I opened a bottle of champagne. I expected the wine to be flawed, but that wasn't the case. Well, there is a certain smell of aged wine, but after a while, it was gone and the wine opened up. Taste of black fruits, some smokey, toasted aromas, pepper and a little acid. Not as good as I remembered it. Only tasted the half of the bottle to try it the next day with goulash of doe - I was surprised how well the wine was with it!
I have another bottle left, but I will not wait much longer to drink it, as I think, the wine is over his horizon
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11/14/2009 - natorwill wrote: 90 Points
Good fruit but no nose. Kind of inky for a Rhone style wine. Could have aged a little longer for my taste.
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3/9/2009 - mgl wrote: 85 Points
A bit of a disappointment after reading the reviews. A lot of dried cherry and a slight sweet taste. We served it with a spinach salad with goat cheese, panchetta, and dried cherries - it complimented it quite nicely but by itself not so great.
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2/22/2009 - wineaboutit wrote: 87 Points
Smooth, easy drinking quaffer. Bonny Doon's take on Chateauneuf du Pape, enjoyable and well made. Nice food wine.
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8/8/2008 - 2 Stars wrote:
drank this wine on my patio with a friend and it was excellent.
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2/10/2008 - kristjan wrote: 88 Points
Still has good fruit and some complexity trying to shine through some rather bitter if short tannins. Generally good if not spectacular. Almost had a NZ Pinot quality to it.
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12/15/2007 - David J Cooper wrote:
Deep red with browning edges. Nice nose of pepper, cherry and meat. Nice soft tannins and flavour. Light acid. Very nice restaurant wine.
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10/11/2007 - jonb72 wrote: 89 Points
a bit raisiny until it opened up. Then soft with smooth texture
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7/8/2007 - kvdb wrote: 88 Points
Warm dark red, purple edges. Bacon, lard, spice, dark fruit on the nose. Warm grenache palate, distinct cherries in the middle. Long finish. Beautiful bottle.
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4/9/2007 - ews3 wrote: 88 Points
clear, medium ruby with a hint of legs. clean, medium intensity youthful aromas of black fruit, licorice, black pepper, and meat. dry, medium acid, medium tannin that develops broadly across the palate, med(+) intensity flavors of black pepper, black fruit, and bacon. medium(+) finish. good quality due to complexity on nose and palate and lingering finish. tannin should be more focused. drink now, will last 3-5 years.
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3/30/2007 - kvdb wrote: 87 Points
Dark, rich red color. Dark fruit on the nose, spicy. Full, warm Grenache comes through strongly, a little less layered than I would have expected. Nice finish, a little tannin shining through in the onset.
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3/29/2007 - gordoh wrote:
90 Excellent Wine
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3/25/2007 - ggtirevite wrote: 91 Points
Had with Thai food. Spicy, fruity and a medium finish. Very smooth. As good as other vintages.
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3/4/2007 - Dave Dalluge wrote: 87 Points
No notes taken. Pleasant, simple wine. The Rhone blend comes through, but in a very clean style. I won't be buying more.
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1/20/2007 - SteveC wrote: 89 Points
A very nice wine. Deep purple color. Black cherry, plum and raspberry nose, slightly jammy. Cherry, plum and strawberry on the palate. It has a medium finish with fairly bold tannins. Overall a very enjoyable wine.
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10/8/2006 - Kahalu'u Bob wrote: 92 Points
Tasted against two French Rhones, 2001 Château Mont-Redon Châteauneuf-du-Pape and a 2002 Vieux Telegramme (also Chateauneuf du Pape). The Le Cigare was much bolder than either of the two French wines - more fruit on the nose, a fuller mouth, and a longer finish. The 2001 Le Cigare is a good year, I think, and it was an interesting comparison.
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8/26/2006 - gareth wrote:
Very nice. Took it to someone's house for dinner; can't remember who.
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6/18/2006 - dembury wrote: 89 Points
87 on my absolute scale but the QPR, to my way of thinking, may be up around 92-93, so I settled for an 89. This is a very nice wine to take to or order in a restaurant, where you don''t have time to decant. It tastes like a nicely balanced CdP or Australian shiraz, or something in between, is sure to offend no one, and it drinks well right out of the bottle. I chipped in for a case. Put it in the bin with your vin ordinaire's for everyday consumption, or serve it to the average joe's in your life and look like a sophisticate at a relatively modest price.
