Dark blackish garnet colored, full bodied. big forward concentrated brambly rich super ripe black berry fruits with tones of ripe raisin, fig and creosote and hints of black pepper. This wine begs for spicy pasta, pizza, barbecue or dark chocolate or the like to offset the robust forward fruits. The girls love this style but I personally find it almost 'over to top'.
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A very well balanced, classic California Zin. Big Fruit, Bramble and ripe Blackberry. Alcohol is well integrated. Fantastic mountain fruit from one of my favorite winemakers. Heidi is great.
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Big fruit bomb, and a little sweet for our taste - almost a dessert wine. We originally tasted this at Napa Wine Company's tasting room in Napa and I remember enjoying it much more than this. Not a bad wine, but a little disappointing compared to what I remember.
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Drinking very well right now. Nice honeysuckle nose. Took about 4 hours to fully open. Red fruit, cranberry, olive juice, warm tickling mid-palette, almond and honey with fine sweet tannins.
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wow, I didn’t know what to expect here, when I purchased the wine from the proprietors, I actually wasn’t the biggest fan of it, as the alcohol seemed shrill and the wine overly intense, but I wanted to buy something and the cabernet sauvignon, though incredible delicious, was priced out of my range and unavailable, so I bought this, threw it in the back of all the other wines, and hoped time would make something of it, did it ever, beautiful dark appearance, smell sweet fruit, tar, and gasoline, made me worry about the alcohol though the nose was delicious, but the taste was divine, the sweetness of the fruit had greatly faded and there was even a bit of savory tartness sticking out, the finish was an incredible pow of ginger snaps again and again, very much a zing to it, and though the flavor profile sounds overwhelming it was delicious and not tiring to the last drop and I would have leaped for more, add to that that it paired excellently with a spicy shrimp pasta and I would say I can’t believe my undeserved luck for buying this wine
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Continues to age well and develop a wonderful fuit and white pepper profile on the nose and palate. Weel integrated mountain tannins add a lovely finish to the wine.
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Deep purple color. Can't put my finger on the grassy herb note I get. Olives, or maybe pickles coming through some nice fruit and spice. A long persistent finish without any heat at 14.9%. Very very enjoyable.
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such a nice wine. Fully of briary, dark fruit and a classic black pepper nose and flavor. Always a hit on Turkey day and this one showed off very well.
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Big, bold fruit profile that was sufficiently matched by the Howell Mnt structure. Medium finish provided the classic zin black pepper spice. Nice wine and solid QPR.
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12/15/2019 - Wine&GardenLover wrote: 95 Points
15 yr old zin from 3L bottle. Fantastic fruit, still very young. Continued to evolve throughout the evening - it just kept getting better!
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8/13/2015 - rmcnees wrote:
Dark blackish garnet colored, full bodied. big forward concentrated brambly rich super ripe black berry fruits with tones of ripe raisin, fig and creosote and hints of black pepper. This wine begs for spicy pasta, pizza, barbecue or dark chocolate or the like to offset the robust forward fruits. The girls love this style but I personally find it almost 'over to top'.
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3/19/2011 - klaberdog wrote: 90 Points
Enjoyed this wine with baked Parmesan encrusted tilapia.
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10/4/2010 - WGC wrote: 90 Points
Nice and fruit forward but nice alcohol balance. Great time.
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4/18/2010 - rdfech01 wrote: 90 Points
This was a great zin. Fresh, bright, dark fruit nose. Not hot, but full with nice hint of oak behind the fruit.
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10/18/2009 - ptelgenh wrote: 92 Points
A very well balanced, classic California Zin. Big Fruit, Bramble and ripe Blackberry. Alcohol is well integrated. Fantastic mountain fruit from one of my favorite winemakers. Heidi is great.
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7/11/2009 - mcook wrote: 87 Points
Big fruit bomb, and a little sweet for our taste - almost a dessert wine. We originally tasted this at Napa Wine Company's tasting room in Napa and I remember enjoying it much more than this. Not a bad wine, but a little disappointing compared to what I remember.
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10/17/2008 - ljl203 wrote: 90 Points
Drinking very well right now. Nice honeysuckle nose. Took about 4 hours to fully open. Red fruit, cranberry, olive juice, warm tickling mid-palette, almond and honey with fine sweet tannins.
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7/18/2008 - Keith M wrote:
wow, I didn’t know what to expect here, when I purchased the wine from the proprietors, I actually wasn’t the biggest fan of it, as the alcohol seemed shrill and the wine overly intense, but I wanted to buy something and the cabernet sauvignon, though incredible delicious, was priced out of my range and unavailable, so I bought this, threw it in the back of all the other wines, and hoped time would make something of it, did it ever, beautiful dark appearance, smell sweet fruit, tar, and gasoline, made me worry about the alcohol though the nose was delicious, but the taste was divine, the sweetness of the fruit had greatly faded and there was even a bit of savory tartness sticking out, the finish was an incredible pow of ginger snaps again and again, very much a zing to it, and though the flavor profile sounds overwhelming it was delicious and not tiring to the last drop and I would have leaped for more, add to that that it paired excellently with a spicy shrimp pasta and I would say I can’t believe my undeserved luck for buying this wine
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6/6/2008 - ljl203 wrote: 89 Points
Very similar to last time. Grassy, lemon dill..and berry with a little heat and tar.
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2/10/2008 - Elkiholic wrote: 92 Points
Continues to age well and develop a wonderful fuit and white pepper profile on the nose and palate. Weel integrated mountain tannins add a lovely finish to the wine.
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1/19/2008 - ljl203 wrote: 89 Points
Deep purple color. Can't put my finger on the grassy herb note I get. Olives, or maybe pickles coming through some nice fruit and spice. A long persistent finish without any heat at 14.9%. Very very enjoyable.
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11/24/2007 - Elkiholic wrote: 92 Points
such a nice wine. Fully of briary, dark fruit and a classic black pepper nose and flavor. Always a hit on Turkey day and this one showed off very well.
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9/8/2007 - AZ Wine Lover wrote: 90 Points
Excellent with salmon and Porque No glaze
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4/25/2007 - danseng wrote:
Excellent wine. Good pepper up front and a great creamy vanilla finish.
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3/4/2007 - Elkiholic wrote: 90 Points
Big, bold fruit profile that was sufficiently matched by the Howell Mnt structure. Medium finish provided the classic zin black pepper spice. Nice wine and solid QPR.
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