Decanted for an hour. Tannins still big and searing at first but then they calmed down within a half hour or so. Big explosive black fruits and black currant. A faint touch of Eucalyptus but with some additional touches of sage and dried herbs as well along with a subtle minerality underneath. Still years left. No rush yet, and it might get better still.
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Very fragrant the wine exudes personality and class with layers of black currant, black cherry, graphite, cedar, bitter chocolate, tobacco leaf and a touch of marzipan. The aromas and flavors demonstrate great clarity, evident in the fact that despite great complexity each individual component can be easily identified. Medium bodied, the wine melds together ripeness and structure perfectly. The tannins have faded somewhat but are still present in the background predicting many years of life still yet ahead.
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Decanted for three hours before service. In the bottle, dark clear maroon-red, shading to maroon-auburn at the rim. On the nose, currants, cedar, and leather. On the palate, it's all there - minerals, fruit, the aged notes of leather, a bit of mint, all riding on a smooth, silky texture with a lasting finish. This would be a great ringer to throw in a flight of St. Julien. It would also be great if I had more bottles of this, which, quite sadly, I don't. One of the nicest wines I've had in a good long while.
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Man I love these wines. This was just excellent. It is new world wine but with a bit of old world sensibility. Lovely red fruits, but then also some leather and more woodsy flavors. Not overdone. Very balanced. Excellent with a long life ahead.
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Still deep color. Blackberries, plums, leather, earthiness, and some smoke in the nose. Deep jammy fruit in the flavor, blackberries, dried plums and spice when opened that dissipated over time. A full bodied wine with a long finish, opened this wine 15 minutes before serving and that was a big mistake. It just kept getting better and showed more complexity. Fortunately, there's more in the cellar. The next bottle will be decanted a minimum of one hour.
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Opened and decanted this about an hour before drinking. Then re-bottled and tasted blind against several other wines of different areas/varieties to see if our group could determine which was which. And I totally nailed this. What a great wine. Medium ruby color and immediately from the nose, you can tell how well this wine is put together. It's got such great richness, the typical minerality of Diamond Mountain, lovely fruit notes that have a hint of soft sweetness to them, and a gracefully long finish. This was the standout of our little experiment.
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Good cassis and graphite on the palette but not much on the nose. Still plenty of structure but the cork had hardened and had to go in rather than out. Good color and no sign of a tawny edge.
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great wine . plenty of fruit and tannins .. very drinkable form the minute the bottle was opened and quite consistent throughout the dinner. the wine has plenty of years left.
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Would recommend decanting at least 2 hours. We did not, and you could tell the difference within one hour of opening. Pretty balanced right now, if we had more I would not open until 2014.
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This was my first Lokoya in a while and needed to see how this was progressing. Took it to Mastro's Steakhouse in The OC, but decanted about an hour before I left then poured it back in the bottle.
As Dan Patrick would say..."that deserves a wow!" Black purple color with sweet, intense nose of creme de cassis, cocoa, and vanilla spice that gained complexity over the meal. Sweet and velvetty on the palate, with a purity and richness only the finest wines have, this gained weight with air and contined to evolve on the palate over the course of the meal (2 hours). With each sip, I could not believe how good this was and that no one is talking about it. Not sure what its missing or how I would improve my score...maybe a little more concentration and earthiness and some espresso notes, but that's it! Irony is, every aged wine aspires to achieve balance like this...well this is already here!
Lokoya has lost its press, but the quality is still there. Gotta try the 2001 Mount Veeder sleeping in my cellar(RP97)...hard to imagine its better than the DM (RP96).
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10/29/2023 - mxpbuy Likes this wine: 96 Points
Decanted for an hour. Tannins still big and searing at first but then they calmed down within a half hour or so. Big explosive black fruits and black currant. A faint touch of Eucalyptus but with some additional touches of sage and dried herbs as well along with a subtle minerality underneath. Still years left. No rush yet, and it might get better still.
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4/18/2021 - shaferguy91 wrote: 94 Points
Decanted 1 hour. Hitting on all cylinders.
