Similar to my Feb 22 tasting with longer oxygenation. 6 hour slo-ox in cellar: black cherry, spice, rich full bodied. Smooth, well integrated. Sampled over 3 days with Day 2 being the best. Days 1-2 enjoyed with roast leg of lamb, day 3: scallops - not a great paring! Enjoyable young and likely even more with a few years of age. Great QPR.
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After reading some of the other tasting notes I wonder if there’s some significant bottle variation going on with this wine. I ordered this at a restaurant in Sweden and only tasted it after approx 45-mins in a decanter so can’t comment on how it tastes as a pop-and-pour. The wine was medium-full bodied with mostly red fruit character. The tannins were very fine, almost pixelated. The nose had lots of primary character still - also there was a notable tomato leaf aroma. There was a little astringency on the palate but this really just made it more appropriate for food rather than being unpleasant. The wine paired very well with a flank steak. The tannins we’re relatively high but not at all overwhelming and it worked well with the meat. The wine was quite long with a crisp finish due to the good level of acidity. All in all, this was a high-quality wine which is showing well but would be good for the next several years.
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Very tight on opening and improved only modestly with decanting. Black cherry and black fruit with spice, oak, anise and tobacco accents. Medium acidity and prominent drying tannins. Expect this to improve with time in the bottle, but right now only 91. Enjoyed at Fire & Smoke with Lisa.
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Just not a style of wine I appreciate. Monolithic and clumsy, overloaded with astringent red fruit flavor and devoid of texture or nuance. Manufactured grape flavored liquid, which didn’t budge for hours. I don’t see bottle age changing this.
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Tasted at the winery. Deep garnet, full expressive nose of cherry, vanilla, plum, with some mineral/vegetal notes. Flavor is lush, matching the nose. Still quite young, but will be amazing in the years to come. Hold at least 3 years.
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Oenocosmos tasting (Athens Hill): The wine shows medium intensity, its very tight, closed, dense ripe red fruit core, sweet spices. In the palate, the wines shows tight character, fresh, ripe fruit, sweet spices, tight tannins, heavy handed on oak, very fruity too, this also needs time, alcohol heat, medium finish
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2018 Decanted 1 hour plus. Very tannic still. Probably needs 4+. Very tannic, hints of chocolate, alcohol is a bit overwhelming. After a couple hours it opens up a bit. It is not as enjoyable as the stout merlot. It needed more of a decant or time in the bottle IMO.
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Fairly deep ruby purple Big plummy cherry flavors Big with great acidity and moderate tannin, this really could use a few years or at least a vigorous decant and lots of air. Very nice
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PnP. Color is a black-cherry purple, cherry red at the edge. Nose is a blend of red fruit, a briny note, paste. Palate is raspberry, cherry, pepper, spice. Surprisingly light weight/thin mouth feel, and a clipped-off finish. I bought this because I've always loved the merlot-centric right bank Bordeaux and remembered the WS #1 rating a few years ago. Certainly in comparison to most Pomerol or St. Emilion I've tasted, this really can't even be contrasted. The velvety smooth mouth feel that characterizes those wines is completely absent here. Feels like a high school team competing against major leagues.
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Purchased in the original cardboard 6 pack from an estate sale in May. Was apprehensive about serving. Very pleasantly surprised to see these were Three Palms vineyard rather than the regular bottle and things just got better from there. Plenty of life left in the wine and fantastic dark maroon color. These bottles must have been stored correctly. Black cherry on the palate complemented the chocolate brownies served with the wine. This was definitely one of the top US merlots that I have ever tasted! The six guests attending the party also raved about it so we opened a second bottle and drank it by itself. It will be hard to resist opening the remaining ones
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Opened in 2021. Amazing fragrance and taste; great Merlot. Medium viscosity, balanced graphite, leather & sweet cherry fragrance. Medium sweet, full body, strong tannins, medium acidity, a bit buttery. As it opens up, light orange and rose petal fragrance. Red fruit, refreshing finish. Lots of structure to this relatively young Merlot. A bit more balanced and sweeter than the Rector version of the same vintage.
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2/25/2023 - Deryck Likes this wine: 93 Points
Opened and let breathe for 4 hours; very enjoyable wine!
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11/27/2022 - Elkcims Likes this wine: 94 Points
Similar to my Feb 22 tasting with longer oxygenation.
6 hour slo-ox in cellar: black cherry, spice, rich full bodied. Smooth, well integrated. Sampled over 3 days with Day 2 being the best. Days 1-2 enjoyed with roast leg of lamb, day 3: scallops - not a great paring! Enjoyable young and likely even more with a few years of age. Great QPR.
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8/6/2022 - bvin Likes this wine: 94 Points
After reading some of the other tasting notes I wonder if there’s some significant bottle variation going on with this wine. I ordered this at a restaurant in Sweden and only tasted it after approx 45-mins in a decanter so can’t comment on how it tastes as a pop-and-pour.
