November 2, 2023 - Dark and rustic. Plenty of life
January 16, 2023 - This is why we cellar wine. It's now silky and bright with layers of fungal flavors and considerable spice. A perfect PnP, ready and at peak.
February 28, 2021 - Go ahead and drink this. It's fruit is receding and now part of a beautiful mature mix of earth, mushroom and easy acidity.
May 28, 2020 - LOVED this. Murky dull purple in color. On the palate, perfectly mature with earth, soft cherry and strawberry, allspice, and white pepper. Drink now!
November 28, 2019 - Thematic Thanksgiving (Los Gatos, California): Light red. Again, some brett on the nose, maybe more subdued than the 2009 Vieilles Vignes. Back to a much lighter weight than the 2009. Blackberry fruit, crisper acidity than the older wine, more soil. Very good and I found the brett less distracting.
November 15, 2019 - Still plenty of life left and very enjoyable.
December 28, 2018 - Glass: Riedel Vinum Syrah
What a nice surprise! I did not treat this bottle well regarding storage and I left it open for 5 days. Clear, deep garnet color. Clean, medium+ intense, developing nose with some harsh, green notes, brett, herbs, fine oak, mellow tannin and red fruit. Quite complex and multi-layered.
Bone dry, medium+, lively and well-integrated acidity. 13% abv. Medium+, mellow tannin. On the palate fine red fruit (red currant), garden herbs, spices and forest soil. Very cool and a bit rustic, but also with a nice rough elegance, good texture and grip. Two years ago I thought it is at its peak, but when a bottle shows that well after five days open, I guess there is much more to come. Really beautiful and surprising! 92+
November 19, 2018 - A bit disappointing. Thin and sour tasting, but with some good savory notes and red fruit. I have another bottle to hang onto to see if it gets better (maybe the acidity is protective?) but mostly it was a disappointment.
August 8, 2017 - Medium body. Fruity but lean
May 23, 2016 - Glass: Riedel Vinum Syrah
Drunk over multiple days.
Clear, deep ruby-garnet color. Medium intense, fully developed nose with fine oak, some animalic notes, wet soil, red fruit.
Dry, medium body, medium acidity and fine-grained, present tannin. Clearly driven by the red fruit, but never juicy or simple. This is certainly a serious effort and has nothing to do with Beaujolais Nuveau... Elegant red fruit, combined with some earthy/soil notes, spices from elegant, well integrated oak. Joyful to drink with a medium+ finish. Certainly at its peak and I doubt it will gain complexity with age, when the fruit will continue to vanish. So drink in the next few years.