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7/29/2018 - brettay Likes this wine: 94 Points
Very fragrant the wine exudes personality and class with layers of black currant, black cherry, graphite, cedar, bitter chocolate, tobacco leaf and a touch of marzipan. The aromas and flavors demonstrate great clarity, evident in the fact that despite great complexity each individual component can be easily identified. Medium bodied, the wine melds together ripeness and structure perfectly. The tannins have faded somewhat but are still present in the background predicting many years of life still yet ahead.
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2/28/2018 - jshufelt wrote: 96 Points
Decanted for three hours before service. In the bottle, dark clear maroon-red, shading to maroon-auburn at the rim. On the nose, currants, cedar, and leather. On the palate, it's all there - minerals, fruit, the aged notes of leather, a bit of mint, all riding on a smooth, silky texture with a lasting finish. This would be a great ringer to throw in a flight of St. Julien. It would also be great if I had more bottles of this, which, quite sadly, I don't. One of the nicest wines I've had in a good long while.
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9/15/2017 - MC2 Wines Likes this wine:
Man I love these wines. This was just excellent. It is new world wine but with a bit of old world sensibility. Lovely red fruits, but then also some leather and more woodsy flavors. Not overdone. Very balanced. Excellent with a long life ahead.
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2/28/2017 - buckeye76 Likes this wine: 94 Points
Still deep color. Blackberries, plums, leather, earthiness, and some smoke in the nose. Deep jammy fruit in the flavor, blackberries, dried plums and spice when opened that dissipated over time. A full bodied wine with a long finish, opened this wine 15 minutes before serving and that was a big mistake. It just kept getting better and showed more complexity. Fortunately, there's more in the cellar. The next bottle will be decanted a minimum of one hour.
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3/3/2016 - MC2 Wines Likes this wine: 94 Points
Opened and decanted this about an hour before drinking. Then re-bottled and tasted blind against several other wines of different areas/varieties to see if our group could determine which was which. And I totally nailed this. What a great wine. Medium ruby color and immediately from the nose, you can tell how well this wine is put together. It's got such great richness, the typical minerality of Diamond Mountain, lovely fruit notes that have a hint of soft sweetness to them, and a gracefully long finish. This was the standout of our little experiment.
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10/9/2014 - Vitis Maximus Likes this wine: 92 Points
Good cassis and graphite on the palette but not much on the nose. Still plenty of structure but the cork had hardened and had to go in rather than out. Good color and no sign of a tawny edge.
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8/20/2013 - bobwire wrote:
great wine . plenty of fruit and tannins .. very drinkable form the minute the bottle was opened and quite consistent throughout the dinner.
the wine has plenty of years left.
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4/28/2012 - Sugarb wrote: 92 Points
Would recommend decanting at least 2 hours. We did not, and you could tell the difference within one hour of opening. Pretty balanced right now, if we had more I would not open until 2014.
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6/5/2009 - Phin wrote: 94 Points
Decanted 2 hours. Blackberry and cedar. Very rich with fine grit volcanic tannins. Bit drying on the finish.
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1/21/2008 - drinkwinedaily wrote: 96 Points
This was my first Lokoya in a while and needed to see how this was progressing. Took it to Mastro's Steakhouse in The OC, but decanted about an hour before I left then poured it back in the bottle.
As Dan Patrick would say..."that deserves a wow!" Black purple color with sweet, intense nose of creme de cassis, cocoa, and vanilla spice that gained complexity over the meal. Sweet and velvetty on the palate, with a purity and richness only the finest wines have, this gained weight with air and contined to evolve on the palate over the course of the meal (2 hours). With each sip, I could not believe how good this was and that no one is talking about it. Not sure what its missing or how I would improve my score...maybe a little more concentration and earthiness and some espresso notes, but that's it! Irony is, every aged wine aspires to achieve balance like this...well this is already here!
Lokoya has lost its press, but the quality is still there. Gotta try the 2001 Mount Veeder sleeping in my cellar(RP97)...hard to imagine its better than the DM (RP96).
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