Disgorged 09/2016. Lemon, honeyed green apple and a finish of saline. This is drinking well at this stage, showing fresh.

Ahh, the 2008. My fondness for this wine keeps on. Still has a good support of the lemony acidity, with the same lemon, yellow apple and stone fruit in the palate. The wine is beginning to soften at this age, and it is smoothing out too. No rush to finish these. Thank you Alan for sharing this with us.

Poured blind as part of a 6 wine syrah flight. Some aged quality on the aromatic. Smooth, becoming resolved. Dark fruit, tarry, sweet cherry and a sweet A-1 sauce note. Finishes with rosemary, creosote and riper tones with dark chocolate.

Poured blind as part of a 6 wine syrah flight. Pepper and smoke, lavender (what I would guess to be a trio of whole cluster imprint). Smooth and polished, terrific depth. Cooked meat, garrigue , tangy and meaty, with the herbal qualities finishing the wine. This is bigger styled but made in a way that is delicious.

Poured blind as part of a 6 wine syrah flight. Rich and modern with some whole cluster. Flavors of cooked sausage (this is what my notes describe as the meatiness), bitter chocolate, black olive, iron, tarry with a tannic, youthful finish. Plenty of life left in this wine at nearly 10 years so I'd think this would go for a lot longer.

Poured blind as part of a 6 wine syrah flight. Didn't realize this was the first vintage of Halcon. Floral, some bacon fat and a core of blue fruit. Inky and chalky with espresso, blue-fruited juiciness and dark cherry. Enjoyed this a lot.

Poured blind as part of a 6 wine syrah flight. Distinct aromatic, funky and leathery, a kind of horse saddle thing. Very cool and interesting to smell this wine. Balanced and approachable, juicy with same sweet leather, bright acid, tarry, soy and steak sauce and a touch of sweet fruit in the finish.

Poured blind as part of a 6 wine syrah flight. Had what I thought was an older world bouquet, that distinctiveness that says not from CA. What fooled me though was the darker fruit, my notes even say black fruit. Shoe leather, inky, blue and black fruited with some crunchiness. Spicy, charcoal, garrigue with a blue fruited, herbal finish. Really liked this, the best of the 6 wines we tried in the flight.

Blue fruit, purple flower aromatic. Plush and generous, resolved in texture yet fresh. One thing the group pointed out towards the end of the tasting was a brett-like aroma. I could sense that when they raised it for discussion but did not find it when I had tasted and wrote the notes on the wine a few hours prior. FYI.

Poured blind as a stumper for the group at the end of our dinner. No decant, just open and right to the glasses for discussion. In typical blind format fashion, we're all trying to guess producer, AVA and think we had the wine figured out because of what we told Brian (our host) earlier in the evening as to what we like to drink. None of us were right, although the guesses at Pinot Noir were correct. If I remember my facts right about the wine, it was made by Morgan Peterson when he was 20 years old and the wine was stored and held for more than a decade, then offered to the Bedrock mailing list--fascinating piece of history here. Strawberry, watermelon, pine and a finish of cherry syrup. Could I do this at 52 years old? Loved tasting this history and hearing the story.