Nice lemon rind, and some apricot on the nose. Flavors mirror the nose with nice bright bubbles. Simple, but highly enjoyable for summer afternoons in the sun.

Corked!

Decanted an hour before drinking. Tons of wonderful raspberries and dark cherries with a nice minerality and dusty tannin. I love this wine.

Blend of 85% Morellino, 15% Ciliegiolo. Two grapes I have personally never heard of before, but they were the surprise of the tasting for me. Lots of tobacco, leather, eucalyptus, and dense dark cherries on the nose. THis wine as great structure and presence on the palate with lots of dark fruit, cherries, tobacco and earth flavors. The finish showed a charred oakiness that never overwhelmed and disappated into the more minty/eucalyptus characteristics. Really nice stuff here.

Decanted about 1 hour before drinking. Sam score as previous, but this bottle showed more funky earth and dark berry flavors than the last. This has tons of life left in it. Can't wait to see how it progresses.

Nice smoky and slightly meaty aromatics. Mild tannin with great spice plum and blackberry fruit flavors. I think that previous notes here hit it on the head that this shows very Rhone-like, but I feel that the spices are more distinctly Italian to my palate. I enjoyed this quite a lot and for the price it's a got a great QPR.

Tons of vanilla, sweet oak, and cedar on the nose with only hints of plums and blackberries. Unfortunately, this translated to the palate as well and it was just too overoaked for me. Even with some extended air time this only integrated slightly allowing some of the dark fruit flavors to come forward. Although this isn't my style of wine flavor wise, I can feel the quality in the structure, weight, and balance of this wine. I can see how this might be appealing to some, and if all that oak can somehow integrate better with more age I may be able to get behind it. No score as my personal preferences make it too hard to be objective about it.

Impression only. grafstrb hit the nail on the head drescribing this as "woodsy, mint..." It's not so much oak as it is a woody aroma and flavor that comes through. I really quite liked it as it balanced out that mintiness with some soft blackberries and raspberries. Probably the best new world Nebbiolo I have had.

I had this wine just under a year ago, and I'll be honest, I didn't think that it could have improved with any more age, but here I am, foot firmly planted in my mouth. It shockingly seemed to have gathered a bit of weight and more dark cherry flavors have come forward into a wonderful medley along side the tobacco, cigar box and dusty earth characteristics. Such an amazing nose on this wine. So floral and aromatic. This was a steal for $50 at Winex awhile back, so sad that it is all gone now.

No rating, as I only had one small taste of this. I have only had Amarone once before and it really took some getting used to for me. I guess these wines just don't do it for me with their sweet, overripe/stewed fruits and prune flavors. Funny because I don't mind those flavors so much in port. This wine seemed balanced and had lots of layers of flavors, so I could see why lovers of this style of wine would really dig it, but it's just not for me.

Impression only. Pretty straightforward meaty syrah here, but there certainly are lovely layers of floral and dark fruit flavors going on here. For $20 you aren't going to find a better syrah, especially out of the new world that so well embodies the characteristics of the varietal. Really nice.

Impression only. This is bursting at the seems with wonderful black fruits, tar, earth and smoky meats. Mild tannins give this thing some structure, but I think she is a little disjointed at this stage. Let these rest for a good couple of years and I think this no doubt will blow the Kimberly's and the Humboldt County out of the water.

Impression only. Wow...how's that for an impression for ya? Very aromatic nose full of tobacco, tar, smoky meat, and black fruits. The taste is what makes this wine though. Loads of plums, blackberries, and tar up front and onto the midpalate, but then the most amazing bacon fat-like flavor comes through. It's awesome too because it just sort of blends with the fruit and never takes over. So unique, yet still so true to the varietal. Really fantastic stuff.

To grafstrb's point about this being a more focused wine compared to the Aria's, I agree that it certainly is more focused at this point in its development, but IMHO I think the Aria's needs a little more time to develop and will prove to be the better wine in the long run.

Impression only. Soft apricot, honey, lemon rind and a touch of grapefruit on the nose. Citrus hits you up front, but it's never sour or overly acidic. In fact it has a very oily and smooth mouthfeel border on flabby, IMO. Medium finish. Not overly impressive, but in my limited German Riesling experience, I wonder if this is in a weird place right now. It had a ton of wonderful flavors but it just all seemed a little sloppy and flabby. Perhaps a weak bottle? With a bit more acid and more cohesive flavors this could be pretty nice.

Lots of simple red fruits and sweet oak on the nose, which also translate over to the palate. Some spiciness on the midpalate makes you hope for more from this wine but it doesn't really deliver. There is certainly nothing wrong with this wine, but there is nothing memorable about it either.

Impression only, so no score. Hugely aromatic nose reminding me quite a bit of the Clos Apalta with a ton of violets, tobacco, and dense stewed fruits. Ripe black and blue fruits hit hard up front, but quickly mellow to more raspberry and chocolate on the mid palate and blueberries out of the finish. Very well balanced and silky smooth on the tongue. I would like to get some of this and go through a whole bottle because the taste I had was impressive.