July 2, 2023 - served right after decanting. Floral, smoky, nice and fruity, even two hours later.
June 28, 2023 - drank after 2½ hours in decanter. Still very fruity with cassis, blueberries, and cedar notes. Beautifully fragrant with eucalyptus and some stewed prunes. Acidity was on the high side and then showing smoky and leather notes. Aerated for too long and needs to be drunk with less time in decanter.
May 3, 2023 - Today with was superb. Very northern Rhone and when served blind some guess a Guigal LaLa! Similar profile though - meaty, gamey, dark, fresh. Good juice!
January 26, 2023 - Brought by Don to tonight's tasting......not sure of the air time given......CDP? Rhone? I'm not sure. Eventually, I settled on a Syrah but thought it was Old World, wrong. It's black fruited with great weight in the mouth. Excellent spice on the nose and palate...it's a very silky smooooooth wine at this stage! I never would have thought of keeping a Calli Syrah to age this long! A real pleasure to drink this one. Thanks for bringing it tonight, Don!
Addendum: tasted again with a late lunch today after another 15+ hours in bottle under cork, no gas, no vacuum. Many would still love this but unfortunately, the nose has moved into heavy bacon fat and that's not my preferred style of Syrah. The wine also is now drinking much older than during last night's tasting. Maybe an 89 now?
April 27, 2020 - OK, it's not as great as it was 5-10 years ago, but still rich and enticingly spice. Maturity of the black fruit gives this slightly less concentration and depth, and more warmth comes through on finish. But still very tasty.
August 15, 2019 - Warm nights, big wines (park ridge country club, park ridge, IL): Nose: The nose is bold, yet balanced with black cherries, black raspberries, licorice, white pepper, funky notes, savory tones, tobacco, and leather. This had extremely good depth and it was difficult to pin down blind.
Taste: The feel is Full bodied with medium acidity and mostly resolved, medium+ tannins. The structure has pulled back with the feel being plush and balanced backed up by tones of black cherries, black raspberries, savory notes, white pepper, tobacco, leather, and violet tones.
Overall: This came off as northern rhone when blind. It was very cool to see this revealed and I am extremely happy with how it has aged.
July 27, 2019 - Rich, big structure, Good acid/tannin balance, good fruit, a bit ripe
April 21, 2019 - Winebid purchase.. Unfortunately badly corked
April 17, 2019 - Received this bottle from a wine pull on 3/31/19. Was a little nervous about how it would taste being such an old Syrah, but it was AMAZING. Licorice, black currant, dark cherry. Haven’t been to Pax or read up on it, but will definitely be purchasing more of this to lay down. Great Syrah!!
September 5, 2018 - WIML92
Dark garnet color in the glass, clear looking throughout. Nose of blueberry, roasted meat and black pepper. Flavors of raspberries, berries and a hint of cherries. Medium acidity, medium tannin, full bodied. Drink or hold.