Cloudy crimson. Fresh nose of cherry cola and baking spice. Medium bodied, sweet blueberries, sharp black cherries, leather, lots of dry dusty tannins, tobacco, and a long finish. Delicious. Still a lot of life left.
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Still a nice dark red purple. Big full nose of graphite and dark fruit. Firm tannins on entry and through finish. Palate echoed the nose with a lengthy finish of sweet cassis. This has done well over the years. Actually a bit more to my liking than when young.
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Dark rose with slight bricking. Great nose of blueberry pie, mulled spices, and tobacco. Medium bodied, leather, cedar, black cherries, muscular tannins, dust, and a long, tongue-wrapping finish. The secondary characteristics have emerged, pushing the fruit to the back. That's a good thing. Thanks Tim.
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Dark Sonoma ruby purple in the glass with a light cling. Full nose of mostly fruit qualities -- cassis, blue-/blackberry compote -- with a vanilla oak sheen. Palate is intense and fruit-forward (as expected). Black- and blueberries, black currant jam, a hint of that Cab Sauv green, and that vanilla sheen (very subtle). Tannins well integrated at this point, giving just enough to smack your lips after the medium-long finish which continues the flavor profile started on entry. Take care of it and it could give another year, but it's a crowd pleaser right now, so drink up. You bought some later vintages, right?
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Tight, green and bright when opened, very fruit forward. We used the Eisch wine glasses to get the wine to open up more quickly. Once it did, WOW. The tannins came forward, the wine became silky smooth with a great complexity. It still has a few more years to lay (2012 is the latest you want to store it), but it a very smooth wine now.
Either let it open up for an hour or use the wine glasses that get it to open more quickly. Google Eisch is you aren't aware of these, and there are a few other manufacturers offering similar.
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At first, very fruit heavy with a quick finish...not as smooth until after sitting for an hour. I agree with the "silky" comments. I could almost taste the Cab and Syrah components and they blended together very nicely.
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This wine just keeps getting better, both in the bottle and in the glass. Incredible cocoa/porcini nose, chocolate cherries on the palate. Tannins still a bit dry, definitely has a few more years to go.
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deep purple color, with a huge berry extract nose. the flavors are almost confusingly dense with blackberry and sweet dark cherries, some cocoa and vanilla thrown in as well. there's lots of toast and blueberry pie on the finish. this is a huge wine, and the fruit is great, but it just didn't wow me as much as i thought it might. 37% cabernet sauvignon, 43% syrah, 15% petite sirah, 5% merlot. 14.4% alcohol and 466 cases made.
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This was a great wine. Beautiful deep purple color. Loads of dark fruits (raspberries, blackberries, black cherries) on the nose with beautiful toasted vanilla oak. Gorgeous flavors on the palate including mocha, vanilla, raspberry jam. Incredibly smooth mouthfeel and a long lingering finish. This is a monster wine for the price. Easily could be mistaken for a $70+ wine.
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The color is a very deep garnet. A very serious nose of plum, tobacco, and a little spice. The plum, tobacco and spice carry over to the palate, with some fresh raspberries. Rich, full body. Firm tannins are nicely balanced with the rich fruit. Great, long finish has a hint of vanilla coming through. This is a terrific wine. Very enjoyable, full fruit, has enough depth to make it interesting.
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Color: Dark Ruby/ Violet Nose: Black fruit - plum & cassis. Just out of the bottle there is plenty of sweet vanillin oak, hinting at crème brûlée. With time in the decanter the fruit component opens up and there are additional hints of mocha and a touch of licorice. Full bodied with lots of fruit, big tannins and plenty of acidity to keep it fairly balanced. A very enjoyable and well made wine in the CA style - ripe, extracted, fruit forward with a plentiful charge of oak, that will be very appealing to lots of folks.
That said, I personally would have enjoyed more nuance and varietal characteristics(from the Syrah & Cab), rather than flavors of the barrel aging - completely personal preference.
