For technical notes, I think mmurry's impressions are the closest to my own. Black fruit, earthy, almost a dark-chocolate note, with some spice underneath it. Tannins are well-integrated, but this one is obviously too young to even consider opening.
And yet I have opened two of them, and I have a staring contest with the third and final one every time I walk by that shelf in the basement. This is a stunning wine. Every note, from start to finish, is perfectly balanced, and the finish just keeps on going. I usually use heat-descriptors as negative connotations of too much poorly-integrated alcohol, but when I say this wine makes me feel warm, I mean 'warm' the way I mean drinking cocoa in front of a fire after coming in from a snowstorm. When I drink a glass of this, it ruins most other wine for a while, because Helen makes it look so *easy*. If she can turn grapes into something so ethereally wonderful, why can't everyone else?
On second thought, I'm changing my vote from mmurry to caeleric. Drink it now, hold it for later, take a bath in it, whatever you want to do.
I usually take breathless enthusiasm on wine-distribution lists with a huge grain of salt (they can't all be the find of the year from the pristine virgin shores of rural Italy, Jon Rimmerman), but this was the first bottle that Paul Zitarelli has ever been visibly excited about, and goddamn was he ever right. This one is stunning--full of rocks and dirt and the kind of low notes that make syrah sing. Bottle took a few minutes to open, and benefited from a trip through the Venturi, and then look out.
I'm not totally sure how well this is going to age, and it's still a little young right now, so I'm hesitant to specify a window. Through an act of willpower, I left a bit in the bottom of the bottle to see what would happen with some air. This was a mistake. Day 2 was a serious disappointment--most of the really exciting minerality had leeched out, turning this into a well-below-average WA syrah. I'd say "drink it all on day 1," but it's not like you're going to need a lot of encouragement when you see how far above its weight class this wine is punching.
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2008 Keplinger Kingpin Rows
1/8/2013 - EmperorNorton wrote: 96 Points
For technical notes, I think mmurry's impressions are the closest to my own. Black fruit, earthy, almost a dark-chocolate note, with some spice underneath it. Tannins are well-integrated, but this one is obviously too young to even consider opening.
And yet I have opened two of them, and I have a staring contest with the third and final one every time I walk by that shelf in the basement. This is a stunning wine. Every note, from start to finish, is perfectly balanced, and the finish just keeps on going. I usually use heat-descriptors as negative connotations of too much poorly-integrated alcohol, but when I say this wine makes me feel warm, I mean 'warm' the way I mean drinking cocoa in front of a fire after coming in from a snowstorm. When I drink a glass of this, it ruins most other wine for a while, because Helen makes it look so *easy*. If she can turn grapes into something so ethereally wonderful, why can't everyone else?
On second thought, I'm changing my vote from mmurry to caeleric. Drink it now, hold it for later, take a bath in it, whatever you want to do.
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2010 Proper Wines Syrah
1/7/2013 - EmperorNorton wrote: 93 Points
I usually take breathless enthusiasm on wine-distribution lists with a huge grain of salt (they can't all be the find of the year from the pristine virgin shores of rural Italy, Jon Rimmerman), but this was the first bottle that Paul Zitarelli has ever been visibly excited about, and goddamn was he ever right. This one is stunning--full of rocks and dirt and the kind of low notes that make syrah sing. Bottle took a few minutes to open, and benefited from a trip through the Venturi, and then look out.
I'm not totally sure how well this is going to age, and it's still a little young right now, so I'm hesitant to specify a window. Through an act of willpower, I left a bit in the bottom of the bottle to see what would happen with some air. This was a mistake. Day 2 was a serious disappointment--most of the really exciting minerality had leeched out, turning this into a well-below-average WA syrah. I'd say "drink it all on day 1," but it's not like you're going to need a lot of encouragement when you see how far above its weight class this wine is punching.
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2010 Zepaltas Pinot Noir Risuená
11/28/2012 - EmperorNorton wrote: 91 Points
Spicy and full-bodied. Palette is full of strawberry, with a long finish. A little hot, but an absolute QPR monster.
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