Having had many bottles of the revered 2002, this was my first taste of the 2001. What a difference between the two... this bottle is restrained, balanced, even elegant. Silky tannins, mild acidity, and lush fruit which is not exactly cool, but very far from hot/jammy. Still showing plenty of structure and verve, and utterly delicious drinking right now. Certainly quite mature at this point, but will probably hold at this level for a few years if well stored.
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Totally amazing. From our cellar. Cork in great shape, high fill level. Decanted (plenty of sediment). Drank over 2 hours. This wine is in the extraordinary category, and it was nothing but a total joy to drink. Silky smooth, huge amounts of fruit, spice, vanilla, hint of oak and earth. Super fresh tasting, med-heavy body, elegant and addictive. Perfectly balanced, super long finish. A classic. Drink or continue to hold.
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Wow, this was truly amazing. Simply delicious and still easily within it's peak drinking window. Decanted. Drank over a 4 hour window. Silky, luscious, smooth. A brilliant permeating nose and an even lovelier multi-layered palate displaying an incredible variety of flavors. Fresh tasting, long finish. Great as a sipper and excellent with filet mignon.
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Coravin'd a glass, pop and pour. Blue fruits filled the wine cellar as I poured this, bringing me back to earlier samplings of this wine. Heavy in sediment, I might decant just to avoid it, but otherwise would drink promptly. The heady perfumed aromas were wonderful, but the wine didn't live up to the nose IMO. Slightly backwards and shallow, even following this one glass over 3 hours as I did inventory in the Cellar. Drink up.
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THis wine is still imposingly young. We decanted it for the entire course of our dinner and after about 2 hours it was just opening up and becoming incredible. I would hold another five years before opening this one.
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Inky purple color, after 45 min decant, tastes very young, with big mocha blueberry nose and a very slight touch of eucalyptus and/or motor oil, more dark berries with some brighter fruit on the palate, cinnamon notes, long finish. After about 2 1/2 hours, tastes its age; much more integrated, with softer tannins, dimmer fruit and the cinnamon and clove notes moving forward. This is a quality wine certainly, but for me, nowhere near the 06 or 04 I have tasted in terms of richness and depth.
Fantastic, and still young. Taste like it was just released....lots of dark fruit (but not gummy or over the top), some tar, full bodied, smooth but still some tannins in the background, long finish. Cork was in perfect shape, decanted, but not much sediment. Five years left on these guys....
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This was drinking very well indeed. purple/black in color that showed no signs of age! on the nose there was still a good amount of Blackberry, Black Currant, with a bit of asphalt and toasted oak. very balanced on the palate, with some bitter tannins on the finish. overall a pretty restrained shiraz, that seemed to be built for cellaring, but i think not quite the long term as i see some of the later vintages doing(ie '05 and '06) overall an excellent wine.
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Aussie Wines Offline (Canyon Lodge American Grill - Laguna, CA): A really fabulous wine! Scrumptious aromas of blueberries, blackberries, brown sugar, loam, and cinnamon stick. With time and air, raspberry and pie crust emerged -- made me think of a mixed berry Pop-Tart. On the palate, blackberries, blueberries, and red licorice. I did detect a bit of heat initially, but it had dissipated when I returned to the wine about 20 minutes later.
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Opened and not decanted and allowed to sit for 2 hours. Clearly needed to be decanted, and was placed in a decanter and consumed over the following 3 hours. Still has the same rich, black coloring. Quite a bit of graphite and only a hint of spice. This was good, but just didn't seem to come together quite as well as I expected from the last tasting. May be in some sort of dumb phase - the profile kept changing during the drinking window, but never really hit a stride. Still has a long life based on strong fruit and tanins, just not sure when to approach the next bottle.
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The Best for The Best 2005 (Chicago NW Suburbs): Started out nicely, with sweet fruit and tannin. It didn't improve a lot as the night went on. It just couldn't stand up to the 00 Factor or the 01 9.
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Decanted 1 hr prior to restaurant arrival. Out friggin standing. Great full berry flavors, but have softened over other recent bottles. This has some life to it.
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3/13/2022 - Jeff Boyce wrote:
Del
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8/22/2021 - bonedocnine Likes this wine: 94 Points
WOW! so alive and fresh fresh fresh. amazing at 20 years on. Bravo and well done.
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8/8/2021 - robmatic wrote: 94 Points
Having had many bottles of the revered 2002, this was my first taste of the 2001. What a difference between the two... this bottle is restrained, balanced, even elegant. Silky tannins, mild acidity, and lush fruit which is not exactly cool, but very far from hot/jammy. Still showing plenty of structure and verve, and utterly delicious drinking right now. Certainly quite mature at this point, but will probably hold at this level for a few years if well stored.
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5/2/2020 - wine4ever wrote:
Totally amazing. From our cellar. Cork in great shape, high fill level. Decanted (plenty of sediment). Drank over 2 hours. This wine is in the extraordinary category, and it was nothing but a total joy to drink. Silky smooth, huge amounts of fruit, spice, vanilla, hint of oak and earth. Super fresh tasting, med-heavy body, elegant and addictive. Perfectly balanced, super long finish. A classic. Drink or continue to hold.
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8/5/2017 - SeaCellar Likes this wine: 92 Points
Crowd favorite at a recent party, up against a 2001 E&E Black Pepper Spice, which was also quite good. Amon Ra was preferred by most.
