11/3/2023 - Andrew H wrote:

Excessively taut and thin. Some lime and lemon peel, bracing acidity. If this wasn’t flawed it was out of character.

1/2/2023 - VoVo Likes this wine:

Absolutely gorgeous. We are sorry they will no longer be making wine, but we will cherish the wines we have left.

8/4/2022 - YMChan wrote:

BLIC balance 1, 1, 1, 0.5
Very good
High acidity

6/29/2022 - Andrew H wrote:

Delicious right from get go. Blueberry notes on nose along with cherry. Nice earthiness with cigar/light tobacco. Some tannins linger suggesting time for development but highly enjoyable now.

1/8/2022 - MattMauldin Likes this wine:

Bright, light-gold color. Very mineral on the nose, aromas of oyster shell & slate, along with lime & orange flesh & zest, celery salt & white pepper, ginger powder, hazelnut and lavender. Lean and piquant on the attack, with juicy zesty citrus and depth of crushed stone, hazelnut, white pepper and hints of clove. Dense and fleshy middle palate, with taut acidity and tightly rounded edges towards a lengthy and mouthwatering finish.

1/3/2021 - brouigu1 wrote:

So sad...

10/2/2020 - Nicephoras wrote:

This is a very solid wine, but it's made in the somewhat anonymized big house style, which renders it mostly uninteresting. It's correct, and pleasant, and I'd be delighted to drink it at a party, but at a wine dinner, it ended up sitting half full and not of much interest. I was worried I was becoming a hipster and will have to start drinking natural wine after writing the above, but then I had the l'Angloire at this dinner, and was disabused of that notion. But, to stop the digression, this is the definition of cromulent champagne.

11/23/2020 - Ridgerunner Likes this wine:

The quality coming from Sojourn is exceptional

9/16/2020 - redhead6971 wrote:

Anton’s Wine Tasting Notes CIRQ Treehouse 2013
Winery: CIRQ. Varietal: Pinot Noir
Area/Appellation: Russian River, Sonoma, Cali. Vintage: 2017
Price: $175 Library
Color: moderate to dark ruby. Legs: dead slow
Nose: candied smoke, ash, pitch, black cherry, dried cherries
Palate: rich Corinthian leather texture, dark dried black berries, soy sauce, aged pomegranate,
Finish: blackberries, mulberries, smoke and oak,
Comments: 2 hour open bottle decant. Really surprised me considering the warmth of the vintage.
The acids are a little buried but still there. Drink now through 2025
Pairing Suggestions: Gruyere, duck with fruit sauce, salmon or other moderate oily fish, quail, gouda, aged chedder.
Score in terms of Vintage: 92
Score for the Wine: 91++
Value for the Money: Very Good
Date Tasted: 09/12/2020
Tasted by: ACK

8/1/2020 - Andrew H wrote:

Medium red, clear. Almost ripe cherry, some raspberry, a bit of cranberry tartness. A hint of pepper on finish. Drinking very well right now.

4/15/2020 - McMalbec Likes this wine:

Delicious SB, paired nicely with baked flounder with herbed panko. As it warmed in the glass, the finish opened up nicely. This is going to be a great summer wine.

11/4/2019 - msuwine wrote:

I’ve been a fan of the Cirq label from its outset, since it offers a more restrained version of the Kosta Browne single vineyard wines - powerful, but not as sweet. Although Kosta Browne is taking over the Bootlegger’s Hill vineyard in 2017, I decided to taste these two 2016 versions side-by-side: one from Kosta Browne (the heir apparent) and one from Cirq (the departing winery). Given this brief intersection in time, were the wines that different?

Um, no - not really. They are each juicy, lively, and nuanced - right down the middle of the modern Pinot line, with ripeness but also typicity. I’ve lately found many KB wines to be rich and saccharine, but this was not the case here. I liked the Cirq better, since it had a more floral, intense, pure, and settled profile, but each is good - and hard to distinguish from each other. Onto the details:

- Color. Both offer bright cherry, almost translucent profiles, with the Cirq being slightly more dark.

- Body. Each had a similar mouthfeel, though the Cirq was the more heavy of the two. Each was medium in body, with few teardrops on the glass and a pleasant lift at the end. (The Cirq was 14.5% alcohol, the Kosta Browne 14.1%.)

- Nose. The Cirq was more reticent, with notes of cranberry, dried herbs, and gravel. The KB was more pungent and fruity, with notes of sour cherry and rosemary. Both have an herbal and gravy tilt, but the KB offers more fruit.

- Taste. The KB was more candied, though only slightly moreso. Each offered lovely notes of dried cranberry, sour cherry, menthol, and herbs. This was the hardest metric on which to tell them apart.

- Finish. The Cirq was a little lighter in the exit, with a more lifted tone. The KB, in contrast, was a bit more sweet.

These wines are virtually identical, so to taste one is to taste both (and don't buy both! ... like, um, a friend of mine). I opened each too early, but I think they will be plenty impressive in 2021 or later. In the interest of splitting no further hairs, I’d put the KB as a 93 and the Cirq as a 93+ at the moment. Both have real upside, though, so give them some time and see what happens.

8/18/2018 - Eatmypixels Likes this wine:

This was really good and amazing. Still young after 12 years. Cherry galore with layers. Must buy more

11/28/2018 - Enfant sauvage wrote:

My first dropped bottle. But it smelled great as it oozed across the basement floor...

10/23/2018 - ChopperWine Likes this wine:

95 is just for starters. Oh heavens what this kid will be when he grows up. Just received first 6 bottles and had to Coravin a glass. "Garrigue, thyme and oceanic notes create the nose, before you begin getting into the ripe, peppery, red fruits," wrote Jeff Leve. He could not be more spot-on. I will add that I found it already foretells insanely rich, chewy cherry on the palate while the moss, tobacco and leather incubate. The years ahead will be interesting to see it transform into one of those CDP's for the ages. If you are buying a bottle or two to lay down, great. But do buy an extra one just to enjoy this "look into the future." Superb. And to also make an another appropriate quote, I paraphrase the illustrious wisdom of Randolph and Mortimer Duke, "buy, buy, buy."

1/11/2016 - galewskj wrote:

Decanted about an hour. Drank over 2 days. It went well with a ribeye on day 1 and it went well with pizza on day 2. A curious blend. This seems to be MOSTLY an easy-drinking and well-made Bordeaux blend. But I detect some syrah or some blending grape that gives it some spicyness. Lots of rich red fruit. Nice balance.

10/14/2017 - Collector1855 wrote:

During a 2014 walkabout arrivage tasting, no tasting notes given, only selective comments. In general I did not walk away excited after sampling ca. 40 wines (to be fair, all the big weights were missing). In a nutshell, while the vintage is pleasant and fresh, it is often too lean, lacking charm and aromatic depth. Still, Bordeaux being Bordeaux, the wines are not made for immediate drinking so, I don't see the point in buying them now. There will be plenty of them in the market in 2024 when they reached their peak and prices then will probably still be relatively attractive given the release prices.
TN: Thank good we had two sweet wines after these lack luster reds to bring my palate back in order. Not having a sweet tooth I rarely drink Sauternes. Today the Guiraud 2014 showed stellar and was the WOTN, combining sweetness and racy acidity making it very appealing. The Suduiraut on the other side, while not bad either, was too unctuous for my taste.

3/15/2015 - evanqian wrote:

light lemon yellow, clear. typical Marlborough pungent aromas, a little milder in palate, passionfruit, grassy and subtle vege leaves. crispy acidity, medium/light bodied, short/medium finish with subtle minerals and salty savoury notes.

the quality of KC SB has been sliding down during recent years, meanwhile the producing climbing up, and yield as well I assume. However, it's still a reliable brand, providing consistently above-average quality.

Ap: 4/5; Ar: 12/15; Palate: 17/20; overall: 3+1/10
TOTAL: 87/100

4/16/2013 - Ex-Ray Likes this wine:

Light-medium color, translucent. Red fruit aromas of cherry/strawberry/raspberry, not very pronounced. Similar red fruit flavors of cherries, strawberries, but fairly one-dimensional. Nice long aftertaste, though. I know these are sought-after wines, but I'd rather have Walter Hansel North Slope for $35 than this for a much higher price. Since we bought a couple of cases, including single vineyards, I'll withhold further judgment until we try some others.
Ric