This bottle is tasting better than the last one we had. There are tannins, dark fruit along with a lot of earth. This was decanted for about one hour and has continued to evolve. There are good big flavors on the back of your tongue, the mid palate seems to fade quickly. This wine, when tasted intentionally, is quite big and good, if casually sipped it seems to hit that mid tongue area where it's flavors are weak. In my mouth anyway, your mileage may vary.
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Pop and pour, not too impressed though it did open up. A little light for a Stonestreet. At the end of the glass tannins were developing along with a limited amount of fruit. Some tobacco in the flavors. Think the opposite of jammy and here we go.
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This bottle was just ready to drink now - enjoyed at the Classic Cafe in Roanoke TX. Should have been decanted, but wasn't. They didn't have decanters. This was basically served as a pop and pour. Altec-style agglomerate cork was removed. About 1mm of cork bleed consistently. The wine poured almost black into the glass. The initial smell was blackberry and chocolate with that sweeter finish to suggest molasses or chocolate. Initial taste was a bit acidic, some tart black fruit, but mostly there was smoke, leather, and tobacco on the front, with some muted blackberry showing up in the middle along with some baker's chocolate and forest floor leading to a spicy but dull finish. Took about 10 minutes for the acid to blow off, and about 20 minutes for integration, but slowly the wine started to tip towards having a nice dark fruit backbone, interlaced earthiness throughout. The wine was initially enjoyed with some black bean hummus, which went incredibly well. Later the wine was enjoyed with lamb chops, and the earthiness really started to show its true colors with the lamb. This wine is BARELY getting started. You can drink this one now if you decant about an hour. Full flavor profile in about 45 minutes I'd say. Probably good for another 5 years, although I'm not a fan of the agglomerate corks to similarly age any two identical bottles of wine. In another 1-2 years this wine will probably show 91 to 92.
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Inspired by Bordeaux's right bank, this is made from 54% merlot and 46% cabernet sauvignon grapes grown in California's Alexander Mountain Range. Describing this wine is much like describing Little Richard: lots of dark fruit, sweet tobacco and leather. And the tannins grip surprisingly as if gulping from a bottle of tart cranberry juice in the middle of the night when you thought it was cran-apple juice you bought instead. And I mean that as a compliment.
Speaking of compliments, I couldn't help but notice how good looking all of you are.
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Red currants / bell pepper / tobacco on nose - On palate, medium body,similarflavor profile to nose +dried cranberry, medium acids balancefruit and stout tannins on medium+ finish. As prior taster noted more Bordeaux than Sonoma/Napa in style and stout tannins are just getting integrated. 89-91 range. Nice wine.
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LCBO "Sonoma Superstars" Taste and Buy Event - October 21, 2010. Sorry, no or limited tasting notes. Just a score. Too many wines, too little time for notes. Here's the note, if any:
Nose - 90 Palette - 91 or 92
Bordeaux style, not to heavy. Light to medium body. So not a typical over extracted California wine, which is why some CT folks don't like it. But I like Bordeaux and finesse. This winery is getting their. Not all wines have to be BIG USA statements.
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Opened and seemed muted or tight. Decanted for an hour and drank over the course of the night but this wine never changed. It was more dull than anything. Nothing interesting. Maybe my expectation were too high.
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Dark in color with mild aromatics including dark berries and a bit of old spice. Full body with a mouthful of oak and velvet tannins. A noticeably young wine with deep concentrated black fruit racing at it's core. Other noticables of cassis, leather, a bit of toast, and cranberry. The finish is dry yet lingering. This wine has good structure and should age well. Not a bad buy for the money. Reminds me of a Stags' Leap Cab in style.
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3/5/2016 - GabyR wrote: 90 Points
Great balanced fruit profile. Still drinking well and a crowd pleaser.
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8/15/2015 - Klainetal wrote: 90 Points
Still very fruit forward. The Merlot blend with the Cabernet mellows the bold Cab taste without losing the flavors of the two grapes.
