February 27, 2024 - MFLESH description is spot on. Wine is still going strong
September 3, 2023 - It is just too extracted/rich for my palate.
February 16, 2023 - Dinner at quaIL. DRINKING VELVET
January 20, 2023 - Dinner at Bonterra with Cataldos
September 13, 2022 - Ok so I feel pretty fortunate to have two of these. This was the first of two bottles I have that was opened tonight. This is a tale of two Syrahs. I will definitely say that I find it amazing that this one literally took two to three hours before I felt it was in the wheelhouse. Especially since lots of people discounted the 2011 vintage on a hole from California due to weather, etc. What this seems to have created, at least from my limited experience with Syrah, is a wine that still has amazingly complex structure and body, yet has the full spectrum from green pepper to herbs to roasted red fruits to roasted black fruits. Definitely no exception here. This one starts out with a nose of green olive, green pepper, roasted fruitcake and baking spices. The palate almost seems to be reverse: starts out with a fairly acidic character that did round out after a couple of hours. But the fruit was dominated by campfire roasted black cherries, figs and dates. Very 'in your face.' However, this one finished with more of a green pepper, green onion, green olive character that started to swirl with the fruity character of this wine which is quite complex. Donelan Syrahs on a whole don't seem to go the nitrogenous route, and for that I am very appreciative. Any good spot now, but I just can't help to think that this one did need some time to figure itself out. So, I don't know if it is just in a strange place as far as the development goes, or if it truly needs to hold even another four to five years, which is rather incredible to think that one of these could be dark and brooding and ridiculously mature yet still rambunctiously youthful at 15-16 years of age. Going to try to hold on to the other one for another few years, however I know curiosity will probably kill me within the next 6 to 12 months!
January 31, 2021 - I'm the outlier because these wines don't sit well with me. However, with this wine, we made a blueberry sauce to put on duck breast and the sauce was outstanding.
July 30, 2020 - Medium purple, intense aromas of blueberry, spices-spicy black pepper like, a bit mushrooms, but not very earthy, fennel, anise, full body, round jam like mid palate, the alcohol is very present, have to retry. Think it needs time
April 22, 2020 - A little hot. Drank too early
December 12, 2019 - Lovely wine, if a notch below the 2013 that I had last year. Pure Cali Syrah, lots of expressive blue and black fruit, molasses, dark chocolate, hint of nutmeg and full bodied, this stuff will stain your teeth purple. Not enough minerality or balance for me to give this a higher score but that's OK at this price point. Would be interested to try again if I could get it for under $50.
November 12, 2019 - Had solid fruit, just didn't seem to have the standard complexity of a Donelan product. Perhaps just the vintage.