Firing on all cylinders with tons of northern rhone aspects -- game, smoke, black pepper and rich black fruit in a medium weight and well-balanced frame. At peak.
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Delivers with beautiful, clean, full aromas of dried meat, camphor, bay leaf, and the palate basically matches with a bit of spice and tobacco. Difficult believing the alc is 11.9% because I feel like there is some heat: maybe just the dried herb profile? The fruit noticed by earlier tasters has evolved into more floral and meaty notes -- certainly not now "fruit forward". Held up nicely over 5 years but don't know it'll improve too much. A solid, thoroughly enjoyable wine.
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Wonderful, textbook syrah nose - blueberry, meat, olives and black pepper. Slightly more fruit than one would find in a northern Rhone counterpart. High acidity and very lean. Fills out with air. Very nice wine.
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Deep inky purple. Herbs du Provance, black olives, white pepper, blue fruit. Touch of bacon fat. Textbook cold weather syrah. Very enjoyable, even if somewhat one-dimensional (in all likelihood we drank too young and would have been better with 2-3 more yrs in the cellar).
Slow ox'd for 30 mins and drank over three hours, Would revisit in 3 more yrs if I had more bottles (I don't, sadly).
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Dense, brooding purple. A bit dull appearance. Pronounced meaty aromas. Fruity without being over aggressive. Good balance overall. This bottle drank well.
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Deep inky purple. Provencal herbs, asparagus, black olives intermingle with black plum and blueberry. After open for a few days the fruit develops and emerges. Full bodied, concentrated, and intensely charismatic with black fruit and iodyne. One would not expect the bold expressions from a Syrah at 11.9% abv. Young and lively, perfectly ready to drink. Made for spring lamb and herbs.
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Soy sauce, river rock, blueberry and masking tape. A medium finish, with a little less dimension than I am used to from Wind Gap, yet the clarity is all there. Still, a very good wine - indeed. Drink now - 2021.
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Tasted side by side with a Bernard Levet La Chavaroche 2009. The wind gap has a lot more fruit than the Chavaroche. Floral and high in acidity. However the wind is too simple when compared with the Chavaroche and almost taste like grape juice. Interesting effort for making an atypical Calirofnia Syrah but still not quite a Cote Rotie. Hard to see the aging potential of this wine.
Red meat, iron, deep black fruit and an overtone of violets. There is an amazing amount of flavor in this wine, even as it is very tightly wound. It also delivers all of this with less than 12% alcohol. I tried this wine back in June and was very impressed. It's even better than I remember it. Amazing job Pax Mahle!
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Note: this wine was tasted during a large event. While the pour was generous enough to get a good read on the wine, it was not something I followed over several hours.
With all that out of the way, I loved this wine. It showed all the meaty, robust elements of Syrah, with deep fruit. It also had excellent framing tannins and acid balance. All in all it was completely put together, to a very surprising degree for such a young wine.
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2/23/2022 - Nanda wrote: 92 Points
Firing on all cylinders with tons of northern rhone aspects -- game, smoke, black pepper and rich black fruit in a medium weight and well-balanced frame. At peak.
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12/12/2020 - Erikjay Likes this wine: 90 Points
A well structured wine, approaching peak maturity. Olives, black currant and sous bois. Nice.
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6/26/2020 - David_T wrote: 89 Points
Smoky, dark fruit, olive and black pepper. Light-medium acid/tannins. Lovely syrah flavors just feels a bit disjointed.
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11/14/2018 - A6Rover Likes this wine: 91 Points
Delivers with beautiful, clean, full aromas of dried meat, camphor, bay leaf, and the palate basically matches with a bit of spice and tobacco. Difficult believing the alc is 11.9% because I feel like there is some heat: maybe just the dried herb profile? The fruit noticed by earlier tasters has evolved into more floral and meaty notes -- certainly not now "fruit forward". Held up nicely over 5 years but don't know it'll improve too much. A solid, thoroughly enjoyable wine.
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12/24/2016 - aekenback wrote: 90 Points
Wonderful, textbook syrah nose - blueberry, meat, olives and black pepper. Slightly more fruit than one would find in a northern Rhone counterpart. High acidity and very lean. Fills out with air. Very nice wine.
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11/19/2016 - bravo.solares Likes this wine: 91 Points
Deep inky purple. Herbs du Provance, black olives, white pepper, blue fruit. Touch of bacon fat. Textbook cold weather syrah. Very enjoyable, even if somewhat one-dimensional (in all likelihood we drank too young and would have been better with 2-3 more yrs in the cellar).
Slow ox'd for 30 mins and drank over three hours, Would revisit in 3 more yrs if I had more bottles (I don't, sadly).
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11/17/2016 - Italiana Likes this wine:
Dense, brooding purple. A bit dull appearance. Pronounced meaty aromas. Fruity without being over aggressive. Good balance overall. This bottle drank well.
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11/8/2016 - Elycohn Likes this wine: 93 Points
Deep inky purple. Provencal herbs, asparagus, black olives intermingle with black plum and blueberry. After open for a few days the fruit develops and emerges. Full bodied, concentrated, and intensely charismatic with black fruit and iodyne. One would not expect the bold expressions from a Syrah at 11.9% abv. Young and lively, perfectly ready to drink. Made for spring lamb and herbs.
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2/14/2016 - Matt Scott wrote: 88 Points
Soy sauce, river rock, blueberry and masking tape. A medium finish, with a little less dimension than I am used to from Wind Gap, yet the clarity is all there. Still, a very good wine - indeed. Drink now - 2021.
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1/16/2016 - alphalam wrote: 87 Points
Tasted side by side with a Bernard Levet La Chavaroche 2009. The wind gap has a lot more fruit than the Chavaroche. Floral and high in acidity. However the wind is too simple when compared with the Chavaroche and almost taste like grape juice. Interesting effort for making an atypical Calirofnia Syrah but still not quite a Cote Rotie. Hard to see the aging potential of this wine.
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12/6/2015 - Rieslingfan wrote:
Red meat, iron, deep black fruit and an overtone of violets. There is an amazing amount of flavor in this wine, even as it is very tightly wound. It also delivers all of this with less than 12% alcohol. I tried this wine back in June and was very impressed. It's even better than I remember it. Amazing job Pax Mahle!
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6/17/2015 - Rieslingfan wrote:
Note: this wine was tasted during a large event. While the pour was generous enough to get a good read on the wine, it was not something I followed over several hours.
With all that out of the way, I loved this wine. It showed all the meaty, robust elements of Syrah, with deep fruit. It also had excellent framing tannins and acid balance. All in all it was completely put together, to a very surprising degree for such a young wine.
2 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment