3/29/2010 - MBrown wrote:

Such a bummer. This wine's color is so amazing and reading my notes from my first bottle had me fired up but this wine had such a strong nose of wet cardboard I couldn't help but think it flawed. Such a bummer, I decanted and waited a few hours but still just the cardboard nose with very muted flavors.

3/21/2010 - MBrown wrote:

Very well done. Carries the alcohol well. High toned fruit and lots of it.

1/12/2010 - MBrown wrote:

Would not buy again. Not a fit for my tastes. Great color gave way to a very light bodied wine with barely noticeable fruit. I'd describe it as a pinot mouthfeel. Definitely to be consumed w/ food. At a lower price point I'd try again but this is steep for what I got from this bottle.

1/12/2010 - MBrown wrote:

Great pepper characteristic here. Nice wine.

12/28/2009 - MBrown wrote:

Not enjoying this bottle as much as past bottles. This wine came across heavy handed and overwhelming. No acid or liveliness perceived. More a port style with very dark fruit that seemed more stewed/dried than anything else. Some Turleys (Pesenti particularly) blow me away, this is their QPR blend so expectations aren't as high but that said this bottle was not as enjoyable as expected.

12/28/2009 - MBrown wrote:

This wine rocks. I imagine pretty small production and I'm glad we have 2 more bottles. Under 15% alcohol without any loss of flavor. Great use of oak (my perception at least) and it mixes very well with great fruit. Love zins in this style - great flavors in the bottle without any loss of freshness. Good finish that leaves you wanting more.

12/28/2009 - MBrown wrote:

Wonderful wine. Huge nose of smoke and charcoal. Flavors come thru with great blue fruit and smoke. Finish is clean and depth of flavor/aromas achieved without any sense of overt heaviness.

12/28/2009 - MBrown wrote:

In LC's 'house' style.....has that sweet element to it. Not a negative or sweet in the sense of RS, just tons of fruit and ripeness. Nothing stood out but I have high expectations of LC and in general Rising Tides and Cherry Red really are favorites year in and year out. This is a nice bottle, not top shelf LC to me but still enjoyable.

12/9/2009 - MBrown wrote:

Huge nose here - it really grabs you. Good flavor depth, finish is not as long/heavy as I'd expect. Some lift to the finish in fact. A more elegant Aussie Shiraz then I'm used to. Very nice, especially @ under @$20. Still a big boy wine but some food friendliness is there (I think)

12/4/2009 - MBrown wrote:

Liking this wine a lot. Very nice PN.

12/4/2009 - MBrown wrote:

Very solid wine. I know it's a 16+% bomb but it's rich, dark and full of flavor. Doesn't beat the complexity of some of the zins from Dry Creek in Sonoma and not much minerality that some other well bred west side Paso zins can show but a fun wine for those who like dark rich zins.

12/4/2009 - MBrown wrote:

Was OK. A bit lighter bodied than I like my zins. More fruit and less spice and oak induced flavors. At $11 a bottle it's reasonable, not sure where RMP got the 90 pts from.

11/29/2009 - MBrown wrote:

Not feeling this bottle. A good zin, tons of fruit but not worth the freight for my palate. I love zins and Turley's 06 Pesenti Zin was world class but this to me felt a bit out of balance. Missing the spice I get on a lot of zins and the oak treatment didn't add much to this wine for me. Recently the Segeshio Sonoma County and Opolo Summit Creek are just two zins that I preferred over this and for much less $$$.

11/28/2009 - MBrown wrote:

Ton of rasberry flavor here with pepper and a good creaminess. Great bottle of zin.

11/28/2009 - MBrown wrote:

Wonderful zin. Great fruit & spice.

11/28/2009 - MBrown wrote:

Nice bottle especially for the price.

11/24/2009 - MBrown wrote:

First crack at a Seghesio Zin. As a zin lover I'm not sure why it took me so long to try, I had a strange notion this wasn't an artisan label. Regardless of my mis-perception - this was a good wine, solid Dry Creek zin with good ripeness but well developed flavors and mouth feel. I'd buy again and be interested in some of their smaller production bottlings as well.

11/24/2009 - MBrown wrote:

Solid wine for the price. Great color, good blend, good flavors/aromas.

11/20/2009 - MBrown wrote:

Wine really got going 2 hours in, unfortunately much of it had been consumed by then. GSM blend 60+% Syrah with I believe equal parts Mourvedre and Grenache. True to Matt's style which I can only sum up, poorly probably, as 'drink me'. These wines all have an allure about them. Yes it's Paso fruit so it's ripe but the blending and work LC does in the cellar is so impressive year in and year out. No hard edges but still a lot of nuance and complexity. Another great bottle from LC. I could drink LC, Saxum and Carlisle and not complain for years!

11/6/2009 - MBrown wrote:

didn't do much for me. Could be my palate was not 'on' but this wine was well made, was in balance but had no flavor or aroma that stood out. Strange....

11/2/2009 - MBrown wrote:

Loved it. Prefered the 06 James Berry bottling if I had to choose. But that's a choice where there's not a bad outcome. Huge aromas and flavors but to me has enough tannin/acid to be balanced. Ripeness here is truly amazing.

10/17/2009 - MBrown wrote:

I've loved this blend for a few years, just popped the 1st of our 07 Cherry Reds and am blown away. Absolutely wonderful ripeness, spice, creaminess and some acidity too. From start to the lengthy finish this wine is absolutely tremendous. Only 8% new oak per the winery's notes tells me Matt once again is a master blender and gets some top notch fruit. Zin blends, done right like this are wonderful.

