4/28/2018 - acyso wrote:

No. 4650 has the (mis)fortune of being the first bottle of this opened out of my stash. The nose is immediately brilliant, with a mild note of brine and a powerful whiff of black peppercorn. To underline those classic syrah tones is black fruit that is perfectly ripe. A hint of oak seems to accent all of this, but that oak is judiciously applied and truly serves to augment the nose. The palate is a little tougher to get through, though that is more than forgivable given this wine's youth. Again, the intensity shows. But this is coiled up and burly, with tons of coarse tannin and black fruit. I can find hints of salinity and meat here, but that's mostly just decoration on top of a massive, structural wine. I don't pick up the "Chave tastes like Chave" component, but that may yet emerge with time. This feels like Hermitage to me.

7/5/2014 - DigitalOz wrote:

We bought 2 bottles of this. We had one for our 15th wedding anniversary. It was fantastic. It is a very big Shiraz. Wonderful berries and plum flavors. The finish featured chocolate and mocha and some spiciness. Nice tannic structure. We are saving our second bottle for our 25th anniversary.