Community Tasting Note

• GQG Likes this wine: 93 points

  June 30, 2021 - A lifted, floral nose is followed by red fruit with mocha and notes of oak and graphite that expand over 2 hours of decanting, and there's a nice push across the palate from the acidity. Very round and dusty tannins are well balanced by the red fruit that turns a bit darker over time in the glass. I sorta get why some other reviews mentioned a green element but it's not bell pepper, herbal, mulchy, or anything objectionable for me. Instead it comes across as a part of the "Rutherford dust" kind of, sort of... in a non-descript way... and may be from a fraction of whole cluster grape stems used in the fermentation. The floral nose and the freshness both support my whole stem guess. Anyway, the green element is not strong and will diminish further over time in the bottle.
  
  First bottle for me, sub $100 price, and it's drinking well after a 1 hour decant.

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16 Comments

• Mark1npt commented:

  7/1/21, 5:27 AM - Nice! Thanks for the notes on this one! Was tempted to buy some of these but passed.....looks like it might have been worth the price.

• GQG commented:

  7/1/21, 7:49 AM - Hi Mark - obviously I was also tempted and picked up 4 bottles on the chance this big conglomerate's higher end product would be a deal. It's good but at around $100 there are lots of other wines I would rate higher. 2015 as a vintage is really coming into a sweet spot right now and the immediate consumption aspect also helped me decide to buy them. If you lived closer we'd pop open a bottle and you could try it and decide for yourself! And it wouldn't stop there...

• Mark1npt commented:

  7/1/21, 7:57 AM - GQG....you are too kind! Why do we all live so far apart??? Carol's going to kill me in retirement while we're driving all over the country (supposedly to see the sights and visit the parks) but somehow we keep ending up at other CT's places drinking wine!
  
  I was real tempted with this one as like you said, the '15s are starting to play well. However.....I've just never been enamored with ANY Sterling products.....and since I'm cutting back a tad on buying so I can save for my retirement cross country road trips......I passed!

• GQG commented:

  7/1/21, 8:02 AM - I'd say you made a good call on this one. Save up, 'cause Michigan has beautiful parks Carol won't want to miss!

• Mark1npt commented:

  7/1/21, 8:16 AM - Lol......as soon as Whitmer's history! But I won't tell her why we're really packing the car up......with wine.

• GQG commented:

  7/1/21, 10:02 AM - Lol, exactly right on Whitmer, and bringing wine here is like bringing coal to Newcastle, no need, plus Carol will be less suspicious! ;)

• Cablover1982 commented:

  7/22/21, 2:55 AM - FYI gents this Iridium is down to 90$ on Vivino. If the code 21SMMR still works, maybe it’s worth a taste?

• Mark1npt commented:

  7/22/21, 4:40 AM - Cab, if it makes it down to $60, I might try a few?

• Cablover1982 commented:

  7/22/21, 5:04 AM - Mark - i think that's a good number. I'll wait to see if it does. Thanks! Cheers

• Mark1npt commented:

  7/22/21, 5:34 AM - Just throwing it out there, Cab......seems like it might play out at that price from what I've read. As GQ said, there are better $100 wines out there and available.

• GQG commented:

  7/22/21, 6:26 AM - It's surprising to me how much inventory is being released in various markets (not just Vivino) because this is supposed to be from only the "best" barrels. I guess if you're a big conglomerate like Sterling you have a lot of "best" barrels because you have a sh*tload of regular barrels.

• Mark1npt commented:

  7/22/21, 6:32 AM - Exactly GQ! Some of these producers are making hundreds of thousands of cases, especially an outfit like Sterling. I was talking with the manager/ owner of the A & W in Napa a couple of years ago and he was telling me of an auction every year in Napa, open only to people in the wine/restaurant industry. He buys cases (as in a full pallet load) of Sterling that way. For literally pennies on the dollar. The markup in wine is outrageous.......

• Cablover1982 commented:

  7/22/21, 6:40 AM - A buddy of mine whose parents own and run vineyards tells me, at least in Australia, the average price for a bottle of wine seems to be around 9$. And that’s marked up heavily in the market! Crazy!

• Mark1npt commented:

  7/22/21, 7:20 AM - Cab, I believe it. Australia over produced for many years and in our Costco's in the States you could get many great Aussie wines for $8-9/bottle. In recent years they have literally pulled out vineyards in parts of AUS to reduce production and prop up prices. I'm sure if you live down under you can still get some pretty decent bottles for $9 easy.

• Bin707LoversDetroit commented:

  9/13/21, 4:56 PM - Great comments folks, sorry we didn't chime in earlier. As soon as we saw the governor's name, it clued us in; as we mention on our CT profile page, we're in Michigan as well and love connecting with cool vin drinkers! Stories, travel, bottles and memories all flow together like decades-long friends!
  
  As far as this beverage goes, we grabbed a couple bottles from Vivino at about the $90 price range as well.
  
  For that price we're expecting it to be even more complex and bigger than Penfolds 389. We'll see...
  
  We were thinking of holding them for much longer, but with these recent CT scores this Summer, maybe it really is in a good spot now.
  
  Cheers! Hope to meet and share beverages some day!
  
  Noroc

• Mark1npt commented:

  9/13/21, 7:34 PM - Noroc......have one and let us know!

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