2/28/2022 - dnjones Likes this wine:

Really great nose of dried cherries and sweet dark fruits.
Great mouthfeel. The sweetness from residual sugar others have mentioned. Great fruit - medium finish. Was really surprised it is still drinking this well. This was a nice surprise for a Monday.

1/20/2018 - dnjones Likes this wine:

This was a special bottle.
Learned today that out very good friend Jim maller died. We have drank many bottle of wine together for almost 20 years. We have shared stories and good times and many good wines. All from his cellar.

About 10 years ago we tasted this wine at Ridge during passport. It was spectacular. But the story of the bottle variation and how we sought out the right bottle brings back such good memories.

We drink this tonight in your memory Jim. Thank you for all the great times.

3/12/2017 - dnjones Likes this wine:

Nose: Black currant, wet leather, mint
On the palate:dried cherries and chocolate, tobacco, mint, pencil lead, green pepper, boysenberry, cedar, dusty tanins, long finish

7/10/2016 - dnjones Likes this wine:

It was best of 6 in tasting of Sonoma coast Pinot- $25-50 range. Lots of tart cherry, leather, great finish compared to others and nice acidity and earthiness.

3/27/2016 - dnjones Likes this wine:

Brick red color. Nose of red currant, strawberry, and blackberry. Spice and chocolate

Taste: Plums, Blackberry leather, tobacco, dried cherries and mint. Medium finish a little acidic on the finish. Probably past its prime.

3/20/2016 - dnjones wrote:

Nose of Blackberry, blackcurrant, mint, licorice Maybe rhubarb.

Palate, vanilla, oak, blackberry leather, pencil lead, mint, medium tannins that are well integrated
Mid palate has a chalky minerality.
long finish has cedar and dried cherries.

Would drink up. Don't see this lasting until 2020

2/5/2016 - dnjones Likes this wine:

Very well-balanced with mint stewed plums blackberry toasted oak and leather nose.

Leather, intense sweet dried cherries, blackberries. tar, tobacco, pencil lead, really intense mid palate and long finish. Wow! Drinking really well! At its prime???

1/1/2016 - dnjones wrote:

Nose of black currant, stewed fruit, pencil lead and aromatics

On the palate, smoked meats, cedar blackberry, sour cherries, with soft tannins, medium to long finish. Prominent oak overtones. Otherwise Drinking well

Great QPR at the price we paid!

5/25/2015 - dnjones Likes this wine:

Medium dark garnet in color. Intense black currant, also with smoke, leather, violets and pencil lead on the nose. Medium body. The flavors that come through are similar to the nose, mainly black currant, some cedar and ash, with a medium finish of black currant. Too bad this was our last bottle....

5/23/2015 - dnjones Likes this wine:

Baked apples, honeysuckle, dry hay, butter toast, and pear, on the nose. Tasted buttery, with good acidity, and baked apple, lychee, toast, mineral, and citrus notes. Very good mouth feel. The finish was quite long consisting of citrus, toasted nuts and apples.

4/28/2015 - dnjones Likes this wine:

Intense dried red and dark fruit with leather, elegance and with long finish. Need to decant it for longer than we did. It really developed with time, and we wish we had waited longer to start drinking it.

3/7/2015 - dnjones Likes this wine:

On nose. Kirsch, licorice, stewed prunes, raspberry jam
Palate. Meaty, garique, Initially bright cherries that faded with time. Nice minerality. Medium long finish. With tones of marzipan and dry cherries

2/18/2015 - dnjones Likes this wine:

PNP @ yayas bistro.
Had this with duck confit, mushroom truffle pizza and foie gras raviolii
Nose :really intense bouquet of sour Cherry, cedar, leather
Palate: dark tart cherries, raspberries dusty tannins, on the finish pencil lead, leather and tobacco. long finish, but surprisingly feels a little hot. Even though only 13% alc.

Could do with an hour or so in the decanter.

Paid only 150 at restaurant. Seemed like a really good deal

7/7/2014 - dnjones Likes this wine:

Black currant leather mint and plum nose
Taste: Stewed fruit, some pencil lead blackberry and leather
Medium short. Slightly acidic finish
Good Monday/Tuesday night wine

6/27/2014 - dnjones Likes this wine:

Huge minerality.
Pencil lead, good acidity, plum, blackberry
Rick hardly ever makes a bad wine
Maybe not the greatest. But a really nice effort

The wine looks garnet colored. The legs are medium. There is light sediment in the bottle.

6/21/2014 - dnjones Likes this wine:

PnP. Nose of cedar, violets, blackberry, plums, sweet stewed fruit, maybe Apple
Taste. Blackberry, tar, pencil lead, stewed plums, dry leather and lots of violets at the end.

