March 23, 2021 - awesome. totallt holding up.
February 5, 2018 - Pretty red juniper berry aromas. Nice sweet red velvet cake flavors upfront that becomes more nuanced and spiced. Nice brightness and good balance with a dark cocoa finish. Nice.
February 4, 2018 - Good Wine with an Exciting Super Bowl (Chez Kailin - Northbrook IL): Small glass, brief note. Slightly roasted and slightly devoid of the structure for the fruit. Not my style.
October 9, 2016 - RICH BLACK FRUITS IN THE NOSE AND FLAVOR WITH HINTS OF CHOCOLATE, COFFEE, AND LICORICE. LONG FINISH.
March 8, 2015 - This is the declassified wine from Araujo's Eisele vineyard, essentially a second wine to this fabled estate. The wine pours like a typical heavyweight Cali cabernet - a dark and inky garnet color with very long legs because of the high alcohol content. On the nose, the wine shows hints of left bank Bordeaux. This one in particular is a blend of 87% cab, 6.5% petit verdot and 6.5% merlot. It is fruit forward with an explosion of cherries, strawberries, kirsch, coffee, anise, and leather. On the palate, the wine is quite hot at first but grippy tannins soon settled in, bringing with it a robust structure. The wine is definitely a fruit bomb. Flavors of stewed blackberries, cherries and mocha dominate the core which is supported by tertiary notes of rosemary, mint, leather and tobacco. This almost drinks like a Syrah. Finish is very long, lasting almost a minute. Fabulous wine from a fabulous vintage from a fabulous winemaker. Incredible stuff here.
September 8, 2013 - Decanted and tasted after 30mins. Colour starting to turn, good legs. Liquorice and mint on the nose. Either at or just past its peak on the palate, shorter than I would have expected. Fruit and tannin well balanced, although not a huge amount of either.
December 26, 2012 - New world style. Excellent and drinking well.
April 23, 2012 - Excellent. Drinking really well right now. Plenty of black fruit. Tannins have mellowed nicely. A touch of licorice.
January 29, 2012 - Dense and rich with black cherry and mocha. Sweet tobacco and toasted oak. Really impressive for a second.
October 29, 2011 - Drinking beautifully. At a great place in it's development. Velvety tannins and creamy flavors of black cherry and red raspberry. Secondary nuances of leather and toasted oak