Tasted after 1 hour of air. Dark ruby color. Opaque. Some sweet red berry fruit. Huge hit of drying tannins. I'm enjoying the interesting tension here. This wine is a bit of a love hate relationship for me. I have ripped this winery for over oaking wine and ruining them. However I tasted this blind against 3 other Washington Bordeaux blends and this was my favorite. There is some hauntingly good deep floral notes here that go on and on. I'm not sure what it is but I'm just guessing the wine makers here tried too hard and overproduced all of the wines when a deft lifght touch may have been better? Who knows. I'm not a wine maker. But tonight I'm liking this and glad I bought a case of these.
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Not great immediately after the pop of the cork, no fruit, just some astringency, but when. We returned to it 2 hours later, the balance was better, tannins fully resolved, some mile, dark fruit. Pretty good, not fantastic.
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Tasted after 90 minutes of air. Dark ruby color. I have liked this in the past. Not this time. Heavy oak treatment has dried this out. The fruit has faded and now completely overwhelmed by the oak. A bit of spice redeems it somewhat. Still not a good wine.
Tasted again on day 2. I underrated this on day 1. Good reason to always allow these bigger wines time to show their best. The oak is still present but better integrated on day 2. Some good plum fruit. Cassis. Much better balance. Upgrading this from 82 to 90.
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Tasted after 1 hour of air. Dark ruby color almost opaque. Floral red berry notes leap from the glass. Some red currents on the palate. Sweet fruit. Firm drying tannins provide grip. Good balance. Medium plus finish. A nice effort and I usually like this better than Ste. Michelle's higher priced wines. Great QPR.
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10/26/2023 - Brian Glas Likes this wine: 93 Points
Tasted after 1 hour of air. Dark ruby color. Opaque. Some sweet red berry fruit. Huge hit of drying tannins. I'm enjoying the interesting tension here. This wine is a bit of a love hate relationship for me. I have ripped this winery for over oaking wine and ruining them. However I tasted this blind against 3 other Washington Bordeaux blends and this was my favorite. There is some hauntingly good deep floral notes here that go on and on. I'm not sure what it is but I'm just guessing the wine makers here tried too hard and overproduced all of the wines when a deft lifght touch may have been better? Who knows. I'm not a wine maker. But tonight I'm liking this and glad I bought a case of these.
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6/4/2023 - RichardZula Likes this wine:
Not great immediately after the pop of the cork, no fruit, just some astringency, but when. We returned to it 2 hours later, the balance was better, tannins fully resolved, some mile, dark fruit. Pretty good, not fantastic.
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10/30/2022 - Brian Glas Likes this wine: 90 Points
Tasted after 90 minutes of air. Dark purple color. Black savory fruit. Drying firm tannins. Some good fruit here. Medium finish.
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8/13/2022 - Brian Glas Likes this wine: 90 Points
Tasted after 90 minutes of air. Dark ruby color. I have liked this in the past. Not this time. Heavy oak treatment has dried this out. The fruit has faded and now completely overwhelmed by the oak. A bit of spice redeems it somewhat. Still not a good wine.
Tasted again on day 2. I underrated this on day 1. Good reason to always allow these bigger wines time to show their best. The oak is still present but better integrated on day 2. Some good plum fruit. Cassis. Much better balance. Upgrading this from 82 to 90.
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12/24/2021 - Brian Glas Likes this wine: 92 Points
Tasted after 1 hour of air. Dark ruby color almost opaque. Floral red berry notes leap from the glass. Some red currents on the palate. Sweet fruit. Firm drying tannins provide grip. Good balance. Medium plus finish. A nice effort and I usually like this better than Ste. Michelle's higher priced wines. Great QPR.
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