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Not quite a 92, but more than a 91. Call it 91+ or 92-. Numbers came out to 92, so there ya go.
COLOR: 5/5 - When I first opened it and poured a taste, the color was like the darkest, meanest, over-ripest Macintosh apple you've ever seen, but there was a mysterious translucence that gave the appearance of a thin wine. As I write this, there is no doubt that all this wine's color buddies have woken up, linked elbows, and made a burgundy brick wall in the glass. NOSE: 12/15 - I'm still waiting for the nose to come around fully. There was a quick whiff of boysenberry jam when I popped the bottle that blew off and the nose really tightened up. As it starts coming back around, the boysenberry is coming back, bring some blueberry, and some tobacco, vanilla, and leather. FLAVOR: 8/10 - Take a chunk of 70% cocoa, melt it, dip a spoonful of boysenberry jam into it, sprinkle it with black pepper, and stuff in mouth, and spread the concoction all over your palate. The mouthfeel is surprisingly supple and moves effortless across your palate. There is a tremendous amount of structure in the wine and that is CLEARLY evident the instant this wine touches your lips. FINISH: 9/10 - This is a fabulous wine to drink slowly. The finish starts tart and tannic with the dark chocolate dominating. The finish continues to twist and turn going through every element that has appeared on the nose and palate. Minutes later, this wine is still there and still pleasant. The last fading nuance I detect is raspberry.POTENTIAL: 4/5 - There is tremendous body and structure in this wine that clearly puts it in a category of wines that can sustain cellaring for a decade. OVERALL: 4/5 - This is a very well made wine, Julia Roberts in a bottle. Outstanding body, legs that go on forever, not a bit of weakness or flab, and a HUGE mouth. If you had to be stranded on a desert island, you would do very well to be stranded with either (or both!) reds.
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Brought it to a steakhouse, decanted, opened nicely over a couple hours. Delicious! So complex. I'll wait a few years on the bottle I have left as I think this one even has room to improve.
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Blueberries and cream, Cocoa, Cassis and spices with a little vanilla on the nose. Lush palate of black cherry, currants, bitter chocolate, nice acidity firm tannins. will give a couple years for next bottle.
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10/4/2015 - Acohen Likes this wine: 91 Points
Matured well with dark fruit, cocoa and nice balance
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7/5/2015 - merryberry Likes this wine: 91 Points
Cloudy crimson. Fresh nose of cherry cola and baking spice. Medium bodied, sweet blueberries, sharp black cherries, leather, lots of dry dusty tannins, tobacco, and a long finish. Delicious. Still a lot of life left.
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10/7/2014 - iByron Likes this wine: 88 Points
Still a nice dark red purple. Big full nose of graphite and dark fruit. Firm tannins on entry and through finish. Palate echoed the nose with a lengthy finish of sweet cassis. This has done well over the years. Actually a bit more to my liking than when young.
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10/10/2013 - merryberry wrote: 91 Points
Dark rose with slight bricking. Great nose of blueberry pie, mulled spices, and tobacco. Medium bodied, leather, cedar, black cherries, muscular tannins, dust, and a long, tongue-wrapping finish. The secondary characteristics have emerged, pushing the fruit to the back. That's a good thing. Thanks Tim.
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2/28/2013 - iByron wrote: 88 Points
Dark Sonoma ruby purple in the glass with a light cling. Full nose of mostly fruit qualities -- cassis, blue-/blackberry compote -- with a vanilla oak sheen. Palate is intense and fruit-forward (as expected). Black- and blueberries, black currant jam, a hint of that Cab Sauv green, and that vanilla sheen (very subtle). Tannins well integrated at this point, giving just enough to smack your lips after the medium-long finish which continues the flavor profile started on entry. Take care of it and it could give another year, but it's a crowd pleaser right now, so drink up. You bought some later vintages, right?
