I've had some very good bottles of this wine and some less good. This is one of the latter. Poured a glass from the Coravin. Not giving much on the nose, with some blackberry, smoke, flint and some violet/vanilla oak. Aggressively tannic, chewy, and pretty hollow on the midpalate. Will revisit again in a few days.
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Still drinking well though clearly not getting any better, this was an impressive Syrah with a lot still going on. Black cherries, blackberries, currants, plums, licorice, spice, and floral notes plus a meatiness in the nose that added to it's overall enjoyment. Well balanced, medium to full bodied, and a long finish. 91/92
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Copain Syrah Tasting (My Place - Washington, DC): Darker than the 2003 and more concentrated. Lots of blueberries, plum cake, loaded with violets and black pepper. Silky smooth, still structured though with some dusty tannins. Black cherry and blueberry fruit is alive and kicking, and I love the smoke, olive tapenade, gravelly earth and violet petal elements going on here. This really is a pretty Syrah in a beautiful place.
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On its own. Pretty good and top dinking now. The 07s beat the 06s. Great color , nose and pallet performance. Good finish. Real syrah, butwont age like a rhone!
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PnP - 3 nights. Still opaque violet. Plummy nose with meat. Palate has medium heavy fruit with full palate penetration. Good acidity and a little grip left. Complex fruit flavors with black pepper emerging on finish. Drink or hold.
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Fantastic Cali Syrah by #copain from #mendocino; fresh blueberries and blackberries, some meat notes, spices and a dollop of vanil rounds out the palate; exceptionally balanced, great acidity and freshness with medium to full grain tannin
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Abundantly earthy, great minerality, tempered acidity. Drinking very well right now - consume. Brambly fruit, anise, wet loam, hint of crushed feldspar.
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I like this wine the first time I had it a year ago but quite as much this time still a great earthy wine with wonderful rich notes on the nose and nice earthy notes on the palate. I think this wine is at its peak drink it now.
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Beautifully crafted syrah. Not a "bomb" like so many these days, but a restrained, elegant, racy wine. Blackberry, rose, currant, earth, stone, and crisp acidity. Just a hint of licorice on the back end. I have two more and will try to hold onto to one of them for another 3yrs.
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Only bottle of this, but it was a winner. More restrained, delicate Syrah. More floral than the typical fruit bomb. Should have bought more when at the winery.
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Beautiful nose of blue fruit and some earthiness. Lovely purple color. Medium bodied with very little, if any, acidity. Fantastic finish and got better with each glass over an hour of drinking it. Would absolutely buy this again.
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Napa & Sonoma favorites in 3 short days...; 9/21/2012-9/24/2012 (Napa & Sonoma Valley wineries): Tasting room pour, to compare to the 2009 Voisins Syrah. Only slightly more complex than the younger (and $15-20 cheaper) cousin, this Syrah has a concentrated nose of blackberry, black olives, kirsch, and gravel. On the palate, tart blackberry fruit that comes across so elegant and nicely; full body and med(+) chewy/tense tannins that lead into a gravelly minerality on the 60 second long finish. This wine will start drinking well in another 2-3 years, and should go for 10+ years after that.
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I should have decanted and let sit this wine because it was very tight and took a long time to open up and reveal its nature. The wine is very black red with long legs and when initially sampling the wine the notes on the nose were of a fruity smokey earthy mixture. The first taste out of the bottle were very earthy with strong tannins at first with plum, blackberries and dark fruit on the mid palate. Three hours later the wine really evolved a lot of the earthiness faded and became more smokey and the fruit came forward with strong cherries becoming much more prominent with the tannins fading to the background. Another great effort by Copain.
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Extremely floral nose with some red fruit and smoke. Taste veers more to black and blue fruits with a good deal of smoked jerky and some chalkiness. This was a fairly dense wine, flavor-wise, but there's also some great minerality left. Overall a tremendous wine that begs for food.
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Big, rich, but wonderfully composed. Gamy, lightly smoky nose, accented by anise and wisps of mint. Palate of dense, rich favors that nevertheless aren't overbearing or flabby. Very juicy blackberry, some ginger, slightly hot acidity and lingering chalk. Tannic without being puckering or abrasive. Impressive in all aspects.
