3/30/2024 - aaronmphoto Likes this wine:

This was the last of our bottles from when we were club members at Dry Creek Vineyards and this reminded us why we loved their wine. Delicious flavor, nice boldness. Held up well after these years.

4/6/2024 - aaronmphoto Likes this wine:

Holy wow — this was delicious. Decanted for a few hours and ate with steak and it was the perfect blend. Delicious fruit flavor but not overly powerful. Nice dryness without completely taking all the moisture from your mouth. Had to finish this bottle in one night because it was so good.

3/15/2024 - aaronmphoto wrote:

Delicious as always. Didn’t quite hold up as we remembered, but still enjoyed.

2/24/2024 - aaronmphoto Likes this wine:

This was so good. Broke delicious flavor without being overly fruity. Nice dryness - really warmed the soul

1/1/2024 - aaronmphoto wrote:

Drank as part of blending kit. Enjoyed this bottle the most

12/22/2023 - aaronmphoto Likes this wine:

Really enjoyed this. Actually the first Von Strasser that we’ve opened that we said “wow”. Gave a few hours of air and opened up beautifully. Nice dryness — didn’t suck all the moisture from our mouth, but dry enough and paired perfectly with steak. Warmed the soul as it went down. Beautiful fruit notes that packed in flavor without being jammy or overly juicy.

12/25/2023 - aaronmphoto Likes this wine:

Drank at Christmas dinner, with fish stew. Everyone enjoyed. Went well with the fish. Light’ish but full of flavor, not overly juicy and fruity but nice flavor.

12/16/2023 - aaronmphoto wrote:

Drinking really nice right now but could be nice even a few more years. Great with red meat

11/30/2023 - aaronmphoto Likes this wine:

Opened up after a few hours. A little grassy tasting at first and jammy but opened up well with air

12/6/2023 - aaronmphoto Likes this wine:

Was really light. A little grassy. Wife enjoyed this more than I did. I wanted it to hit me with more flavor but found it was in general lacking some oomf to make it stand out.

12/5/2023 - aaronmphoto wrote:

Was a little lighter than I remembered. Got better with some air.

12/1/2023 - aaronmphoto wrote:

Was nice. Fairly light and needed time to open up but enjoyed with dinner

11/23/2023 - aaronmphoto Likes this wine:

Drank with thanksgiving dinner. Wonderful fruit flavor and went well with turkey. Medium dryness, not overly juicy, perfect balance with the food. Enjoyed this more than the Ridge Zinfandel that we also drank

11/11/2023 - aaronmphoto Likes this wine:

Enjoyed this with a chicken dinner. Nice dryness matched the juice and flavor of the chicken. Decanted for an hour but was best 4 hours later.

10/13/2023 - aaronmphoto Likes this wine:

Tasted really delicious. paired with pizza and went superb. Medium dryness, fairly light but deep enough to match the food. Enjoyed

10/21/2023 - aaronmphoto Likes this wine:

Was absolutely delicious. Opened for an hour then rebottled and took to dinner. Acidic at first, once it went away beautiful fruit flavors came out. Got drier with time but a light wine, medium bodied, which was delicious, especially with fish.

10/6/2023 - aaronmphoto wrote:

I’m not sure what went wrong here - we stored this properly but it felt past its prime. Medium dryness but was light in flavor. It was “good” but lacked the wow factor that would make this a special wine or feel like something special, that we’ve come to expect from Howell Mountain. Decanted two hours, drank over the course of another three. Ate with steak.

9/26/2023 - aaronmphoto Likes this wine:

Wish we had more of these. Light but great flavor.

9/16/2023 - aaronmphoto Likes this wine:

Delicious as always

6/17/2023 - aaronmphoto Likes this wine:

Brought to dinner before the symphony. Enjoyed this, especially as it opened up. Drank well right from the start.

6/18/2023 - aaronmphoto Likes this wine:

Brought to the in-laws for Fathers Day. Everyone enjoyed

3/9/2023 - aaronmphoto Likes this wine:

Was really good after some air

1/31/2023 - aaronmphoto wrote:

This was delicious — nice bold deep Cabernet flavors. Gave 1.5 hours air and then got even better over the night.

2/14/2023 - aaronmphoto wrote:

Phenomenal. Held up well. Decanted for a few hours and had delicious big bold flavors, nice dryness. Hit the spot for a romantic evening.

