October 19, 2022 - PnP from a magnum at a dinner party. No detailed notes. Smooth. Rich. Tasty. Drink up.
June 12, 2021 - Decanted at about 5:15, Dinner at 6:30. Followed until 11 pm. Owned since they released it. This is an astoundingly great wine. It gets ONLY a 95 because my wife and I are rating it against all wines made from all possible grapes. As a zinfandel against other zins, it's a 98.
Dark red fruit and berries, but it is not a jammy sweet fruit. It is more a mature brooding fruit half way between sweet and tart. The real driving force here is Howell Mountain smooth pepper and dessert herbs. There is also a tiny bit of smooth chocolate in the background, but again it is bittersweet chocolate, not sugary milk chocolate, The maturity is beginning to allow tertiary flavors giving it a return to the sweet fruit of madeira, but it's odd because it seems to exist not from oxidation or being over the hill, but from a build up of extra flavor. The color is still impenetrably dark with no evidence of bricking.
April 11, 2021 - PnP. For me this was in the drink up category. Fruit there but unbalanced with the high alcohol being very present. It did have an interesting coffee mocha finish. If it had been served blind to me after it had 30 minutes of air, I would have guessed port.
November 29, 2019 - This wine still has some good backbone left. The fruit is still vibrant and evolved nicely over 2 days.
January 8, 2019 - This wine is singing right now. Spectacular.
November 23, 2018 - PnP at a dinner party. No detailed notes. Excellent. Well received. No need to drink now.
August 8, 2018 - This is still in a good place.
Popped and poured and needed some time to open up.
Slightly muted for an Outpost to start, but opened up nicely.
Had with barbecued ribs made extremely tender in the instant pot with dry spices and then caramelized the BBQ sauce on the grill - a nice combo.
Smooth flavors of blueberry, dark cherry and howell mountain spice.
Even better on night 2.
My last of the 2010's - One of my favorite zins.
April 12, 2018 - Excellent structured balanced zin.
December 10, 2017 - Lots of vanilla and rich oak, with big dark fruit and alcohol as well. Missing complexity and acidity to balance.
November 17, 2017 - PNP - Rich and dark. Nose of licorice and rose perfume. Palate of blackberries, blueberries and some humic richness ("forest floor"). Long powerful finish. Finished remainder 2 nights later... even a little better integrated.