Medium to a long finish.
Maybe a little hot, but drinking very well.
Last bottle. Wish I had more. And for what we paid good QPR.

5/11/2014 - dnjones wrote:

Fermented Honey nose. Reminiscent of mead. Also rose hips

Sweet honey, butter, white peaches, slightly under ripe apricots
but with good acidity and minerality.
Mid palate a little flat but a good finish

Do not have a lot to compare this to. So can't really rate this comparably.

3/29/2014 - dnjones Likes this wine:

Dark cherry chocolate, meatiness smoke, toffee plum, mint, chocolate, long finish.

3/16/2014 - dnjones Likes this wine:

Should have decanted this
Nose. Stewed plums/ black fruit, and floral tones of violets.
Taste; Pencil lead,blackberry, mineral, clay,leather,
Good medium to long finish
Drinking well right now

2/14/2014 - dnjones Likes this wine:

Nose: ash, bacon fat, peat, the fruity herbal notes from previous tasting are starting to fade. Maybe some violets if you don't inhale it in too deep

Taste: leather, blackberry, dried tart cherry, bacon, smoke, tobacco, , good mid-palate, medium long finish. Smooth integrated tannins. Drinking really well

Overall: it's in the right place. I bought a case after tasting this in 1996. Every time since then it has seemed still not ready, really don't wait much longer. I wish I had bought 2or 3 cases.

12/4/2013 - dnjones wrote:

Light ruby color; strawberries and clay/minerals on the nose. Light-bodied and smooth with crisp acidity. Taste of tart cherries, tart apples, blackberries, violets, and earth. Finish is quite long, mild and pleasant with balanced strawberry fruit, minerality, leather, and cream. Perhaps a bit young still.

11/26/2013 - dnjones Likes this wine:

Lots going on with the nose like blackberry ice cream
Palate. Leather dried tart fruit, cherries and cranberries
A hot mid palate, with a medium finish of smoke, oak and leather

11/25/2013 - dnjones Likes this wine:

Plum jam on nose, Stewed fruit, pencil lead, tobacco, mid palate off balance with tannin still showing, finish improves with caramel and chocolate

9/30/2013 - dnjones Likes this wine:

A little hot. Blackberry and sweet plums. Herbal Smooth integrated tannins. Medium finish. Would rate it higher if the alcohol was not so strong. Could last another year or so.

9/15/2013 - dnjones Likes this wine:

Still has strawberry, and rhubarb. Smoke, a little tobacco, tart plums. A little past it's prime. Not as well integrated as earlier tastings. Still has a good finsh.

9/8/2013 - dnjones Likes this wine:

Initally PnP. Intense black currants. Mint mixed with smoke and cigar box. Filled with a mix of good aromatics. Strong mid palate and solid long finish of ripe fruit. Drinking well.

1/5/2013 - dnjones Likes this wine:

This just won our blind tasting of West coast pinots. The competition was: Syncline WA 2009; Illahe OR 2011; Foley CA 2000; Lea CA 2010; Plowbuster OR 2010
Notes were: butterscotch/oak/cherry/vanilla/med-long finish

7/13/2012 - dnjones wrote:

Nice nose to start out but fades quickly. On the palate, classic cab notes of mint, leather, blackcurrant, and tanins. An initial slightly harsh attack of oak, which lingers through a medium to long finish, mellowing out into vanilla and dark cherries, folded in with some smokeiness(?). Drinking well, could go another couple of years.

1/23/2012 - dnjones wrote:

Well balanced, elegant wine. Strawberry vanilla cream nose. Red/black cherry palate, but not a fruit bomb. Good acidity, with sassafrass, rhubard, and bitter chocolate. Smooth, medium long finish.
Drinking really well right now. We really love Rick's wines.

11/24/2011 - dnjones wrote:

blind tasting of Vacqueyras this was the top wine
explosive flavors, meaty, dark leater and smoke. Accompanied by dark fruit.

11/19/2011 - dnjones wrote:

starter wine
winetasting 11/20/11

11/19/2011 - dnjones wrote:

starter wine for winetasting 11/20/11

10/23/2011 - dnjones wrote:

still going well. less fruit than last bottle.

8/14/2011 - dnjones wrote:

Not as good as other vintages. The following is a commitee tasting note. Deep golden color. Nose of pear, melon, peach, grass and butter. On the palate hints of honeydew melon, pear, green apples, and lemon zest,really comes through at the end. Good acidity and does well with food. Had this with Sea bass, with a buttery balsmic reduction and it went really well. Medium to long finish, much better as this warms up in the glass. Drink chilled and you lose the complexity.

