3/24/2024 - Rebs in Chicago wrote:

Beautiful soft integrated tannins and mocha. Gorgeous soft fruit. Very round and full. Sad this is my last bottle.

3/24/2024 - Rebs in Chicago wrote:

Beautiful. Eucalyptus, strong dark fruits, beautiful tannins, solid acidity, medium finish of forest floor and tobacco. Could last a few more years easily.

2/10/2024 - Rebs in Chicago wrote:

Nice balance of cocoa, strawberry, cherry, bramble, pepper, espresso. Decent acidity with mild tannins at this point. Medium finish.

2/3/2024 - Rebs in Chicago wrote:

Lovely nose. Served it cellar temp at 57 degrees or so.

Honey straw color. On the nose Meyer lemon, green apple, melons, a hint of butterscotch and vanilla, a touch of honey spice, a nice minerality. On the palate it’s a smooth and median bodied with a long finish.

Served tonight with lol homemade buttermilk fried chicken, homemade sriracha Mac and cheese, and buttermilk biscuits.

1/25/2024 - Rebs in Chicago wrote:

Color a darkening purple to garnet to the rims. Dense and looks young.

Absolutely gorgeous nose of graphite, cherry cordial, forest floor, loads of spice including eucalyptus, a touch of something savory like thyme or rosemary, pine needles.

On the palette the tannins are well integrated, smooth mouth feel, coating the mouth, with a long finish of a minty dark fruit and forest floor. I’m glad I have more bottles. This still has years left!

12/31/2023 - Rebs in Chicago wrote:

Superlative wine!

However, it’s still tight with acid and tannins that take hours to soften. I popped the cork 6 hours before serving and it still took a decant and more time to finally open up.

When it finally opened it was full of dark fruit, raw cocoa, cedar, cigar wrapper, forest floor, and a long finish.

I’m glad I have one more bottle that I’ll keep for 3-5 more years before drinking.

12/25/2023 - Rebs in Chicago wrote:

Beautiful. Still drinking well with mocha, eucalyptus or mint, a solid backbone or dark berries, well integrated tannins, cigar wrapper, and a medium to long finish. Has time left if you want but drinking well now.

12/14/2023 - Rebs in Chicago wrote:

Lovely with nice acid, melons, apple, citrus, a hint of vanilla. Beautiful balance as always. I’m glad I have two more bottles. I might just sit on them for a couple years and see what happens.

11/12/2023 - Rebs in Chicago wrote:

Solid mountain Napa cab.

Beautiful deep ruby color with a nose full of violets and cassis, peppery spice, forest floor, cedar wood, with a nice long finish ending with a lingering note of flowers and dark berries.

It’s drinking perfectly now. Guess my prediction that it would last worked out just fine. Lol.

9/23/2023 - Rebs in Chicago wrote:

Drinking very well. Deep dark berries on the nose wirh tons of forest floor and cigar wrapper.

Well integrated tannins, smooth medium finish.

9/22/2023 - Rebs in Chicago wrote:

Oh wow! This was a VERY pleasant surprise!

Color is still a beautiful ruby right up the edges.

The nose is a beautiful dried dark berries, a backbone of green bell peppers, eucalyptus, forest floor, spices, a cassis liquor with a long long finish

9/17/2023 - Rebs in Chicago Likes this wine:

Color goes all the way to the rim and is a dark red/purple

Loads of graphite shavings, cassis, baking spices, white and black pepper, and dark flowers. A solid background of saddle leather and blonde cigar wrapper also. Hints of eucalyptus come through also

Mouthfeel is smooth with well integrated tannins and a long floral finish

5/27/2023 - Rebs in Chicago wrote:

Surprisingly solid even now. Beautiful spice notes that mellowed the next day. Cherry and dark fruits on the nose with a lot of bramble and pepper.

5/21/2023 - Rebs in Chicago Likes this wine:

Beautiful bouquet of flowers, eucalyptus, bright cherry, pencil shavings, and spice. This has matured beautifully. It still has some nice acid and tannin so it might continue to age I feel it’s nearing its peak or has reached it.

