3/18/2009 - caldwell wrote:

Handsome right out of the bottle. Very pretty floral notes on a medium frame. This manages to pull off sweet fruit with good acidity and pretty aromatics. Really classy and not a bit overwrought.

2/18/2009 - caldwell wrote:

Dark cherries and serious depth. Would benefit from more age (nose would become more complex and tannic impression would lessen) but quite pleasing on the palate and agreeable to drink today.

1/29/2009 - caldwell wrote:

This is - uh - perfect. There aren't enough bottles in inventory in CellarTracker for me to consider this a dangerous posting. This is absolutely brilliant Rutherford Cab at six/seven years of age. Amazing palate density with the early phases of secondary nuance. Keeps on giving and giving. Plush, plush, plush. It's easy to bag on Mondavi - too many vineyards, too many mistakes, etc. - but this is genius.

1/4/2009 - caldwell wrote:

Gobs of fruit, but still pretty monolithic and hot on the back end. This wine still - happily - needs more time.

1/4/2009 - caldwell wrote:

My bottle kept getting better for the two and a half hours that it was open. Fantastic bottle of wine. This has density, richness, length and character. Really outstanding. Other bottles won't live to see 2010.

1/4/2009 - caldwell wrote:

This has come on strongly. I really like it - it's surpsingly character-driven and friendly. I should go back and revisit the Hansel mailing list; I may have been remiss in dropping from it, particularly for the Chardonnays.

1/4/2009 - caldwell wrote:

Wow - my notes are completely different than those that have come before me. I think that this is a fantastic example of my favorite kind of wine - a soft, luxurious, giving Grenache-based wine from the Southern Rhone. Can any wine on earth compete with this for fruit-driven gratification with easy-to-notice complexity with a lusty finish that cries out for additional glasses? We found this soft, fruit-forward with the classic aching garrigue in the back end. This style (fruit-forward Southern Rhone Grenache) that I miss when I don't drink frequently enough.

1/4/2009 - caldwell wrote:

A second bottle (from a few days after the first bottle) wasn't quite as soft and attractive. Probably Drinker Variation rather than Bottle Variation.

1/4/2009 - caldwell wrote:

Soft, fruit driven and pretty. A nice wine for drinking right out of the bottle with no decant time. A steal for the fare.

1/4/2009 - caldwell wrote:

A changeling - was, at moments, ripe, spicy and pretty. At other moments, it was thin, tannic and ungratifying. Changed quite a bit while exposed to air over the course of a few hours. My instinct suggests that I should have waited on this bottle or should have consumed immediately without decanting. From Magnum.

1/4/2009 - caldwell wrote:

I thought this might have been closing down a bit - should have decanted longer before we got into it. "Pop and Pour" may not be the order of the day for this bottle at this stage from my cellar!

1/4/2009 - caldwell wrote:

This is ready to go from the bottle and certainly will benefit from an hour of air. I was a bit surprised to find it so approachable - fantastic core of fruit with a nice balance of secondary flavors and character. Overall a delightful bottle of wine. I had intended to hold onto these for another few years before opening, but this is approachable enough to start drinking now. (Better early than late!)

1/4/2009 - caldwell wrote:

Masculine and satisfying. Seems like it lacks the last bit of authority in its secondary nuances, but it would be fair to say that my sinuses may have lacked the last bit of authority in picking out secondary nuances.

12/14/2008 - caldwell wrote:

Real crowd-pleaser at a Christmas party. Correct Sonoma Coast Pinot that will make friends.

12/14/2008 - caldwell wrote:

Handsome, wood-spiced Italian Cab. Drinking fine today from magnum.

12/14/2008 - caldwell wrote:

Concentrated fruit and lots of tannin at the back end.

12/14/2008 - caldwell wrote:

Quite a handsome bottle now, and will hold up to lots of time in the cellar, as it's still going strong from the countertop 36 hours after a double-decant.

12/14/2008 - caldwell wrote:

Robust wine that can stand a long decant. 36 hours after a double decant (12 at cellar temp and 24 at room temp) this wine is still open for business and not a shred oxidized. Pretty bright cherry flavors with some tannic backbone, but pleasant and complex at the same time. A gem for what it cost.

12/14/2008 - caldwell wrote:

This is very high-toned Merlot that's very "winey" and not particularly enjoyable upon opening or within a window after popping the corks. We double-decanted and checked back in at 12 hours (cellar temperature) and didn't care for it. At 36 hours (spent 24 hours at room temperature after the first 12 ) it was still high-toned, though more drinkable. I think that this might be a wine that needs another decade to come back into a pleasant drinking window.

12/14/2008 - caldwell wrote:

This wine is rocking and rolling. It seems like some of the Pax wines need to sit and sit and sit in the cellar - but not this one. Smoke 'em if you got 'em.

12/14/2008 - caldwell wrote:

A fine bottle - great density and flavor authenticity.

12/7/2008 - caldwell wrote:

With an hour or an hour of half of hour, this has a super iron/boysenberry taste to it that's completely different than most of the blowsy Aussie wines that come ashore. (I like those, too, in their place.) This is a serious wine with structure and longevity ahead of it, though mine won't last much past the next time I'm thirsty for a meaningful shiraz and have an hour to wait for one to come around.

12/7/2008 - caldwell wrote:

This is probably passing on its way - it's now a nice, dark, golden color and quite a bit of residual sweetness, though the back end is flattening out meaningfully. I (gulp) used a 1/2 cup of this in a lobster risotto that I made, and it went well through the entire meal.