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6/17/2006 - peternelson wrote: 87 Points
Sam & Kim’s: Rich, blue berry, mocha-y, soft velvetly mth, oak notes; well-made, but no character. Guessed Cal merlot ’03.
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4/15/2006 - deniro64 wrote: 79 Points
I want to like it. I want to like all of his wines because he's such as nice guy and is one of the best wine marketeers around. And it's decent. A simple red blend with nice raspberry and strawbery coming out in the front palate. But then it turns dry and astringent with a finish that just kind of sits there without moving much. Not awful, but not coming close to being worth the price.
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4/3/2006 - jfs5 wrote: 88 Points
Inky black colour; dark fruit on the nose; on the palate the dark fruit comes through clearly but with a jammy undertone. Reminds me more of an Australian style Grenache/Syrah blend than a CdP. An enjoyable wine to drink on its own
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3/18/2006 - strulock wrote: 85 Points
Pleasant nose of jammy fruit, deep purple color, plenty of syrah notes in this blend.
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2/15/2006 - ken-yyz wrote: 89 Points
Very nice. It was almost impossible unscrewing the screw top. Very rich and concentrated. Definitely a ripe, CA interpretation of a CNdP.
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12/3/2005 - trankin wrote: 91 Points
EOTC Holiday "Bring Your Favorite" night (My place): White pepper and spice on the palate. Clearly grenache-based but something else in here - syrah perhaps? Should have known what this was.
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10/15/2005 - PBaird wrote: 87 Points
A screw cap closure. Tight nose, with red meat, black fruits, eucalyptus and leather aromas. Well balanced, medium to full bodid, focused black cherry, white chocolate and a touch of blueberries on the palate. Despite the focused fruit, this is an elegant and balanced wine, reasonably high acidity, more akin to cool European climates wines than CA-- tastes "light on it's feet" but is lacking some depth. Tangy red fruits and medium intensity tannins on the short-ish finish. A nice enough wine, a good match to certain foods and ocassions, but not a good value @ $30.
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5/21/2005 - bacchus wrote: 87 Points
with all the negative notes being published, i thought i would take a look to see what this wine was about. i did not have the opportunity to taste this wine when it was a cult product 10 years ago, so i can't make any objective comparisons. nevertheless, it would seem that the winemaker has, indeed, changed his stylistic practices. i did not find the wine to be thin, but it was rather uni-dimensional. possibly cherries but a little plum jammy as well. the wine is young and therefore has some teeth staining characteristics. yet, it does not seem that this will develop any voluptuousness as it matures. the screw cap closure was impossible to remove using standard tools. had to puncture the top. caused laceration of the fingers removing metal. i will not suffer these indignities again.
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4/12/2005 - mls wrote: 87 Points
Not as good as earlier vintages.
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3/20/2005 - AndrewSGHall wrote:
Le Cigare Volant vertical: Soft nose with alcohol dominating faint herbals. Some fruit, slight herbal notes, short finish. Very much low-level Cotes du Rhone like.
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2/12/2005 - burcusabrews wrote:
Not very concentrated. Lacked significant structure. Took a lot of proding and air time to show any flavors and once it did the flavors were quite muted, one dimensional bing cherries, maybe some anise. At $35, awful QPR.
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5/1/2004 - AndrewSGHall wrote:
This used to be one of my favorite wines and recently my last bottle of 1985 turned out to be the best yet and shocked a group of jaded palates. Now bottled in screwcap, this wine reflects that Randall Graham has moved from being in love with the praxis of winemaking to being in love with the idea of winemaking. Generic fruit, still rather creamy and yeasty even after 6 mos in the bottle. Short finish with low acidity and maybe a slight tinge of spice. Carafe table wine fare. Most tellingly, this wine became an undrinkable disjointed mess after about 4 hrs in the decanter. PAR, at the beginning. Paired: Roasted chicken.
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2/26/2004 - AndrewSGHall wrote:
Nice. Started off very yeasty. After about 1/2 hr opened up to nice fruit and good body. No real nose suprisingly. Clean finish, short. Some cassis and tiny leather. Not very complex, but enjoyable. Good pairing with Grilled skirt steak w/ veg and guacamole
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