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2/25/2012 - PolarBear22 wrote: 91 Points
OTBN - Still drinking very well. Decanted for an hour and a half before dinner. Great fruit and smooth tannins. Not as much velvet. smoother now.
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9/19/2011 - creining wrote: 90 Points
Dark cherry and integrated tannins, nice structure and complexity. Really changed over the course of 2 hours.
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9/1/2010 - galewskj wrote: 89 Points
Drank quickly wih dinner, but a great meritage blend.
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4/12/2009 - jerwin wrote: 91 Points
Tight, green and bright when opened, very fruit forward. We used the Eisch wine glasses to get the wine to open up more quickly. Once it did, WOW. The tannins came forward, the wine became silky smooth with a great complexity. It still has a few more years to lay (2012 is the latest you want to store it), but it a very smooth wine now.
Either let it open up for an hour or use the wine glasses that get it to open more quickly. Google Eisch is you aren't aware of these, and there are a few other manufacturers offering similar.
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2/26/2009 - Acohen wrote: 91 Points
Really opened up well. Decanted for about an hour and the nose was fabulous with lots of complexity and depth. Good dark fruit and lots of cocoa
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12/25/2008 - Farm wrote: 90 Points
At first, very fruit heavy with a quick finish...not as smooth until after sitting for an hour. I agree with the "silky" comments. I could almost taste the Cab and Syrah components and they blended together very nicely.
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12/24/2008 - PolarBear22 wrote: 91 Points
Decanted about two hours before dinner. Super smooth with great fruit and integrated tannins. Still velvet on the tongue.
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9/26/2008 - oppsie wrote: 91 Points
This wine just keeps getting better, both in the bottle and in the glass. Incredible cocoa/porcini nose, chocolate cherries on the palate. Tannins still a bit dry, definitely has a few more years to go.
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5/25/2008 - schuey wrote: 90 Points
Very complex. Nice fruit and tobacco up front. Silky tannins with a smooth finish. Great bottle of wine!
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5/1/2008 - jwsobeck wrote: 92 Points
creamy fruitful nose, firm tannins, rich in taste, well balanced with a above average finish where the fruit really shined through
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2/23/2008 - Philmck wrote:
On opening: Big nose of red fruit (cherry). Nice transition into mid pallat. Short finish.
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1/29/2008 - conroo wrote: 90 Points
Enjoyed this wine immensely.
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1/5/2008 - isaacjamesbaker wrote: 89 Points
deep purple color, with a huge berry extract nose. the flavors are almost confusingly dense with blackberry and sweet dark cherries, some cocoa and vanilla thrown in as well. there's lots of toast and blueberry pie on the finish. this is a huge wine, and the fruit is great, but it just didn't wow me as much as i thought it might. 37% cabernet sauvignon, 43% syrah, 15% petite sirah, 5% merlot. 14.4% alcohol and 466 cases made.
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12/31/2007 - PolarBear22 wrote: 91 Points
Still love this wine. Decanted about two hours before dinner. Tannins settled nicely. This was like velvet on the tongue.
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12/31/2007 - Rich S wrote: 93 Points
This was a great wine. Beautiful deep purple color. Loads of dark fruits (raspberries, blackberries, black cherries) on the nose with beautiful toasted vanilla oak. Gorgeous flavors on the palate including mocha, vanilla, raspberry jam. Incredibly smooth mouthfeel and a long lingering finish. This is a monster wine for the price. Easily could be mistaken for a $70+ wine.
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10/28/2007 - JavaMonkey wrote: 91 Points
The color is a very deep garnet. A very serious nose of plum, tobacco, and a little spice. The plum, tobacco and spice carry over to the palate, with some fresh raspberries. Rich, full body. Firm tannins are nicely balanced with the rich fruit. Great, long finish has a hint of vanilla coming through. This is a terrific wine. Very enjoyable, full fruit, has enough depth to make it interesting.
