January 6, 2023 - Opened, tasted and decided to decant for approximately one hour. Decision to decant due to sharp berry notes and a bit hot (alcohol).
Returning an hour later this wine was well balanced, flavorful with a strong berry/jammy flavors. This makes for a wonderful cocktail wine but lacks structure and length of palate for a wine I would suggest with food.
I have one more bottle that I will drink sooner than later, sometime in the next year.
May 4, 2021 - Almost a brick red when decanted. One hour of air before we poured. Wonderfully balanced tannins and acidity. Nice layers of cocoa, coffee, cedar, mint and black cherries. This wine has aged beautifully.
May 3, 2020 - Nice nose and soft tannins. A well balanced and enjoyable wine.
December 27, 2019 - Big nose and big fruit. Drinking very nicely. A bit of sourness on the mid palate but otherwise really enjoyable with or without food.
November 9, 2019 - Really a nice big nose consisting of licorice, red figs, peppercorns and loam. The tannins were in check, but it was initially a little acidic. Short but pleasant layers of cassis, bing cherries, mint, peppercorns and toast. Good mouthfeel, but I wished the finish was longer. This wine is not past it's prime, but drink what you have left in the next two years.
September 26, 2019 - Deep ruby red color with a nose consisting of smoke, blueberries, cherries, mint and pencil lead. Very nice layers of red figs, blackberries, black licorice and black peppercorns.
September 21, 2019 - Excellent juice. Crossfire, named for the Stevie Ray Vaughn song is still singing. Coffee been on the sniff and deep chocolate on the palate. Couldn’t resist breaking open some dark 85% cocoa To pair. Still has some life but don’t wait much longer.
May 10, 2019 - Still tasting strong at the end of its lifecycle. Nose is light to medium, but mouth is still very much full of fruit. Tastes of raisins, jam, fig. Tannic with a sweet light to medium finish.
August 23, 2017 - Surprisingly good. Just pulled it from the racks and did a PnP. Best wine of the week (so far). If scoring 92-94.
February 7, 2017 - A little too one dimensional for my taste. Despite 08 being a "ripe" year, the fruit source should have yielded better results. Would not buy again.