5/21/2023 - Rebs in Chicago wrote:

Opened and decanted for a few hours before drinking and it was loaded with earth tones, licorice, dark dark fruit, mocha and a long finish. It just kept getting more complex as the night progressed but tended to stay brooding in nature. The tannins were finely integrated and the wine felt like it still had some time.

5/14/2023 - Rebs in Chicago wrote:

We had a 2002 at the same sitting and I must say this was a bit less brawny and lighter but still had beautiful fruit, acid, tobacco, a hint of violets, pepper with a nice more easily approached mouth feel. I’d say this might last another 3-5 years at most before starting to go.

5/14/2023 - Rebs in Chicago wrote:

Absolutely gorgeous expression of Barossa Cabernet and Syrah. Loads of dark fruit, cigar wrapper, black pepper, with still prominent tannins and a nice acid snap at the end. This was a real crowd pleaser and I’m sad it was my last bottle.

It’s still a deep purple with color to the rim and felt like it could last another 5-10 years before turning

1/6/2023 - Rebs in Chicago wrote:

So perfect. Violets, lavender, dried tart blackberries , raspberries , baking spices, mocha, tons of well integrated tannins, good acidity, a backbone of cherries…

It has years of life left and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for my other bottles

12/18/2022 - Rebs in Chicago wrote:

Lovely acidity. Peaches, melons, lemons

12/18/2022 - Rebs in Chicago wrote:

Petrol on the nose, kefir lime, green apple, great acidity. Has lots of life left.

11/13/2022 - Rebs in Chicago wrote:

Honey, lemon, vanilla, honeysuckle. Moderate acidity with a medium finish. Looking forwards to drinking our other bottles.

10/16/2022 - Rebs in Chicago wrote:

Decanted and waited an hour. It started out tight but full of hope as it may be.

Cigar wrapper, a solid core of black fruits, a hint of mint, a bit of forest floor, maybe a little dried orange peel, nicely integrated tannins, good acidity. It’s drinking well now. I’m not sure I’d hold it more more than a couple more years.

I served it with an aged bone in strip steak with a peppercorn brandy cream sauce and roasted while cauliflower.

10/15/2022 - Rebs in Chicago wrote:

This is a solid mountain cab. It has a decent nose of crème de cassis, cherries, some spice, a little green pepper, and oak.

On the palate the tannins are well integrated and there’s a pleasant medium finish and tartness it’s drinking well now so I’m not sure if I’ll hold it much longer before serving the rest

8/30/2022 - Rebs in Chicago wrote:

Absolutely gorgeous. Cassis, dried raspberries, violets, allsplice, with a beautiful backbone of acid and fine tannins. This wine has years left to it.

8/30/2022 - Rebs in Chicago wrote:

Apricot, peaches, citrus, melon, a hint of butter and oak. Beautiful

8/28/2022 - Rebs in Chicago wrote:

Surprisingly still very much alive. The fruit is a little mellowed.but there’s still a load of cocoa, pepper, dried cherry, and leather. I’m glad I have one more bottle.

8/13/2022 - Rebs in Chicago wrote:

Mocha, pepper, dark fruits, a whiff of vanilla, branble, a little pepper. Tons of life remaining. Great acidity. Very Bordeaux styled, think St Estephe.

8/13/2022 - Rebs in Chicago wrote:

Honeysuckle , dried Turkish apricots, melon, citrus, a hint of cream and vanilla. Good acidity

8/9/2022 - Rebs in Chicago wrote:

This has held up surprisingly well. The blueberry, dark berry, pepper has given way to something almost meaty, leathery, with bramble and a hint of pepper. Tannins are well integrated

7/16/2022 - Rebs in Chicago wrote:

Wow this bottle still has life left in it but was drinking well.

Oh the nose sweet but muted cherry, violets, a touch of mocha and bitter chocolate, some forest floor, and a little pepper.

Mouth feel it still had some decent dusty tannins and a long finish full of flowers, kirsch, and spice.

7/16/2022 - Rebs in Chicago wrote:

Alas this bottle had a bad cork. I’m not sure if it was truly corked but the wine was badly oxidized, clearly bad compared to the other bottle I opened tonight.