10/12/2009 - MBrown wrote:

Really wonderful right now in my opinion. Purity of fruit really shining through.

10/8/2009 - MBrown wrote:

I really like this wine. I know it's a big, over the top fruit and oak expression but it works. It's under 15% and the fruit is ripe but not jammy/raisiny. The oak is there but it works so well. This may not be a wine to enjoy at the table as it will probably overwhelm your dinner but this wine is fun to drink. Would buy more @ $20.

9/17/2009 - MBrown wrote:

Very nice wine. Walks a great line (for my palate) between ripe fruit and some sense of balance/complexity of flavors.

9/14/2009 - MBrown wrote:

Not as good as past efforts. Neither my wife nor I enjoyed this as much as we've enjoyed Tobin wines in the past. This wine particulary seemed very 1 dimensional with tons of fruit but limited spice or other flavors. Would recommend to folks that like purely fruit driven ripeness. I did not get much more out of this.

9/14/2009 - MBrown wrote:

A bit too heavy on the jam for me. I love zin but am finding my palate moving towards zins with a bit more spice and or acidity to balance the ripenes. I've had Turley's that are great at 15+% so I'm not shy about the higher alcohols but those wines that simply bring rasberry jam without much else just aren't for me.

9/14/2009 - MBrown wrote:

I enjoyed this and felt it was a good QPR. Tasted like some more expensive Paso GSM blends I've had. Would buy more at this price.

9/14/2009 - MBrown wrote:

Another good vintage of this blend. I think I've had a chance to drink this back each of the past four years and it's very consistent and very good. If I could afford it this would be my 'house wine'. Can pair with some types of food but still very full bodied and great on its own.

8/30/2009 - MBrown wrote:

Did not blow me away as I thought it would. Nice wine, perhaps more restrained than I anticipated and well made. Would not pay the premium for this again given what others @ this or lower price point deliver. Specifically Saxum, Carlisle and Tablas Creek at least for my palate/wallet.

8/28/2009 - MBrown wrote:

This wine is HUGE. As an unabashed CA, new world wine lover I really like this wine. I can see how some not into this style would be turned off but to me this had dark & rich color and flavors and tons of oak induced flavors. Drink this bad boy by itself and enjoy the ride.

8/28/2009 - MBrown wrote:

This is a good wine. Drank alongside a huge CA Petit Sirah so some noticeable contrasts. This wine really had a cedar component and maybe even some vegetal notes. It has good fruit too and is not out of balance by any means but to me was more old world in texture/flavors. Nice wine for the price.

8/23/2009 - MBrown wrote:

Good QPR. Clean flavors, I'd say a 'classic' NZ Sav Blanc profile....lots of grapefruit and some spice.

8/3/2009 - MBrown wrote:

Truly a great 'house' red. For $12 it's hard to find anything better in this style.

7/15/2009 - MBrown wrote:

Great change of pace for me as I usually drink California Syrah/Rhone blends. This is very savory, Thanksgiving dinner in a bottle. 14% alcohol so fruit is there but it's not front and center like I'm used to. Good grip but not too tannic. Interesting wine.

7/1/2009 - MBrown wrote:

Dark, rich, great fruit and nice complexity. Under $20? Are you kidding me? Glad I have 4 more. This wine I'd agree is still not fully open for business. Close enough for my palate but to think this gets better is pretty insane. One last note, the color on this wine is as dark as I've seen. Great stuff.

6/16/2009 - MBrown wrote:

Not much here. Overbearing plum flavors/aromas with sugar poured on top. Not recommended.

6/7/2009 - MBrown wrote:

Drinking wonderfully right now. Great flavors and a long consistent finish. Wow.

6/7/2009 - MBrown wrote:

Not a huge fan of this wine. Very 1 dimensional. From my limited palate it seems the fruit is buried behind a ton of oak. The bottle says aging occurred in 1 year old barrels so I could be off but something dominated this wine and prevented any complexity from developing. It's an $8 bottle so it's not bad for the price but I've had better bottles for the $$$.

6/3/2009 - MBrown wrote:

solid wine, good price. Fruit/spice mix nicely, good tartness at finish provides some acidity. Drinking by itself but would be good with food too. Alc < 14% too I believe.

5/31/2009 - MBrown wrote:

Incredible. Dark, dense, huge fruit but nicely balanced with other secondary flavors, including smoke. Rivals Carlisle's Papa Block for my wine of the year.

5/19/2009 - MBrown wrote:

Label almost too gimmicky for me but glad I gave this a chance. Great value @ $8. Good tannins, nice fruit, great everyday wine. Buy more than 1 bottle!

5/19/2009 - MBrown wrote:

OK but not much here. Some cherry/sour cherry flavors. Finish is almost non-existent. Price is right but would like a bit more stuffing.

5/16/2009 - MBrown wrote:

Really nicely integrated with nice fruit and good acidity.

5/7/2009 - MBrown wrote:

Not a lot here, does not live up to all other Lorings I've had.

5/4/2009 - MBrown wrote:

Needed time to open up....much better on night 2.

5/4/2009 - MBrown wrote:

nothing special...OK but pretty straight ahead effort.

5/4/2009 - MBrown wrote:

would buy again @ $19.99....good depth, ripe fruit and oak/spice mixing well.

5/4/2009 - MBrown wrote:

really enjoy this wine year in and year out.

4/26/2009 - MBrown wrote:

Nice wine - good acid, bright fruit, lingering finish. Not sure about the QPR...