The wine was medium-full bodied with mostly red fruit character. The tannins were very fine, almost pixelated. The nose had lots of primary character still - also there was a notable tomato leaf aroma. There was a little astringency on the palate but this really just made it more appropriate for food rather than being unpleasant.
The wine paired very well with a flank steak. The tannins we’re relatively high but not at all overwhelming and it worked well with the meat.
The wine was quite long with a crisp finish due to the good level of acidity.
All in all, this was a high-quality wine which is showing well but would be good for the next several years.
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6/16/2022 - ralaspech wrote: 91 Points
Very tight on opening and improved only modestly with decanting. Black cherry and black fruit with spice, oak, anise and tobacco accents. Medium acidity and prominent drying tannins. Expect this to improve with time in the bottle, but right now only 91. Enjoyed at Fire & Smoke with Lisa.
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3/2/2022 - JonnyG Does not like this wine: 85 Points
Just not a style of wine I appreciate. Monolithic and clumsy, overloaded with astringent red fruit flavor and devoid of texture or nuance. Manufactured grape flavored liquid, which didn’t budge for hours. I don’t see bottle age changing this.
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2/28/2022 - greedy wrote:
Nothing special but may have drank a few years to early. Will wait on the rest of my stash.
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2/12/2022 - BigBoy_Sonoma Likes this wine: 93 Points
Brambleberry, Blackfruit, red fruit, cedar, spice, pepper, smokey oak, big tannins. A/A- (93-94)
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2/12/2022 - Elkcims Likes this wine: 93 Points
3 hour decant: black cherry, spice, rich full bodied. Enjoyable young and likely even more with a few years of age.
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12/7/2021 - guitar guy Likes this wine: 93 Points
Tasted at the winery. Deep garnet, full expressive nose of cherry, vanilla, plum, with some mineral/vegetal notes. Flavor is lush, matching the nose. Still quite young, but will be amazing in the years to come. Hold at least 3 years.
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12/1/2021 - kostaslonis wrote:
Oenocosmos tasting (Athens Hill): The wine shows medium intensity, its very tight, closed, dense ripe red fruit core, sweet spices. In the palate, the wines shows tight character, fresh, ripe fruit, sweet spices, tight tannins, heavy handed on oak, very fruity too, this also needs time, alcohol heat, medium finish
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11/15/2021 - RickyT12 Likes this wine: 90 Points
2018
Decanted 1 hour plus.
Very tannic still. Probably needs 4+.
Very tannic, hints of chocolate, alcohol is a bit overwhelming. After a couple hours it opens up a bit. It is not as enjoyable as the stout merlot. It needed more of a decant or time in the bottle IMO.
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9/16/2021 - cos65 Likes this wine: 92 Points
Fairly deep ruby purple
Big plummy cherry flavors
Big with great acidity and moderate tannin, this really could use a few years or at least a vigorous decant and lots of air. Very nice
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8/23/2021 - FoinZap Does not like this wine: 88 Points
PnP. Color is a black-cherry purple, cherry red at the edge. Nose is a blend of red fruit, a briny note, paste. Palate is raspberry, cherry, pepper, spice. Surprisingly light weight/thin mouth feel, and a clipped-off finish. I bought this because I've always loved the merlot-centric right bank Bordeaux and remembered the WS #1 rating a few years ago. Certainly in comparison to most Pomerol or St. Emilion I've tasted, this really can't even be contrasted. The velvety smooth mouth feel that characterizes those wines is completely absent here. Feels like a high school team competing against major leagues.
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8/14/2021 - EZEddie Likes this wine: 96 Points
Purchased in the original cardboard 6 pack from an estate sale in May. Was apprehensive about serving. Very pleasantly surprised to see these were Three Palms vineyard rather than the regular bottle and things just got better from there. Plenty of life left in the wine and fantastic dark maroon color. These bottles must have been stored correctly. Black cherry on the palate complemented the chocolate brownies served with the wine. This was definitely one of the top US merlots that I have ever tasted! The six guests attending the party also raved about it so we opened a second bottle and drank it by itself. It will be hard to resist opening the remaining ones
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6/21/2021 - bucktooth22 Likes this wine: 95 Points
Opened in 2021. Amazing fragrance and taste; great Merlot. Medium viscosity, balanced graphite, leather & sweet cherry fragrance. Medium sweet, full body, strong tannins, medium acidity, a bit buttery. As it opens up, light orange and rose petal fragrance. Red fruit, refreshing finish. Lots of structure to this relatively young Merlot. A bit more balanced and sweeter than the Rector version of the same vintage.
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5/1/2021 - BigBoy_Sonoma Likes this wine: 94 Points
Red fruit, cassis, herbal notes, spices, finishes with cedar. A
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