6/2/2021 - Rebs in Chicago wrote:

Lovely nose of camphor, black and blue berries with a beautiful perfume of violets and baking spices. The color was a gorgeous deep red with a medium body. Just a whiff of green peppers, tellicherry black pepper, mocha, and mint. I’m sad this is my last bottle because it is so well integrated and drinking so well al this time.

6/2/2021 - Rebs in Chicago wrote:

Wonderfully earthy with a mature nose. Color was a deep garnet all the way to the edges. Deep dried cherry and blackberries with a hint of mocha and eucalyptus. One of my friends said patchouli as well. Dusty but well integrated tannins and a nice medium and smooth finish.

5/31/2021 - Rebs in Chicago wrote:

This has mellowed quite a bit. There is still a nice aroma of bing cherries and fresh raspberries with an added menthol and bramble. I know it’s “past it’s drink date” but there was none of the prune or dried fig flavor one gets with over aged wines.

5/31/2021 - Rebs in Chicago wrote:

This had aged nicely. The initial fruity jam has mellowed to a beautiful earthiness with a backbone of pepper, dark fruits, a hint of mocha. The tannins are still prominent and the color has mellowed to a deep garnet.

5/31/2021 - Rebs in Chicago wrote:

Gorgeous unctuous texture with a nicely honeyed nose. There are whiffs of lemon, citrus, and apricot with a lovely backbone of acid. Nice long finish that tapers to tartnesss (apple or lime?).

We had it with a beautiful apple custard with brûléed apples on top.

3/15/2021 - Rebs in Chicago wrote:

This bottle has aged incredibly well. There are no hard edges to this bottle. The color still goes all the way to the edges and is a beautiful purple. The nose was initially muted but with 30 minutes of decanting it opened up beautifully with a solid core of bright cherry and dried raspberries, violets, a light tobacco wrapper, leather, a bit of bramble, and a nice whif of spices. On the mouth it added mocha and teeth coating tannins.

I’m glad I have a few more bottles.

1/1/2021 - Rebs in Chicago Likes this wine:

It was surprisingly well preserved as I had low expectations for a bottle like this to age well, but while it had lost much of its fruit it had developed a nice caramelized lemon nuttiness.

10/9/2020 - Rebs in Chicago wrote:

Pretty decent. Good fruit, medium body. A bit of aged funk that only adds to the flavor. It has a hint of cocoa, coupled with a cherry backbone, good minerality, and hints of leather and tobacco leaf.

8/25/2020 - Rebs in Chicago wrote:

Lovely apple, apricots, toasted almonds, honeysuckle, a touch of citrus on the nose. Beautiful light yellow color. It has wonderful acidity and some solid minerality, drinking well above it’s cost with much youth left in the bottle. I’m excited to see what the last two bottles do over the next year or two.

7/29/2020 - Rebs in Chicago wrote:

Maybe on the edge of over ages but still a nice brick red color, lots of pepper on the nose with still some nice fruit. I’m surprised how well this has held up.

6/27/2020 - Rebs in Chicago wrote:

It was good with food.

On the nose there were melons and a little tropical fruit. There wasn’t much minerality and somewhat lower acidity so the wine seemed flabby and flat. It wasn’t bad with spicy food but wasn’t great on its own.

6/27/2020 - Rebs in Chicago Likes this wine:

A lively nose of green apple, peaches, melons, brown sugar, and a whiff of petrol on the nose. It has a medium mouthfeel, nice acidity, and a nice long finish.

We had it with homemade Thai basil beef tonight and it matched nicely.

5/30/2020 - Rebs in Chicago Likes this wine:

Honestly, I forgot I had these bottles until I recently categorized the cellar. Lol. The cork had no seepage and was in good condition.

Regardless, the color is a purple ruby and has started to pull from the edges. The nose smells of cedar and spice with a little tobacco on the edges. Medium body still with nice muted but noticeable red fruit with integrated tannins. It is at the very edge of its age so I’m glad I found the last couple of bottles to finish up.

5/15/2020 - Rebs in Chicago Likes this wine:

Actually still enjoyable. Still a nice ruby color. The aromas were of candied strawberries, dried cherries, some savory spices such as rosemary (although that may have been an effect of the lamb I ate it with). It certainly did not seem past its prime.