7/20/2011 - dnjones wrote:

upfront chocolate and leather, mid palate a bit weak, but finish lingers. strawberry and ripe plum. wish we had more, could probably last a couple more years

4/18/2011 - dnjones wrote:

Popped and poured through venturi.
Dark fruits with pepper and cedar, dark berries, blackberry jam, tobacco, and toast, good tannins, subtle oak and vannila on mid palate, develops spice and herbal notes mixed with chocolate and berries, Wife says, berries with mace and vanilla whipped cream, very smooth. Good long finish.

10/17/2010 - dnjones wrote:

Popped and poured - classic Cab Franc nose, with lots of earth and vegetal tones. On the palate earth, minerality, violets, and lots of blueberries. Good tanins and acidity. all in all really well balanced and beautifully complex. Solid mid-palate with a long finish that was still there 5 minutes later. After the first glass and a half we left this for a couple of hours, but when we came back it had lost all the earth, herbal and fruit tones, and it was just tanin and acid. Real shame as we had half a bottle left.

9/19/2010 - dnjones wrote:

Wine tasting group - blind tasting. Tasting included the 2003 vintage, which was much better. This has potential but needs much more time to integrate the oak with the fruit. Flavors of blackcurrant, leather, tar and tobacco. Tannins still quite strong. Med-long finish

9/19/2010 - dnjones wrote:

Wine tasting group. Decanted 9 hours prior, but needed more time, as it was still developing in the glass.
Vanilla oak and currant on nose, on palate, strawberry and black fruits, with undertones of tar, leather and pencil lead. Medium - long finish. Also tasted the 2007 and really hope that develops to be like this.

9/19/2010 - dnjones wrote:

Wine group blind tasting - rhone blends. Tasted blind, but decanted about 9 hours prior, but it needed more time to really open up, so don't think it reached its full potential. Runner up to Elyse le-corbeau. Otherwise nicely balanced with intense blackberry jam, leather, cedar, dark cherry and strawberry, Medium-long finish. Will wait a while before opening last bottle

9/19/2010 - dnjones wrote:

Wine group - rhone style blends. Clearly the best wine of the group, runner up was Carlisle Two acres. Right off wonderful floral nose, combined with vanilla and cherry. On the pallet, layer upon layer of different flavors, violets, lavendar, mint, leather and licorice. building in intensity the longer you held it in your mouth. Really long finish that was still going several minutes after finishing.

5/11/2010 - dnjones wrote:

This needs time to open up. Initially little nose and little taste, but ended up have lots of dark fruit, floral notes esp. violets. Give it time. May last for another year or two

4/27/2010 - dnjones wrote:

This was meant to be well past it prime, but it seems to still be going strong Although should probably be drunk this year.. Any tannins have long since mellowed out, and left with mature black fruit, a little bit of smoke and leather, that extends into a good strong finish.

4/15/2010 - dnjones wrote:

Drank immediately after opening. It was closed initially, but opened up after >15 minutes or so, and continued to improve untill the bottle was empty. Nicely balanced. Nose of licorice, black cherry and strawberry. Nice acidity with taste of tart plum, red currant, and mint. Good long finish.

4/13/2010 - dnjones wrote:

Fruit forward, light tannins, extremely quaffable and great QPR for $13 or whatever it was as a future

4/9/2010 - dnjones wrote:

Still had great nose of blackberry and other dark fruits. Fruit still good on initial taste, but died off with a slight acidic mid palate. Then develop into a reasonably long satisfying finish. Still had some tannins, and could possibly still last a year or two. Probably past its prime but still not bad for a Saturday night.

12/29/2009 - dnjones wrote:

Drank this on Christmas day. Decanted. Really good but left it to develop for the week and drank again d days later when it was dramatically better.
On the nose violets, blueberries, strong dark fruit jam, honeysuckle and my wife and her sister say Chanel #5. Extremely powerful taste, with initial waves of pencil lead, sandalwood, mint, developing blackcurrent in the middle , giving way to a long smokey finish. Really outstanding.

8/21/2009 - dnjones wrote:

Good nose, with mushrooms truffles and dark fruit.
Quite a bit of alcohol, that lasts, redcurrants and blackberries. Transitions into a long reducrrent dominated finished.

10/12/2008 - dnjones wrote:

Drinking very well right now.

8/7/2008 - dnjones wrote:

Drank this with meatloaf, inspired by a Booby Flay food channel recipe.
Aromas of dark berries, mint, toffee, chocolate and violets.
Good balance of acid and soft tannins, initially very fruit forward with plums, mint, and herbal notes, changes quickly in the glass to leather, tobacco and mint. Really enjoyable, probably is at its peak right now. Among one of the best californian Cab Francs we have had.