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Sunday in the Sunroom--all blind (Chez S1): Very Copain. Creosote, pork fat, dark wild blackberry with some green thorny tannins. Rich, but lean enough on the mouthfeel not to be fat and cloying.
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Nice deep color and a structured nose. had it next to the Baker Ranch 07 Good comparison. the noses were somewhat similar in fruiti-nes but this was dryer on the palate - certainly on the finish. May be a bit more elegance here but it will need more time to show. Great combination with the food though - smoked pork roast and cabbage.
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Decanted and poured, this wines gives a very reserved showing. Over the course of consumption, the wine never emerges form its shell. This has the components to give a more compelling showing.
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Decanted and poured, this wine still shows youthful forward fruit on the bouquet and palate. The color shows a youthful dark ruby to purple. The medium/full bodied palate shows a good core of fruit and tannins provide enough structure to give the wine balance. The palate finishes with a medium length finish. This should add additional nuance and complexity with additional bottle age.
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Wow, impressed by this effort, aromas are intense, pure but big and bold at the same time with sweet licorice, dark raspberries with black olives and basil on the nose. Balance and a lot of silk, tannins are fine, fruit is pure with some nuances of graphite and a touch of wood. Alcohol not even noticable.
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beautiful nose of fresh blackberries, violets, wet fur, ginger & iron. rich on the palate but with a rocky mineral backbone. excellent, but preferred the alder springs in '07.
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Yet another lovely wine with European sensibilities. I didn’t take too many formal notes–well, none actually, other than mental ones–but I remember this being a bit raw still…in a good way. Evidence of whole-cluster fermentation, cool(er)-climate structure and, of course, insightful winemaking. Buy.
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Drank over 2 days. Day 1 with an hour decant- very aromatic nose of blue fruit and purple flowers. Palate is still tight with big blue and black fruits, but serious chalky tannins that come across as a little bitter with a core of minerals make it a little challenging to drink. Day 2- still has the great floral nose and has really opened up with juicy blue fruits that have shed all the bitter tannins that showed yesterday. Huge difference in the 2 days and needs probably 2 years to really be in a prime drinking window.
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Fantastic. This was my first Copain and it did not disappoint. Great fruit, but could also taste floral and smokey components. Decanted for an hour and could have used another hour. Really nice wine. Would love to try more Copain wines.
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It would be cool to taste this and Stefania's side by side. There were a lot of similarities between my memory of Stefania and my notes of Copain. I would say the Copain has a little bit less acidity, and a bit bigger body. The fruit comes through and is a great Syrah.
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Bigger nose than I expected for an 07. Cool, blue nose would be a way to describe it. The palate has a lot of blue and red fruit, bracing acid, and some stony, mineral qualities. The is a gritty texture that I have come to associate with Copain. It is certainly here and not necessarily bad. Generally Im not a fan of the new direction of Copain but this wine has enough oomph to be great for my palate, especially at this young age. Tannins to spare.
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Impromptu Copains at Fratello's (Fratello's San Clemente): Nose of tar and thick berries. Primary with tons of tannin but shows a nice even line from start to finish. Stoney notes coming out later on. Holds very good potential but a thick rich baby right now. I liked the mineral type of note coming out later.
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Copain Offline @ Fratello's In The South OC (Fratello's Laguna Niguel): Flowery nose, sweet lavender and really expressive and fragrant. Blue fruit, minerality/rocks and tannin. As opposed to the 2005 EPR which we tasted alongside this 2007, the latter shows the flavors well married and complementing each other. I love the minerality that carries the finish--great showing and another testament to the 2007 Copains.
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2 hour decant ( poured about an ounce when first opened) and I think it really needed it. The thing about Well's wines that really hit me are that no matter what vintage you really get a good sense of place( Eaglepoint taste like Eaglepoint). That being said this is quite possibly the best Eaglepoint I've had '05 thru '07 and wish I had a case to follow through the years. Great lively dark fruit with the signature floral and meaty palate with great acidity and tons of structure. AWESOME !!!
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My favorite vintage of this wine so far. Balanced and pure syrah, with great florality and distinct northern-Rhone like notes of bacon and scorched earth. Seamless on the palate and really builds on the finish.
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Really delicious. Dense and chewy, with dark fruit and earth, but held together by tart acidity and firm tannins. Quite enjoyable now, but I'd give this some time to mellow out and come together. A lot of structure here. Seems like a wine with the potential to age beautifully.