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5/25/2017 - kenv Likes this wine: 92 Points
WCC Australian Shiraz Blind (Home of Chef Andrew Plummer, East Greenbush, NY): [Double-decanted around 11am.] Nose of Kirsch liqueur. A little hot, but still tasty. Not sure this will get any better.
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8/10/2015 - wine4ever Likes this wine: 95 Points
Wow, this was truly amazing. Simply delicious and still easily within it's peak drinking window. Decanted. Drank over a 4 hour window. Silky, luscious, smooth. A brilliant permeating nose and an even lovelier multi-layered palate displaying an incredible variety of flavors. Fresh tasting, long finish. Great as a sipper and excellent with filet mignon.
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4/10/2015 - buckeye76 wrote: 94 Points
RICH BERRY FRUIT, BLACK CHERRIES, BLACKBERRIES, AND CURRANTS IN THE NOSE AND FLAVOR. NICE COMPLEXITY AND A MEDIUM TO LONG FINISH.
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1/10/2015 - davidandrose Likes this wine: 92 Points
Coravin'd a glass, pop and pour. Blue fruits filled the wine cellar as I poured this, bringing me back to earlier samplings of this wine. Heavy in sediment, I might decant just to avoid it, but otherwise would drink promptly. The heady perfumed aromas were wonderful, but the wine didn't live up to the nose IMO. Slightly backwards and shallow, even following this one glass over 3 hours as I did inventory in the Cellar. Drink up.
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9/20/2014 - blakehastings wrote: flawed
Corked
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8/10/2013 - Renot wrote: 93 Points
Outstanding. Had held up very well.
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7/28/2013 - Ridgerunner Likes this wine: 94 Points
THis wine is still imposingly young. We decanted it for the entire course of our dinner and after about 2 hours it was just opening up and becoming incredible. I would hold another five years before opening this one.
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2/8/2013 - dhammer Likes this wine: 94 Points
very balanced Shiraz with silky tannins at the peak of the drinking window. Absolutely delicious.
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4/4/2010 - ianinvirginia wrote: 92 Points
Inky purple color, after 45 min decant, tastes very young, with big mocha blueberry nose and a very slight touch of eucalyptus and/or motor oil, more dark berries with some brighter fruit on the palate, cinnamon notes, long finish. After about 2 1/2 hours, tastes its age; much more integrated, with softer tannins, dimmer fruit and the cinnamon and clove notes moving forward. This is a quality wine certainly, but for me, nowhere near the 06 or 04 I have tasted in terms of richness and depth.
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2/19/2010 - wine4ever wrote: 92 Points
Fantastic, and still young. Taste like it was just released....lots of dark fruit (but not gummy or over the top), some tar, full bodied, smooth but still some tannins in the background, long finish. Cork was in perfect shape, decanted, but not much sediment. Five years left on these guys....
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11/29/2009 - andy C wrote: 94 Points
very good.
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11/12/2008 - vanpe003 wrote:
Cesare's Group - Collective House Cleaning; 11/11/2008-11/12/2008 (Lake Elmo): A late night add, popped and poured. Perhaps palate fatigue, but I wasn't particularly impressed with this, and normally I like the fruit bomb OZ style.
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9/8/2008 - happynothing wrote: 90 Points
This was drinking very well indeed. purple/black in color that showed no signs of age! on the nose there was still a good amount of Blackberry, Black Currant, with a bit of asphalt and toasted oak. very balanced on the palate, with some bitter tannins on the finish. overall a pretty restrained shiraz, that seemed to be built for cellaring, but i think not quite the long term as i see some of the later vintages doing(ie '05 and '06) overall an excellent wine.
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1/16/2008 - Paul Lin wrote: 95 Points
Aussie Wines Offline (Canyon Lodge American Grill - Laguna, CA): A really fabulous wine! Scrumptious aromas of blueberries, blackberries, brown sugar, loam, and cinnamon stick. With time and air, raspberry and pie crust emerged -- made me think of a mixed berry Pop-Tart. On the palate, blackberries, blueberries, and red licorice. I did detect a bit of heat initially, but it had dissipated when I returned to the wine about 20 minutes later.
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12/16/2007 - davidandrose wrote: 93 Points
Opened and not decanted and allowed to sit for 2 hours. Clearly needed to be decanted, and was placed in a decanter and consumed over the following 3 hours. Still has the same rich, black coloring. Quite a bit of graphite and only a hint of spice. This was good, but just didn't seem to come together quite as well as I expected from the last tasting. May be in some sort of dumb phase - the profile kept changing during the drinking window, but never really hit a stride. Still has a long life based on strong fruit and tanins, just not sure when to approach the next bottle.
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8/13/2005 - GlenD wrote: 93 Points
The Best for The Best 2005 (Chicago NW Suburbs): Started out nicely, with sweet fruit and tannin. It didn't improve a lot as the night went on. It just couldn't stand up to the 00 Factor or the 01 9.
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3/10/2004 - davidandrose wrote: 95 Points
Decanted 1 hr prior to restaurant arrival. Out friggin standing. Great full berry flavors, but have softened over other recent bottles. This has some life to it.
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11/1/2003 - jmcmchi wrote: 93 Points
At $46, one of the stars of the day
Dense in glass, intense aromatics, spice and rich fruit over taut acidity
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