Really needed time to evolve and that it did over 8 hours. Velvety tannins, ripe red fruit, some mocha and oak elements. This was served as a pre-cursor to a Quilceda Creek vertical and I thought it was one of the best wines of the night.

candied nose, very acidic and fairly one-dimensional. After awhile it was starting to unfold with mocha. Not a great value by any stretch of the imagination at $40.

Green pepper, forest floor, really starting to showcase the acidity and bring it to the forefront. The tannins are all but gone. Very dry with seabreeze and tobacco on the nose. Past its prime, but you could still tell that it was a great wine 3-5 years ago

Nose of hot highland scotch. Not a lot of fruit at first. Opened up a little in the glass but really nothing spectacular.

We are now getting into the wines that are at or near their peak drinking windows. Some menthol, cedar box and green pepper. Blueberry fruit and tobacco in the mouth.

At first, this was somewhat foxy and had a candied nose. Like the previous vintages, it started to come around and reveal some real earthy and briary depths of fungus, forest floor, blueberries and mocha.

This was the most interesting wie of the night and a complete mystery. I found no continuity or shared characteristics with any of the previous and future wines. I let this sit in my glass for the entire evening and it hardly budged a smidgeon. Very elemental in the nose, big, briny, iodine and beef blood. Hardly anything in the mouth and I suppose that it was the tightest wine of the night. Could not scratch the surface. This gave me incredible pleasure because it just was a complete mystery to figure out.

After the '95 everything else seemed to share a lot of characteristics in varying degrees. This one had some fungus, wild dark cherries, silky tannins, mocha and salty seabreeze on the nose. Pretty tannic in the mouth with explosive fruits but faded rather quickly.

This was the first QC to wow me on the nose. I found toast, cherries, graham cracker and mocha. Noticable tannins in the mouth and had just a great balance. This was also the first QC of the night to have any lingering finish.

This one started to show some Aussie Shiraz characteristics of flowers and blueberries. On the nose, I found menthol, and burnt oak, but not revealing much more and was a bit tight. I felt that this was a bit too tight and tannic and probably could use a couple years to really hit its stride.

Initally, I found oaky vanilla, ripe blueberries and a lot of tannins. This started to open up to a deep and elegant nose of mocha, chocolate-covered cherries. This was the darkest wine of the night. On the palette I found some gorgeous forest floor and asian spice.

My WOTN! Plush with a super balance. The wine just exploded with italian meats, brine and perfectly ripe cherries. Just absolutely plush and velvety in the mouth with mocha and a roundness that was not seen in any of the other wines with the possible exception of the Pedestal.

At first this had a real expressive nose, but it was apparent that there was a lot that was left unseen. In this manner it reminded me of the '03 Reva I had a couple months ago. But that is where the comparisons with an Alban wine ceases. I never did find that depth and it seemed to be fleeting. Big and inky with some iodine. Found some blueberries and I think that there is a chance that this will get better and was really shutdown, but there was some signs that the depth was just not there.

At first, I thought that this might have been heat damaged, but I think that in the end I just did not like it that much. Initially it was all about prunes and raisins in the nose, a bit funky and a bit hot. Then it started to turn over and all I could conjure was a memory from childhood.....When I was younger, I drank a lot of apple juice and I would always wake up in the middle of the night jonesying for apple juice. After awhile, my mom started to put a glass of apple juice in my room before bed. Around 3-4 AM I would wake up and drink that glass..... The nose from this wine reminds me a lot of the smell of the apple juice after it sat out for 6-7 hours. I also found some seabreeze and blueberries, but the fruit blew off after a couple hours in the glass. In the mouth, I found soft, muted flavors, but not much in the way of a finish.