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6/11/2020 - GrapeScott wrote: 87 Points
I've had some very good bottles of this wine and some less good. This is one of the latter. Poured a glass from the Coravin. Not giving much on the nose, with some blackberry, smoke, flint and some violet/vanilla oak. Aggressively tannic, chewy, and pretty hollow on the midpalate. Will revisit again in a few days.
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11/1/2019 - buckeye76 Likes this wine: 91 Points
Still drinking well though clearly not getting any better, this was an impressive Syrah with a lot still going on. Black cherries, blackberries, currants, plums, licorice, spice, and floral notes plus a meatiness in the nose that added to it's overall enjoyment. Well balanced, medium to full bodied, and a long finish. 91/92
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1/27/2019 - ChrisWagner Likes this wine: 92 Points
This was surprisingly good. Firing on all cylinders. I would imagine this is near peak.
Very subdued and delicate for a CA Syrah but still work the blue fruited, meaty flavors.
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5/6/2018 - isaacjamesbaker wrote: 93 Points
Copain Syrah Tasting (My Place - Washington, DC): Darker than the 2003 and more concentrated. Lots of blueberries, plum cake, loaded with violets and black pepper. Silky smooth, still structured though with some dusty tannins. Black cherry and blueberry fruit is alive and kicking, and I love the smoke, olive tapenade, gravelly earth and violet petal elements going on here. This really is a pretty Syrah in a beautiful place.
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10/20/2016 - MichielV wrote: 91 Points
On its own. Pretty good and top dinking now. The 07s beat the 06s. Great color , nose and pallet performance.
Good finish. Real syrah, butwont age like a rhone!
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9/3/2016 - thomaskeil wrote: 90 Points
PnP - 3 nights. Still opaque violet. Plummy nose with meat. Palate has medium heavy fruit with full palate penetration. Good acidity and a little grip left. Complex fruit flavors with black pepper emerging on finish. Drink or hold.
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12/20/2015 - David_T wrote: 91 Points
Didn't write a formal note with the wine in front of me but drinking well now with dark fruit and integrated medium acid/tannins.
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10/29/2015 - MichielV wrote: 91 Points
Late night syrah with albert. Still dry-ish but well developed. Yummy syrah!!!
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6/21/2015 - Uncle John wrote: 91 Points
Pop and pour and it was evident this needed an hour or two to open. Beautiful dark Syrah fruit with solid tannins.
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11/9/2014 - JavaMonkey Likes this wine: 90 Points
Very nice bottle. Blueberry, smoke, a little bit of cherry Twizzler. Full bodied, nice balance. Very enjoyable.
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7/28/2014 - tkoby11 wrote:
Fantastic Cali Syrah by #copain from #mendocino; fresh blueberries and blackberries, some meat notes, spices and a dollop of vanil rounds out the palate; exceptionally balanced, great acidity and freshness with medium to full grain tannin
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7/14/2014 - Xfactor wrote: 92 Points
Abundantly earthy, great minerality, tempered acidity. Drinking very well right now - consume. Brambly fruit, anise, wet loam, hint of crushed feldspar.
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5/19/2014 - macker100 wrote: 91 Points
Black currant, meat, anise on nose. Medium bodied with blackberries, smoke. Preferred the Gary's Vineyard that was a bit less sweet.
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4/19/2014 - bzell Likes this wine: 91 Points
I like this wine the first time I had it a year ago but quite as much this time still a great earthy wine with wonderful rich notes on the nose and nice earthy notes on the palate. I think this wine is at its peak drink it now.
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3/18/2014 - JavaMonkey Likes this wine: 88 Points
Very nice. Dark purple-ruby color. Nice blueberry and charcoal aromas. Medium-full palate. Nicely integrated. Very enjoyable.
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1/26/2014 - americanstorm Likes this wine: 89 Points
Good full red. Lots of pepper and spice, a bit harsh on day one but better on day two.
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11/29/2013 - Brian Love wrote: 93 Points
Very pleasantly surprised by this wine - quite restrained, touches of game.
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6/24/2013 - Haggis Likes this wine: 91 Points
Beautifully crafted syrah. Not a "bomb" like so many these days, but a restrained, elegant, racy wine. Blackberry, rose, currant, earth, stone, and crisp acidity. Just a hint of licorice on the back end. I have two more and will try to hold onto to one of them for another 3yrs.
