November 6, 2021 - Round sweet fruit, glycerin texture, long, long ketonic finish. Might not sound enjoyable but it is! Middle aged with lots left to mature into. Moderate tannic structure, but it seems to have lots of acidity. Big wine - more sipping than food. Loads of alcohol but it has the weight to carry it off.
September 9, 2018 - In its drinking window. Fruit beautifully integrated, tannins subdued. Very enjoyable.
March 24, 2018 - Decanted for an hour, tasted over 3 hours. Big, jammy, and noticeable tannins and acidity. Slight taint to the nose. Over all, somewhat disappointing compared to prior bottles. 89
January 14, 2017 - Powerful Cabernet..3 hour decant. Smoky, with dark fruits and wet earth. Long finish of plum and blackberry jam. Medium + tannins ...big finish that lasts
February 7, 2016 - Lots of life left and at the same time delicious right now. Middle of the road in terms of volume on this one. Right where I like it.
February 14, 2015 - This was a surprising wine in many ways; it was not as bold and in-your-face as I was expecting. Instead, it displayed a more classic profile than that of a cult cab. Sweet notes of plums, creme de cassis, black cherry, and sage. The palate is fairly fruit driven, rich on the attack, but it mellows out on the mid palate. Medium-low acidity. A tad cloying on the finish. Not a bad wine, but I guess you could say I was expecting a lot more for the price.
December 9, 2013 - Decanted for 5 hours, nice deep ruby pour, nice nose, lots of deep dark fruits , with a nice finish. Overall a very nice wine wish I had more.
October 18, 2013 - Decanted 5 hours ,nice dark ruby pour with a great nose , very balanced and smooth , this is a great wine it will be hard to keep my hands off the remaining bottles I have.
September 1, 2013 - This is a big wine that mellows as it decants. Right out the bottle it is huge and almost port like with tons of berries on the palate. The mouth feel is silky and heavy. Decanted for an hour and the fruit bomb mellows a bit and it dries a bit more most likely from the tannins. I think this is a great bottle of wine.
March 10, 2013 - Garnet color as I decanted, would have pegged as older than a 2008. Tasted over about an hour. Chocolate and some tea notes on the nose, a little disjointed. Palate is red fruit with a touch of porty-ness, again a little disjointed. Medium weight. I really like Checkerboard, this is just okay as a second bottling. (This was allocation direct from winery and I don't believe a flawed bottle.)