4/11/2012 - whinenut wrote:

Beautiful bright red, still looks young. Long legs. Nose of cedar, cherries and spices. A big wine. Lovely palate matching nose. Medium length finish followed by mild grainy tannins. My last bottle. Wish I had a couple more to open over the next couple of years. Deolisous.

3/31/2012 - whinenut wrote:

Dark black fruits. Ripe and perhaps a little over extracted.

3/13/2012 - whinenut wrote:

Mild off odor at first opening, took about. An hour for it to slowly fade away. Mid palate fruit seems to be sweet slightly over extracted. Finish is best with a fairly fresh and youth fruit of berries.

2/20/2012 - whinenut wrote:

A fabulous wine

8/20/2011 - whinenut wrote:

Bright shiny red in color. Nose of Syraz but was somewhat muted compared to past bottles. Palate was also light with a mild amount of tannin. Finish was short and uneventful. After 2 hours it was literally unchanged. No worse or beter than when popped. I hope this bottle will be an odd ball.

8/14/2011 - whinenut wrote:

Tasted over a period of 14 hours. Big wine full berries buried under moderate amount of dry tannin. Continued to open up and was still coming out after 14 hours. Started a little thin and acidity in the beginning. Clearly demonstrated its Howell Mountain heritage. Continually improved and gained weight the longer it was open. Tannin still prevailed but was more grainy as time went on. Excellent wine with outstanding potential. Will need several years to be ready.

5/21/2011 - whinenut wrote:

Good easy drinking wine. Best part is the finish.

5/18/2011 - whinenut wrote:

Excellent. Remained that way over 4 hours. One of my favorites.

5/7/2011 - whinenut wrote:

Well made wine. At pour nice clean fruit with sweet grainy dry tannins. Nice finish. Excelllent value. Held well over the 5 hours after opening. The 2004 is preferred over the this.

5/7/2011 - whinenut wrote:

At first pour nose of berries. Palate of berries. Finish fressh berries and cherries. Finish had a burst of pure fresh berries. After 30 minutes a mild odor developed that lasted 1 hour plus. After 1 hour palate of berries. Finish was still best part of experience. Wine has plenty of life to go.

5/1/2011 - whinenut wrote:

Sweet nose of pineapple. Palate pineapple, pear and touch of mineral. Very sweet palate with very long finish upto 2 minutes. Acid a little low but adequate. Way better than first bottle. Served at cellar temp seemed to allow it to show better.

4/23/2011 - whinenut wrote:

Deo-liscious almost medicinal with that eucaliptus. Not very wine critic verbiage but direct and true. See my other posts for description. REMINDS ME OF THE GREAT 1974 Heitz Martha's Vineyard

4/16/2011 - whinenut wrote:

Dark purple,opaque bright and clear. Typical syraz taste with sweet black fruit. At opening wine was a little closed showing slight alcohol. After 2 hours really started to shine with excellent weight. Still improving after 7 hours. A wonderful wine alone or really fine with riveted steak. I really like this. Fruit is still in abundance, pure with sweet ggrainy tannins. Has plenty of life left.

4/13/2011 - whinenut wrote:

Slight orange tint bright and clear. At first Berry nose. After 30 minutes an off odor appeared and lasted about 30 minutes. Plenty of tannin.

4/12/2011 - whinenut wrote:

Off odor at opening and lasted for about 2 hours. Once odor began to to leave more fruit appeared. Very mild odor remained. Tannin present and dry. This I believe was a bit flawed. Hope remaining bottle has no odor.

4/9/2011 - whinenut wrote:

Nice casual drinking wine. A bit austere at times. Plenty of acid.

4/5/2011 - whinenut wrote:

Very Good. Balanced components already integrated. Could stand to be more complex. Perhaps additional time will help.

4/2/2011 - whinenut wrote:

Easy to drink--very sweet with a mineral metallic mid-palate

3/27/2011 - whinenut wrote:

Dark violet nearly opaque, beautifully clear and bright. Nose of berries, tobacco & pepper. Palate rich sweet berries with excellent weight. Glad I picked this bottle the cork was a little soft on one side and it was about to rich air. Finish with berries and sweet but lite tannins.

3/26/2011 - whinenut wrote:

Big rich needs time to harmonize

3/26/2011 - whinenut wrote:

Slight odor at opening that disappeared after 10 minutes of air. Yummy. Ready to drink now.

3/20/2011 - whinenut wrote:

nose of ripe fruit, volitile alcohol. Palate underlying fruit, mineral and acid. A little austere at this time for me. Would probably do much better with beef steak. Perhaps a couple of additional years will allow the fruit to be more forward. Finishes with mouth drying tannin and acid medium in length.

3/8/2011 - whinenut wrote:

Not as good as first bottle. Mild off odor on nose, at times faint sherry alcohol woody. Finish was the best showing berries with long finish. Hope other bottles return. To youthful berries thru out.

3/5/2011 - whinenut wrote:

This bottle was remarkably different than the first. Nose of earth/ veggie with hint of berries. Palate earth/mineral. Thin in weight. Finish best of all with young berries. Medium length. As stated in another review this bottle lacks the WOW factor.

2/24/2011 - whinenut wrote:

First glass bright purple medium density. Nose of strong vanilla with Berry background. Palate reflected nose. Pure clean flavors. Wine flavors need time to integrate. Finish soft chewy and long reflecting palate. Over 8 hours the vanilla mellowed out and fruit became even more apparent with mild earth and spice. A good wine at a fair price.