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5/24/2013 - UofM wrote: 91 Points
Only bottle of this, but it was a winner. More restrained, delicate Syrah. More floral than the typical fruit bomb. Should have bought more when at the winery.
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1/21/2013 - Jbird73 Likes this wine: 92 Points
Beautiful nose of blue fruit and some earthiness. Lovely purple color. Medium bodied with very little, if any, acidity. Fantastic finish and got better with each glass over an hour of drinking it. Would absolutely buy this again.
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12/20/2012 - pjhr wrote: 91 Points
Similar tasting notes to previous bottle.
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12/11/2012 - pjhr wrote: 91 Points
Similar tasting notes to previous bottle.
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12/10/2012 - pjhr wrote: 92 Points
Tasty blackberry and blueberry on the nose and palate with crushed stone, oak, and spice notes with chewy tannins on the long finish.
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9/23/2012 - drrobvino wrote: 93 Points
Napa & Sonoma favorites in 3 short days...; 9/21/2012-9/24/2012 (Napa & Sonoma Valley wineries): Tasting room pour, to compare to the 2009 Voisins Syrah. Only slightly more complex than the younger (and $15-20 cheaper) cousin, this Syrah has a concentrated nose of blackberry, black olives, kirsch, and gravel. On the palate, tart blackberry fruit that comes across so elegant and nicely; full body and med(+) chewy/tense tannins that lead into a gravelly minerality on the 60 second long finish. This wine will start drinking well in another 2-3 years, and should go for 10+ years after that.
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9/21/2012 - Zonk wrote: 92 Points
Drank with dinner pop and pour. No real notes, but smokey and gamey, and I think a decant would have improved it.
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8/27/2012 - bzell wrote: 93 Points
I should have decanted and let sit this wine because it was very tight and took a long time to open up and reveal its nature. The wine is very black red with long legs and when initially sampling the wine the notes on the nose were of a fruity smokey earthy mixture. The first taste out of the bottle were very earthy with strong tannins at first with plum, blackberries and dark fruit on the mid palate. Three hours later the wine really evolved a lot of the earthiness faded and became more smokey and the fruit came forward with strong cherries becoming much more prominent with the tannins fading to the background. Another great effort by Copain.
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8/20/2012 - jsulliv wrote: 92 Points
Extremely floral nose with some red fruit and smoke. Taste veers more to black and blue fruits with a good deal of smoked jerky and some chalkiness. This was a fairly dense wine, flavor-wise, but there's also some great minerality left. Overall a tremendous wine that begs for food.
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6/29/2012 - stvjackson wrote: 91 Points
Big, rich, but wonderfully composed. Gamy, lightly smoky nose, accented by anise and wisps of mint. Palate of dense, rich favors that nevertheless aren't overbearing or flabby. Very juicy blackberry, some ginger, slightly hot acidity and lingering chalk. Tannic without being puckering or abrasive. Impressive in all aspects.
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4/8/2012 - S1 wrote: 90 Points
Sunday in the Sunroom--all blind (Chez S1): Very Copain. Creosote, pork fat, dark wild blackberry with some green thorny tannins. Rich, but lean enough on the mouthfeel not to be fat and cloying.
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4/2/2012 - MichielV wrote: 89 Points
Nice deep color and a structured nose. had it next to the Baker Ranch 07 Good comparison. the noses were somewhat similar in fruiti-nes but this was dryer on the palate - certainly on the finish. May be a bit more elegance here but it will need more time to show. Great combination with the food though - smoked pork roast and cabbage.
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1/21/2012 - sehill wrote: 88 Points
Decanted and poured, this wines gives a very reserved showing. Over the course of consumption, the wine never emerges form its shell. This has the components to give a more compelling showing.
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11/11/2011 - sehill Likes this wine: 91 Points
Decanted and poured, this wine still shows youthful forward fruit on the bouquet and palate. The color shows a youthful dark ruby to purple. The medium/full bodied palate shows a good core of fruit and tannins provide enough structure to give the wine balance. The palate finishes with a medium length finish. This should add additional nuance and complexity with additional bottle age.
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10/14/2011 - matt182 wrote: 92 Points
Wow, impressed by this effort, aromas are intense, pure but big and bold at the same time with sweet licorice, dark raspberries with black olives and basil on the nose. Balance and a lot of silk, tannins are fine, fruit is pure with some nuances of graphite and a touch of wood. Alcohol not even noticable.