12/7/2008 - caldwell wrote:

Wow! With an hour of air, this is beautiful. Call it light bodied, even - not something that would usually be considered a flattering term for the wines I like to drink. If you're serious about cooking, make something simple from perfect ingredients - something that you'd expect to find in a really great neighborhood bistro in Paris. (Roasted free-range oragnic chicken with potatoes cooked in chicken fat? Roasted Duck? Some kind of confit? Omelettes and frites a la Bourdain?) and dig into this for a delightful food/wine experience. This one is prime for a Slow Food Experience.

12/7/2008 - caldwell wrote:

Lots of fruit up front, but nothing much in the way of complexity. This has the stuffing to hold for a while, and it should improve during the period.

12/7/2008 - caldwell wrote:

Hot; caught this on an off night?

11/28/2008 - caldwell wrote:

Not going to win any fruit-forward awards, that's for sure. Pleasant, medium bodied wiine that would have been best served with food. I guess I'd say that this has all the backbone and complexity but doesn't (at least at this stage) have enough fruit to carry my interest. I have had Barolos and Barbarescos that combine more fruit with similar complexity and they seem to be better for me. That said, I could be drinking this wine ten years too early. Doesn't feel like it, as the color is getting light around the rim, but it's hard to say. Score reserved.

11/28/2008 - caldwell wrote:

2 hours of air turn this into a gorgeous bottle of wine. Definitely quite drinkable. There will be those that want to wait until this wine is ten years older to drink it, but it's quite (quite, quite) pleasant as a fruity, complex, grippy young Bordeaux. Highly recommended.

11/25/2008 - caldwell wrote:

This is brilliant and will convert any Grenache newbie into a Real Fan. Fun bottle of wine.

11/25/2008 - caldwell wrote:

To my taste, this was extremely closed and tannic, even after a couple of days open in the bottle being tasted from the cellar. What should I have expected from a 2005 Bordeaux at this stage? Sit on these and wait for the magical turn in a few years. Check back in the Fall of 2010.

11/25/2008 - caldwell wrote:

Normally wait longer on Pinots, but this is ready to drink right now. Pretty and svelte. Great dinner companion. Manages to walk a line between cheap burgundy (not enough fruit) and CA Piont (too much fruit and sap). This is an attractive little bottle that should make lots of friends.

11/25/2008 - caldwell wrote:

Rocking with two hours of air. Left me with the impression of a beautifully well-done WA state Cab rather than a hot climate CA Cab.

11/24/2008 - caldwell wrote:

very, very nice and minerally without being overbearing

11/24/2008 - caldwell wrote:

My oh my this stuff is tasty. Certainly a candidate for reordering, as it's pretty and fruit-forward and elegant all at the same time. Certainly drinkable.

11/24/2008 - caldwell wrote:

Fabulous. Does this kind of wine get any better? Gorgeous fruit density overriding the tannins without being syrupy or Australian in any way. This stuff is utterly fantastic - kudos to Schrader and to TRB for producing wines like this at reasonable prices like these.

7/15/2008 - caldwell wrote:

Charming; very sappy and pretty. This note is from a bottle consumed in July. A second bottle consumed in November wasn't as evolved and didn't have the same sap as the July bottle.

11/24/2008 - caldwell wrote:

This wine - once so over-the-top evolved and giving and delicious - has been going through a dumb phase. It was brilliant when it was running strong.

11/24/2008 - caldwell wrote:

My long-long ago tasting notes only say "Tasty." As i recall this has gained a lot of density and character and responds well to air in the glass.

11/24/2008 - caldwell wrote:

Again, never got a whiz-bang effect out of this.

11/24/2008 - caldwell wrote:

Disappointing. Oxidized and not particularly interesting. I won't score it, because I don't count myself as a fan of these sorts of wines and can't really give the most accurate appraisal.

11/17/2008 - caldwell wrote:

Sort of a bistro styled wine as it is; I'll give it a couple of years and serve it with some very well-considered bistro-styled food, hoping that the two work together. Not particularly exciting at the moment.

11/17/2008 - caldwell wrote:

Holy Smokes I love this wine. Gorgeous weedy perfection. We think so much of this wine that we're planning on visiting the chateau next summer. It's such a unique wine - so full of character - that it's hard not to fall in love with it..

11/17/2008 - caldwell wrote:

Drank this with Myriah to celebrate her birthday. Fine enough wine - everyone else seems to be having more fun with it than we had. I thought it had a lot of complexity but that it lacked much by way of fruit - which is a surrogate for saying that it wasn't "giving," perhaps.

11/17/2008 - caldwell wrote:

Brilliant! This is what Cotes du Rhone is all about. Smashing, happy-making wine that doesn't cost an arm and a leg. Fantastic little bottle for the fare if you're into this kind of thing.

11/17/2008 - caldwell wrote:

This needed an hour or two, but came into focus. More like a Washington State wine than a big, bruising California cab. Thought this was nice.

11/17/2008 - caldwell wrote:

Fun to check in on, but this felt like it was quite tannic and unready. My cellar runs cold. I'm going to check back in a couple of years or give a longer decant next time.

11/17/2008 - caldwell wrote:

Thought this was a fantastic introduction to Petite Syrah. Popped and poured. Nice little bottle of wine. Smooth and without the aggressive tannins that you hear attritubed to Petite Syrah so often. Handsome.

11/17/2008 - caldwell wrote:

Tight upon opening, gradually yielding some quite rocky flavors and complexity. Good enough if red burgundy is your thing; it's not mine.

11/17/2008 - caldwell wrote:

Fruit seems to be fading; should have caught this earlier. Also possible that I should have decanted it for a while, though it seems unlikely given the vintner and the appellation.

11/17/2008 - caldwell wrote:

I didn't think that this was an awesome showing for this wine. I guess I had expected more eight years in; this was relatively simple, light to medium bodied and didn't send up any fireworks. Tasted rather like a good CdR than a CdP from a fine vintage.