July 29, 2017 - Big Meat and Serious Syrah on a gorgeous summer afternoon (Westport, CT): A nice mature California styled Syrah, so definitely more fruit with a hint of sweetness than the Rhone wines, less of the meat, blood and iron notes, but the age has tamed some the fruit down so it is sitting in a really nice place right now.
July 29, 2017 - Big Meat and Serious Syrah (Westport, CT): Very clear that we've shifted to Cali. This is lots of black fruits and blackberries and really tasty with hints of pepper that balance it. I was amazed at how well this has aged. Could easily have thought it was an '04 and not a '94. Long life ahead.
October 30, 2015 - Absolutely amazing with more life left than you could ever imagine. Very soft at first with lots of dark fruits, after two hours it was a forceful wine with lots of spice. Very complex with many layers, had a 60+ second finish!
April 24, 2009 - syrah smackdown (Barrington IL, Wally's house): nose: this was heavily oaked on the nose to where it dominated the other tones. Some black currants and dark fruits lurked beneath, but the oak was the over riding tone and for me it was bothersome
taste: extremely tannic and full bodied. Lots of oak with some black cherries, but is a bit hollow on the mid palate which is also bothersome
overall: this was a shock when it was revealed. This just didn't work for me and the oak just masked any possible flavors, which was very dissapointing. I don't know if this had been decanted or not, but it probably could've used more decanting if it was, and if it wasn't, it certainly could've used it
October 22, 2007 - Really lovely. Rather black and stern at first, this unfolded beautifully over the course of 6 hours to show pine resin and lilac. The initially rather reticent palate unveiled to show a sweet core of black fruit with nice floral perfume. A rather dynamic wine with really nice acidity and still dusty tannins, although this clips out a bit on the finish. Still a rather beautiful and surprisingly taut wine. This kept opening and sweetening across the 6 hours we followed it.
DAY 2: I had 1/4 bottle left that sat out on the counter overnight. I figured this would eb dead as a doornail, but boy was I wrong. This wine is actually younger and fresher than last night with glorious notes of lilac and coffee pouring out on the nose. The core is sweet but not madeirized sweet. Still pretty tannic and drying towards the finish with a lot more acid than any current Cali-Syrah. I am quite impressed with this!
October 16, 2007 - Superb wine. Mouthful of spice, chocolate, coffee flavors, minimal tannin, wonderful nose. Great fruit.
March 25, 2007 - New York Dinner with spanish winemakers: A California cult wine, very nice. i think was out shined by Mouton 1983 , barolo borgogno 82, Guigal 85 Hermitage. we had the same night.