7/28/2023 - Stevethebeav wrote:

ugh. fully streaked cork. not awful but tastes like an $8 wine,,,bummed,

6/13/2023 - msuwine wrote:

If Napa appellations were a party, Dr. Crane would be where it's at. To Kalon would be for the lookie-loos: those who want to see and be seen, striking a pose for folks driving by on 128. Piedras would be for the nerds: those who snort the soil and debate the dirt, oblivious to the suburban surroundings. Maybe some other vineyards would be vying for hipster status (e.g., riper, cooler, whatever), but Crane would be for the fun people. Setting aside the school and playground nearby, it is a place for pleasure, for those who eat the fruit at its ripest, or at least go down the slide head first.

Even within that setting, this wine goes one more. It's the guest who never wants the party to end, who passes out on your couch or barfs in your backyard. In other words: this wine is too much of a good thing. Dark red in color and full in body, it offers brandy-like aromas of blueberry pie, cherry liqueur, and milk chocolate. The flavors are similarly boozy, with notes of sour cherry and mocha-chino-something (as long as it's sweet), followed by a pleasant and lifted finish - a redeeming end to a debaucherous wine. 15.1% alcohol.

So, thumbs down for me. I say this with some sadness, as I was an ardent fan of Mike's wines at his own label and Carter in the period leading up to this vintage. Maybe it's me, or him, or the fluid, or the vintage, or the stars - but this wine seems more like Caymus than Crane, and it just doesn't taste that good, at least to me. Drink whenever, but count me out.

9/30/2022 - WineGuyDelMar Does not like this wine:

I’ve thought about how to rate a wine I truly don’t like. My gripe is how you ruin an amazing grape like Cabernet Sauvignon by making it mega purple, ripe, fruit bomb & sweet? Are you appealing to the Kendall Jackson Chard crowd migrating to red wines? You can taste a Million Bordeaux wines and NONE will taste like this. I think this wine appeals to new red wine drinkers for the most part who have only California wines in their cellar. This wine will NOT appeal to Bordeaux lovers. At all. My palate HATES any kind of sweetness. My wife was Ok with this wine. I was not. So maybe it’s just my palate?

4/17/2020 - Stevethebeav Likes this wine:

Decanted for 3 hours. This is a big, bold, bad ass wine that is very enjoyable right now. Integrated now, but will still pull together more in a couple years. Very deep garnet colored. Deep dark plumb, over ripe strawberries and cherry pie. Graphite and chocolate as well. The texture and mouthfeel are what stands out most. Luxuriously silky.

1/10/2015 - Ex-Ray Likes this wine:

At dinner after a tasting of ten 2003-2011 Bob Foley wines, from Robert Foley, Padis, Switchback, including pinots, syrah, cabs, merlots. Most of these wines were very dark and huge, with very big tannins. This Cayuse was equally concentrated and dark, totally opaque. However, the nose was completely different, with coffee-mocha, leather, meat, black fruits, quite complex. Perfectly balanced fruit, full-bodied but acid and tannin well in the background...viscous and tastes which developed and changed on the palate over 30 seconds, some smokiness and anise. The finish is very long, also very complex. Always outstanding...a wonderful Oregon syrah!
Ric