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10/5/2007 - ncwinos wrote: 90 Points
Loved it - good depth and flavor.
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10/2/2007 - racephoto wrote:
Very, very good.
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8/27/2007 - Kryn13 wrote:
Wonderful. Very fruity. A-
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7/30/2007 - sa66 wrote: 87 Points
Color: Dark Ruby/ Violet
Nose: Black fruit - plum & cassis. Just out of the bottle there is plenty of sweet vanillin oak, hinting at crème brûlée. With time in the decanter the fruit component opens up and there are additional hints of mocha and a touch of licorice.
Full bodied with lots of fruit, big tannins and plenty of acidity to keep it fairly balanced. A very enjoyable and well made wine in the CA style - ripe, extracted, fruit forward with a plentiful charge of oak, that will be very appealing to lots of folks.
That said, I personally would have enjoyed more nuance and varietal characteristics(from the Syrah & Cab), rather than flavors of the barrel aging - completely personal preference.
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7/30/2007 - Corrado wrote: 92 Points
Not quite a 92, but more than a 91. Call it 91+ or 92-. Numbers came out to 92, so there ya go.
COLOR: 5/5 - When I first opened it and poured a taste, the color was like the darkest, meanest, over-ripest Macintosh apple you've ever seen, but there was a mysterious translucence that gave the appearance of a thin wine. As I write this, there is no doubt that all this wine's color buddies have woken up, linked elbows, and made a burgundy brick wall in the glass.
NOSE: 12/15 - I'm still waiting for the nose to come around fully. There was a quick whiff of boysenberry jam when I popped the bottle that blew off and the nose really tightened up. As it starts coming back around, the boysenberry is coming back, bring some blueberry, and some tobacco, vanilla, and leather.
FLAVOR: 8/10 - Take a chunk of 70% cocoa, melt it, dip a spoonful of boysenberry jam into it, sprinkle it with black pepper, and stuff in mouth, and spread the concoction all over your palate. The mouthfeel is surprisingly supple and moves effortless across your palate. There is a tremendous amount of structure in the wine and that is CLEARLY evident the instant this wine touches your lips.
FINISH: 9/10 - This is a fabulous wine to drink slowly. The finish starts tart and tannic with the dark chocolate dominating. The finish continues to twist and turn going through every element that has appeared on the nose and palate. Minutes later, this wine is still there and still pleasant. The last fading nuance I detect is raspberry.POTENTIAL: 4/5 - There is tremendous body and structure in this wine that clearly puts it in a category of wines that can sustain cellaring for a decade.
OVERALL: 4/5 - This is a very well made wine, Julia Roberts in a bottle. Outstanding body, legs that go on forever, not a bit of weakness or flab, and a HUGE mouth. If you had to be stranded on a desert island, you would do very well to be stranded with either (or both!) reds.
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6/29/2007 - aces219 wrote:
Brought it to a steakhouse, decanted, opened nicely over a couple hours. Delicious! So complex. I'll wait a few years on the bottle I have left as I think this one even has room to improve.
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6/20/2007 - Kryn13 wrote:
Boy this stuff is BIG. A
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5/6/2007 - ncwinos wrote: 89 Points
Nice full bodied wine. Interesting blend.
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4/20/2007 - AstonM wrote: 90 Points
Blueberries and cream, Cocoa, Cassis and spices with a little vanilla on the nose.
Lush palate of black cherry, currants, bitter chocolate, nice acidity firm tannins.
will give a couple years for next bottle.
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4/12/2007 - hankston wrote:
smell of vanilla, tobacco, leather, dark fruit. i probably won't open another bottle of this for 3-5 years.
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3/22/2007 - EMichels wrote: 91 Points
Chocolate nose; Soft with a lot of depth and a long, long finish; Dark fruit; 5-12-16-8
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2/7/2007 - racephoto wrote: flawed
Frozen on arrival with popped cork and leakage. Being replaced by Woot.
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