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3/31/2014 - blabbott wrote: 89 Points
This bottle is tasting better than the last one we had. There are tannins, dark fruit along with a lot of earth. This was decanted for about one hour and has continued to evolve. There are good big flavors on the back of your tongue, the mid palate seems to fade quickly. This wine, when tasted intentionally, is quite big and good, if casually sipped it seems to hit that mid tongue area where it's flavors are weak. In my mouth anyway, your mileage may vary.
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2/27/2014 - blabbott wrote: 88 Points
Pop and pour, not too impressed though it did open up. A little light for a Stonestreet. At the end of the glass tannins were developing along with a limited amount of fruit. Some tobacco in the flavors. Think the opposite of jammy and here we go.
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7/3/2012 - mflesh wrote: 90 Points
This bottle was just ready to drink now - enjoyed at the Classic Cafe in Roanoke TX. Should have been decanted, but wasn't. They didn't have decanters. This was basically served as a pop and pour. Altec-style agglomerate cork was removed. About 1mm of cork bleed consistently. The wine poured almost black into the glass. The initial smell was blackberry and chocolate with that sweeter finish to suggest molasses or chocolate. Initial taste was a bit acidic, some tart black fruit, but mostly there was smoke, leather, and tobacco on the front, with some muted blackberry showing up in the middle along with some baker's chocolate and forest floor leading to a spicy but dull finish. Took about 10 minutes for the acid to blow off, and about 20 minutes for integration, but slowly the wine started to tip towards having a nice dark fruit backbone, interlaced earthiness throughout. The wine was initially enjoyed with some black bean hummus, which went incredibly well. Later the wine was enjoyed with lamb chops, and the earthiness really started to show its true colors with the lamb. This wine is BARELY getting started. You can drink this one now if you decant about an hour. Full flavor profile in about 45 minutes I'd say. Probably good for another 5 years, although I'm not a fan of the agglomerate corks to similarly age any two identical bottles of wine. In another 1-2 years this wine will probably show 91 to 92.
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12/29/2011 - mjnickel Likes this wine: 90 Points
Inspired by Bordeaux's right bank, this is made from 54% merlot and 46% cabernet sauvignon grapes grown in California's Alexander Mountain Range. Describing this wine is much like describing Little Richard: lots of dark fruit, sweet tobacco and leather. And the tannins grip surprisingly as if gulping from a bottle of tart cranberry juice in the middle of the night when you thought it was cran-apple juice you bought instead. And I mean that as a compliment.
Speaking of compliments, I couldn't help but notice how good looking all of you are.
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9/27/2011 - CWilliam wrote: 90 Points
Red currants / bell pepper / tobacco on nose - On palate, medium body,similarflavor profile to nose +dried cranberry, medium acids balancefruit and stout tannins on medium+ finish. As prior taster noted more Bordeaux than Sonoma/Napa in style and stout tannins are just getting integrated. 89-91 range. Nice wine.
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7/16/2011 - BlancdeBlanc Likes this wine: 88 Points
Palate: tannins, brown spice, black cherry Aroma: spicy, raspberry
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11/2/2010 - Jhcwine Likes this wine: 91 Points
LCBO "Sonoma Superstars" Taste and Buy Event - October 21, 2010. Sorry, no or limited tasting notes. Just a score. Too many wines, too little time for notes. Here's the note, if any:
Nose - 90
Palette - 91 or 92
Bordeaux style, not to heavy. Light to medium body. So not a typical over extracted California wine, which is why some CT folks don't like it. But I like Bordeaux and finesse. This winery is getting their. Not all wines have to be BIG USA statements.
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5/25/2010 - aztecmark wrote: 86 Points
Opened and seemed muted or tight. Decanted for an hour and drank over the course of the night but this wine never changed. It was more dull than anything. Nothing interesting. Maybe my expectation were too high.
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10/16/2009 - GreatLibations wrote: 88 Points
Dark in color with mild aromatics including dark berries and a bit of old spice. Full body with a mouthful of oak and velvet tannins. A noticeably young wine with deep concentrated black fruit racing at it's core. Other noticables of cassis, leather, a bit of toast, and cranberry. The finish is dry yet lingering. This wine has good structure and should age well. Not a bad buy for the money. Reminds me of a Stags' Leap Cab in style.
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