2/21/2011 - whinenut wrote:

Stern reading the previous reviews I feel lucky. This wine was pretty good. Light yellow. Slightly sweet with pears and very mild spice. Lightly sweet finish lasting a long time. My first bottle about a year ago was terrible.

2/21/2011 - whinenut wrote:

big wine.chewy tannins. Still opening up after 2 hours.

2/20/2011 - whinenut wrote:

Was hoping to see improvement this time. Best part is the finish. Finish has more fruit than nose or palate. Has fine grain sweet tannin. Don't believe it will turn into anything special. My last purchase of this wine.

2/12/2011 - whinenut wrote:

Color--dark purple to rim. Nearly opaque.

Nose--Ripe berries, sweet blueberry pie, hint of smoke and mineral.

Palate--sweet ripe berries, blue Berry pie, mineral. Focused and pure flavors.

Finish--medium length mimmicking palate with temporary burst of sweet blueberries.. mild dry tannin.

A fantastic wine I like very much. I believe it still has room to improve.

1/30/2011 - whinenut wrote:

Very good

1/30/2011 - whinenut wrote:

Very enjoyable. Lazy Sunday afternnon.

1/15/2011 - whinenut wrote:

Redish-orange with a clear rim and a very slight amount of cloudy appearance. Lovely Cabernet Berry nose. Sweet Berry taste followed by mild tannins. The Franc comes thru clearly. This wine is very good and ready to go. You would never guess the alcohol level of 16% until your second glass full. With aged Wisconsin Cheddar it became very smooth but interferred slightly with the complexity.

12/12/2010 - whinenut wrote:

Medium red/garnet color clear and bright. At first pour nose of rich sweet blueberries. Palate of blueberries, wet rocks and a hint of sherry richness. Finish sweet blueberries. After 2 hours rich sweet blueberries very well balanced. Very well integrated with all components. The annoying (to me) sherry character was gone. Fruit continued to gain strength after 3 hours. This is the finest Cabernet I've had in awhile. Congrats to Quilceda. There cabs start out rough but heal fine in time.

11/22/2010 - whinenut wrote:

A little sweet but tastes good. Worth the price. My bottle had no heat.

11/21/2010 - whinenut wrote:

Nose had pleasant fruity young. Palate was nonexistant. Finish very tannic and bland. The next day some middle fruit showed up. I can only hope this improves, otherwise another GARAGISTE BELLY FLOP!

11/6/2010 - whinenut wrote:

Nose good, palate thin and bit lite for me. Finish dry tannic and missing fruit.

11/8/2010 - whinenut wrote:

A bit austere. Alcohol nose. Plenty of acid. A little heat on the finish. Very dry tannins. Perhaps a bit disjointed due to its youth. Plenty of fruit. Hidden under and around the tannin and acid.

11/8/2010 - whinenut wrote:

This bottle seemed to be a little richer than.the last one. Was right at the limit but not over. Really went well with beef.

11/2/2010 - whinenut wrote:

Beautiful red/purple color medium density. Cocoa, coffee, cherry. Finish medium length slot of fruit finishing sweet with lovely sweet grainy tannin. At times the alcohol was a bit volatile in the nose with a little heat occasionally. Was very delightful with BBQ ribeye. Held up fine over 6 hours.

10/24/2010 - whinenut wrote:

Opaque dark purple. Nose of sweet black fruits. Palate slightly sweet fruits followed by sweet grainy tannins. Very pleasing and balanced. I like it

10/23/2010 - whinenut wrote:

Really glad. This. Is my last bottle

10/17/2010 - whinenut wrote:

Yes it's s a huge wine. Yes it's a little syrupie. Yes it's well balanced. Yes it can be food by itself. It's still clearly a youngster with very good potential for improvement. Has just the right amount of acid. Finishes with lovely sweet grainy tannin. Even as big a wine as it is, BBQ ribeye stood up to it just fine. Could be a little more complex. But I love anyway.

10/16/2010 - whinenut wrote:

Best showing yet. Balanced. It appears the slight amount of heat on the finish is gone. Biggest drawback is lack of complexity. Big wine which I like. When you want the wine.to be your food this can do it. Great with aged white Wisconsin Cheddar and/or crackers. Glad to have more. ZzReafy to drink.

10/9/2010 - whinenut wrote:

Upon opening a faint smell of fresh and lively tequila. After 15 minutes there is no doubt a healthy dose of tequila. A very unusual and interesting nose. Palate was clean taste of mild tequila but not much else. Finished was smooth and clean. This was interesting but not what I'm looking for. Another Garagiste.com belly flop in my opinion.

10/8/2010 - whinenut wrote:

Light red color. Nose of minerals, berries and some austere acid and alcohol. Finishes with light berries, dry tannins and a little heat. Was much smoother with aged Wisconsin white Cheddar. Even my favorite of salami with peanut butter. Was outstanding.

10/5/2010 - whinenut wrote:

Dark fruits-tannin in balance. A bit one dimensional, perhaps due to its youth.

10/5/2010 - whinenut wrote:

Excellent balance for such a youngster. Vanilla, dark fruits with firm grip after showing lovely fruit on palate.

10/5/2010 - whinenut wrote:

A little high in acid for me. Classic nose.

10/5/2010 - whinenut wrote:

Classic nose-pure-clean.

10/5/2010 - whinenut wrote:

Beautiful color-love the eucalyptus nose and palate with dark fruits. Still shows grainy sweet tannins. This bottle was a little less complexe than previous ones. Mild alcohol heat on the finish.