From Magnum. Roasted nuts, butter and lemon zest on the nose on day one. Flavors are simple, yet zippy, with more citrus and lemon zest followed by butty oak out of the finish. As it took air, and on day two there was a nice integration of some tropical flowers and lemons into the aromas and flavors above, but it never really came together to blow me away. I recently had the 07 from barrel, and while it's a tough comparison to something that has been in bottle for a year, the 07 was far more impressive and interesting than this was. Better than most Chard out there, especially if you are getting the free Gratis 750 bottling, but there are certainly better Chards out there if you have to pay for the mags they release.

No doubt about it, this is the best bottle of WH Smith Pinot I have ever had. They really take things to a whole other level with this bottling, and I am so excited to see them producing it again. Nose shows lush dark cherries, forest floor and a touch of all spice. The taste shows freshly tilled, damp earth, some tart cranberry, strawberry, and sweet dark cherries with a perfect balance of acid for structure while still maintaining a light to medium and smooth mouthfeel. Fantastic from the pop and pour, but we put it into a decanter where it was consumed over about 6 hours. At the last glass, all of the above came together so beautifully. Really a great accomplishment.

Characteristic sweet strawberry and cherry nose with some herbiness underneath. Medium bodied with great structure this was mildly tannic but never lost its smooth lush mouthfeel. Tastes of dark berries, all spice, and some plums. This is probably the best George I have had, and likely the most ageworthy that I have had as well, although one definitely needs to be in the mood for a big bold CA style pinot.

My first Windy Oaks pinot after a good friend has been talking them up for quite some time now. The nose was almost non-existent at the pop, but it slowly opened as the bottle came to temp with aromas of blackberry and some dusty earth. Taste shows dark cherries, blackberries, plum, and some earthy spices. Similar to the George Martaella Vineyard we had along side this one, this is on the medium bodied side, and holds on to a fair amount of tannin and acid, which gives it structure and balance, without being too cloying. This is a CA styled pinot with a lot of characteristics that I think more old world styled pinot drinkers can appreciate. Very good.

This wine showed pretty big raisin, plum, and prune aromatics with some underlying white pepper and anise as it opened up over two evenings. The taste follows the nose with some sharp acid and chewy tannins at the pop. This softened by night two, but it really only allowed the alcohol to then show through. I am thinking this is passed its prime. The nose and flavors just seemed flabby and overripe without ever developing into much more than that.

No score, as there is just no baseline for a wine like this. Besides, it is more about the experience than it is the points, right? This is the first wine I have had from my birth year, as unfortunately the whole world had a crappy vintage except for those making port. This, however, has held up magnificently. nose full of sweet cedar, strawberry, and old leather. Still tons of stewed fruit on the taste with some leather and balsamic undertones. I was so excited when this turned out to still be kicking around. This is not a wine to top the charts, but it certainly made for one of my top 2 or 3 wine experiences thus far.

Nose was distinctly Insignia in it's fullness, showing vanilla, blackberry, cassis, freshly tilled dirt, chocolate and a bit of mint. The taste showed pretty tightly wound for a good portion of this bottle with charred earth, anise, plum, cassis and vanilla flavors. Tannins are still quite fat and chewy, and really need a good 5 more years to begin to resolve. Overall this is a fantastic wine, but it needs quite a bit more time in the bottle to come together. I think I am a little jaded after having the 97, which was one of those cathartic wine experiences that will be near impossible to ever match up to.

Popped and poured, the nose was jumping out of the glass immediately with dusty earth and wood, plums, cassis, and figs. Flavor exploded equal to the nose with red and blue berries, tobacco, black currant, and some underlying woody stems. The wine is still pretty edgy and tannic, but I felt it was amazingly balanced and structured, rather than losing any of the depth of flavors to the chewy tannins. My favorite wine of the night.

This is a BEAST of a wine. Upon popping the cork, it showed quite lovely with some soft vanilla and some spicy red and black berries both on the nose and on the taste. After it really took in the air, however, it flexed it's muscles like a 'roided out competition body builder, and it was near impossible to get through anything but tannin over the next 4 hours. We finally conceded to leave it in the decanter overnight and see if extended airtime would bring it around. While there was noticeable improvement on day two, I still struggled with it, and I felt that the ripe and soft fruit we initially encountered at the pop had deteriorated into candied fruits that just didn't appeal to me. I think this wine just needs to rest for the next 10 years. I think that the pieces are there to be good in the future, but right now this was a just a big disjointed and candied mess. I will abstain from scoring, since I am by no means knowledgeable enough about Cabernet (especially from WA) to be able to see through what my personal preferences are versus the wines merits.

Popped and poured. The nose showed ripe, and fresh red fruits, anise, and a green herbasciousness. The taste was full of blueberries and plums with some red currant. Nice balance of fruit with the chewy, sweet tannins into the very ripe, round fruits on the finish. I think this is a very well made and approachable Cabernet, however there is nothing here that makes me want to run out and spend the ~$75 on a bottle.

Slightly cloudy unfiltered Chard an excellent balance of acidity, fruit, and oak. Nose shows lovely floral aromatics with a balance of soft oak and ripe melons and apples. I find this to be a good middle ground between White Burgundy and the New World Chards. Just the right amount of oak to soften the fruit and ad a layer of cinnamon spice, while still allowing the fruit to be the star of the experience. It's a bummer that they don't make more of this, but on the flip side, finding a small production wine like this that really lives up to its (very reasonable) price point is no small feat.

As an experiment, we drank this up against a similarly priced Cote Rotie. While the wine showed similar to my previous experience, everything seemed a little less exciting compared to the last bottle I had. While the Cote Rotie won this round, I think with another year or so on this (the Cote Rotie was an 05), it would have given it a good run for its money. Not as terroir driven or as subtle as the Cote Rotie, but Joe sure does a darn good job of emulating that style.

To my recollection, this is the first Cote Rotie that I have had. Nose shows big white pepper, bacon fat with underlying plums and blackberries. The taste was insanely well balanced with mild acidity holding up the leather and dusty blackberries and cranberries. While the fruits were ripe and a bit tart, the wine still showed very soft and subtle with dried tobacco and pepper showing up on the finish. Drank this up against a CA Syrah, and while I absolutely love that bottle, this once again reminded me why I am an Old World kind of guy. You just can't beat true terroir and earth driven flavors. Lovely bottle here.

Wow! That's what I thought at my first glass of this stuff. So much vibrant fruit and acid while still remaining insanely balanced and complex throughout the glass and the bottle. In terms of specifics, I can't add much to what the previous taster described. It only improved as the air really took it and these aromatics and flavors really came into their own. Still to young to really show all it had to offer, but this is going to be a real stunner in the next 5 years or so. At $40 it is a steal of a CdP.