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10/9/2011 - Mike Dildine wrote: 92 Points
Rich and savory, great focus.
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9/17/2011 - celtic67 wrote:
beautiful nose of fresh blackberries, violets, wet fur, ginger & iron. rich on the palate but with a rocky mineral backbone. excellent, but preferred the alder springs in '07.
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9/7/2011 - jvogel wrote:
Yet another lovely wine with European sensibilities. I didn’t take too many formal notes–well, none actually, other than mental ones–but I remember this being a bit raw still…in a good way. Evidence of whole-cluster fermentation, cool(er)-climate structure and, of course, insightful winemaking. Buy.
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9/2/2011 - Mike Dildine wrote: 92 Points
Very, very nice!
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8/7/2011 - glaze3 wrote:
Drank over 2 days. Day 1 with an hour decant- very aromatic nose of blue fruit and purple flowers. Palate is still tight with big blue and black fruits, but serious chalky tannins that come across as a little bitter with a core of minerals make it a little challenging to drink. Day 2- still has the great floral nose and has really opened up with juicy blue fruits that have shed all the bitter tannins that showed yesterday. Huge difference in the 2 days and needs probably 2 years to really be in a prime drinking window.
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4/5/2011 - bundydavis wrote: 93 Points
Fantastic. This was my first Copain and it did not disappoint. Great fruit, but could also taste floral and smokey components. Decanted for an hour and could have used another hour. Really nice wine. Would love to try more Copain wines.
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10/20/2010 - Berno wrote: 91 Points
It would be cool to taste this and Stefania's side by side. There were a lot of similarities between my memory of Stefania and my notes of Copain. I would say the Copain has a little bit less acidity, and a bit bigger body. The fruit comes through and is a great Syrah.
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9/14/2010 - alanr Likes this wine: 92 Points
Copain open house, Sept. 2010 (Copain winery): Dark and deep, kick of brightness on the finish. Very nice, classic California Syrah.
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7/23/2010 - Uglypinga wrote:
Bigger nose than I expected for an 07. Cool, blue nose would be a way to describe it. The palate has a lot of blue and red fruit, bracing acid, and some stony, mineral qualities. The is a gritty texture that I have come to associate with Copain. It is certainly here and not necessarily bad. Generally Im not a fan of the new direction of Copain but this wine has enough oomph to be great for my palate, especially at this young age. Tannins to spare.
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12/23/2009 - WetRock wrote:
Impromptu Copains at Fratello's (Fratello's San Clemente): Nose of tar and thick berries. Primary with tons of tannin but shows a nice even line from start to finish. Stoney notes coming out later on. Holds very good potential but a thick rich baby right now. I liked the mineral type of note coming out later.
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12/23/2009 - Frank Murray III wrote:
Copain Offline @ Fratello's In The South OC (Fratello's Laguna Niguel): Flowery nose, sweet lavender and really expressive and fragrant. Blue fruit, minerality/rocks and tannin. As opposed to the 2005 EPR which we tasted alongside this 2007, the latter shows the flavors well married and complementing each other. I love the minerality that carries the finish--great showing and another testament to the 2007 Copains.
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11/20/2009 - etherscreen wrote: flawed
corked.
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8/29/2009 - glaze3 wrote:
2 hour decant ( poured about an ounce when first opened) and I think it really needed it. The thing about Well's wines that really hit me are that no matter what vintage you really get a good sense of place( Eaglepoint taste like Eaglepoint). That being said this is quite possibly the best Eaglepoint I've had '05 thru '07 and wish I had a case to follow through the years. Great lively dark fruit with the signature floral and meaty palate with great acidity and tons of structure. AWESOME !!!
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8/1/2009 - Spencer wrote: 92 Points
My favorite vintage of this wine so far. Balanced and pure syrah, with great florality and distinct northern-Rhone like notes of bacon and scorched earth. Seamless on the palate and really builds on the finish.
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5/18/2009 - herberto wrote: 92 Points
Really delicious. Dense and chewy, with dark fruit and earth, but held together by tart acidity and firm tannins. Quite enjoyable now, but I'd give this some time to mellow out and come together. A lot of structure here. Seems like a wine with the potential to age beautifully.
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