2/2/2023 - aaronmphoto Likes this wine:

Giving this one air definitely helped — as we noted previously it wasn’t as big and bold as we would have hoped, but we enjoyed this

2/10/2023 - aaronmphoto wrote:

This was “fine”. It didn’t blow us away as we had expected for a bottle we aged, and that should have aged ok until now. Very light in flavor. Last sips started to get dry after it had been opened for 2 hours. Probably could have used more decanting time. Opened at a French restaurant and paired with pork and short ribs.

1/20/2023 - aaronmphoto Likes this wine:

Really really tasty. Needed about an hour of air to really open up. Nice dryness that gave it a bold mouth feel with great flavor

1/2/2023 - aaronmphoto Likes this wine:

I thought it was pretty bland - almost bitter and grassy st first. Opened up much better on the second - and actually got quite good… bitterness mellowed out and the wine got drier and more delish

12/27/2022 - aaronmphoto Likes this wine:

Was good but felt like it needed air. Little jammy at first then a mellow zin. Didn’t fully open up with a ton of flavor.

12/25/2022 - aaronmphoto Likes this wine:

This was “fine” — nothing spectacular. Took several hours to open up after being initially super fruity and jammy for a cab. Once it had some air, it got a bit more big and bold. Was nice but nothing that I’ll remember years from now.

12/25/2022 - aaronmphoto Likes this wine:

Drank at Christmas Eve dinner. Was good but wanted a little more bold flavor. Medium dryness. Should have given it more air before drinking

12/23/2022 - aaronmphoto Likes this wine:

Phenomenal. Drank well right away. Opened up with some more air. Medium dryness. Notes of herbs on the back of the mouth. Great fruit notes but not overly jammy. Very soul warming.

12/17/2022 - aaronmphoto wrote:

Superb. Gave this an hour of air and then fully enjoyed. Got better as it opened up.

12/16/2022 - aaronmphoto Likes this wine:

Enjoyed this with pasta and friends. Bit juicy and jammy but had a great dryness and nice flavor. Enjoyed this quite a bit.

11/18/2022 - aaronmphoto wrote:

Tasted at the winery: Was fine. Nothing blew us away, but didn’t dislike it either

11/18/2022 - aaronmphoto wrote:

Tasted at the winery: Neutral on this one. Very light. Maybe a little too grassy. Wanted more out of this. It was fine but not memorable

11/18/2022 - aaronmphoto Likes this wine:

Tasted at the winery: Really surprised us in how much we liked it. Nice spring summer wine with cooling factor to it.

11/18/2022 - aaronmphoto Does not like this wine:

Tasted at the winery: Was too earthy and grassy. Too much funk

11/18/2022 - aaronmphoto Likes this wine:

Tasted at the winery: Lots of tropical notes on the end. Enjoyed this, though a bit sweet. Would go well with sushi.

11/18/2022 - aaronmphoto Likes this wine:

Tasted at winery: enjoyed this. Slightly light one sip, dry the next. Little bit of jammy fruit. Sammi said “good”.

11/18/2022 - aaronmphoto Likes this wine:

Tasted at the winery: One of my top favorites of the day. Loved the intense spiciness! Nice dryness but that spice made my mouth tingle in good ways

11/18/2022 - aaronmphoto Likes this wine:

Tasted at the winery: Little earthy and grassy. Heavy fruit jamminess. Needs to lay down, wouldn’t drink yet

11/18/2022 - aaronmphoto Likes this wine:

Tasted at the winery: Wife really liked. Well balanced. Fairly dry. Not grassy or spicy but just nice flavor

11/18/2022 - aaronmphoto Likes this wine:

Tasted at the winery: Really really enjoyed this. Medium dryness, little bit of earthiness (“forest floor”?), but nice fruit flavor. Wife says “very good. Let’s buy some.”

11/18/2022 - aaronmphoto Likes this wine:

Tasted at the winery: Intense nose. Some grassiness (forest floor) in both nose and flavor. Found it quite dry. Wife described berries notes. Has not mellowed out since April

10/23/2022 - aaronmphoto Likes this wine:

Really really good. Drinking well now. Nice fruit flavor, good dryness that paired perfectly with red meat. Even lasted a second day and was delicious.

10/17/2022 - aaronmphoto Likes this wine:

Not bad

10/9/2022 - aaronmphoto Likes this wine:

Really really good! Nice complexity and good amount of flavor without being too jammy and fruity. Wished we had more

10/14/2022 - aaronmphoto Likes this wine:

Was good but a bit more grassy tasting than I remembered. Went well with food

10/3/2022 - aaronmphoto Likes this wine:

Was delicious - get more of these in the future