June 25, 2015 - This was a big surprise for me. Nose of earth and saddle leather. On the palate, the wine explodes with gobs of soft briary fruits. Blackberries in particular. Very round and lush on the mid palate. Finishes with dusty, somewhat drying tannins. A little heat as well. Still a really great wine after all these years!
December 15, 2012 - LICORICE AND BLACKBERRIES IN THE NOSE WITH BLACK CHERRIES IN THE FLAVOR. MEDIUM LENGTH FINISH.
November 26, 2012 - Medium red color. Small amount of fine sediment in bottle. Aromas of plum, cassis, vanilla, and spicy cherry. Palate is on the plum and cassis side of the equation with some heat evident from middle through finish. There is an earthy element that shows up with some air. The way this presents itself now, it seems a challenge to find the right pairing to complement it. If the heat continues to show, this is going out of balance and needs to be drunk up. If the flavors can transform and catch up again, it may provide interesting drinking in the future. Drink with heartier dishes now?
May 1, 2012 - Probably the best Jones Family I have tasted. Drinking perfectly right now. Wish this was not my last bottle. It has great balance and depth the length of the palete - front, mid and back. Nice fruit, with still some level of nice tannins. Reminds me of a nicely aged bordeaux. Great depth and probably could still be cellared a few more years. Bravo Jones Family. I have had mixed feelings on other wines I have tasted from here. None bad, some just not what I hoped for.
March 21, 2011 - Bright ruby red in color. I brought up from the cellar to breath in the opened bottle after extracting the broken cork and cleaning up the wine mess i made pushing the cork into the bottle. Alas, the wine was drinking as well as expected with medium Cab flavors with a solid core of ready to drink fruit. A very nice showing. EG WineArchitect
January 23, 2011 - Dark fruits, licorice, olive and a bit of menthol on the nose. The palate shows dark plummy fruit, some savory elements, and a dry finish. Not a fruit bomb in the best sense of the word, and whatever sweet fruit it had in its youth now lingers slighty in the back along with the soft, approachable yet very interesting flavor profile.
September 18, 2010 - flawed bottle.
July 14, 2009 - This was actually really nice. If California wants a wine to tout this would be it. Not bordeaux but nice and very dirinkable. tasty and not overly complex but enough so you went "wow this is pretty nice, I could drink this".
July 9, 2009 - WIML87
Taste July 9, 2009.
Opened and decanted about 30 minutes before serving. Followed over about 90 minutes. Dark garnet to purple color in the glass, clear hue throughout. Nose had a fairly pronounced nail polish that actually seemed to get worse with air so dinged on the score for that. Otherwise it was a fairly straightforward showing of red fruits on the palate. Light to medium acidity, medium tannins and body. Drink over the short term.
February 20, 2009 - Had with The VLG. A very tasty cab. Lots of ripe and somewhat sweet fruit that fits right in with the moderate structure. Not a fruit bomb but leaning that direction. I brought the remainder of the bottle home and Laura and both continued to enjoy this.