Community Tasting Notes 46

• markcic Likes this wine: 95 points

  April 14, 2024 - We had people over on and off all day so at the end of the evening I decided to drink something nice while watching the Billy Joel concert. Had not seen him perform since the 99/00 NYE concert at Madison Square Garden. . It has been over three years since I tried a bottle of this wine So I chose this bottle, opened and slow ox'd for a few hours. Dark red fruit on the nose. The palate is dark cherry, dark red plums, raspberry, and touch of baking spice. The finish was as with most Saxums goes on forever. The concert was great - Im just wondering where the 24 years went. Oh well.

  1 person found this helpful Comment

• jshufelt wrote: 95 points

  February 7, 2024 - Decanted one hour before service - two would have been perfect. In the glass, medium ruby at the rim, shading gently to dark ever-so-slightly-cloudy ruby at the core. On the nose, raspberries, damp forest, a touch of nutmeg, and way back in the cheap seats, orange peel. On the palate, initially pure fruit, classic Saxum, raspberry liqueur, hints of cassis, and a faint note of blood orange. But after that second hour in the decanter, this wine just came alive and began singing in all registers - stone fruit, mint, herbal notes, saline, just a riot of complexity, with a wash of pleasure on the mid-palate leading to a long finish. Wow.

  1 person found this helpful Comment

• jsmorris707 Likes this wine: 96 points

  December 23, 2023 - Similar to prior notes after a 2 hour double decant; outstanding, drink or hold, no rush

  Comment

• J @ y H @ c k Likes this wine: 97 points

  October 27, 2023 - Decanted at the Seafire Grill in Manhattan and followed for about 3 hours. I admit to being biased in favor of Grenache, a grape that I love, but on the other hand it means that I have a lot to compare this with. Despite the fact that CT refers to this wine as a Grenache Blend, the notes on the Saxum website report that this is 100% Grenache, 16.4% ABV.
  
  OMG this wine is GREAT. Maybe the 1999 Rayas was just a tad better, but that's only because it was older and had smoothed out a bit more. The SQN Grenaches are outstanding, and I love them, but this was better. The 2002 and 2006 Aquilon were close, but no cigar.
  
  What have I had that was better? The 1970 Monfortino was just a smidgen better, and the 1989 Produttori Rabaja Riserva. The 1865 Coronation Sherry bottles in 1911. Some 100+ year old Madeiras. I have a sweet tooth so drinking a TBA with 350 gms/ltr sugar at Knebel with the family and a few other such wines might have touched this. BUT this Saxum Rocket Block is right up there at the top.
  
  This bottle was bought from the original mailing list offering. I was supposed to give a speech to the Bar Association on the day the offering went live and the person organizing the program slotted me in at 12:00 noon NY Time. I explained that would be impossible because I had missed the 2005 Rocket Block because I was meeting with senior bank officers and the sold out in minutes. I was not going to miss this one. She begged and we compromised. I would sit on the panel at the front of the room but I would not speak until 12:15 so I could order from my laptop. Noon came around, I signed in to the website, and ordered by about 12:02. She was looking over my shoulder in disbelief. Waiting to give my presentation was the correct decision.
  
  Now for the real tasting note. This is a fruit driven wine with a spicy backbone and a tiny bit of vanilla. Everything is explosive without losing elegance. The nose matches the palate perfectly and it is very expressive. No disjointed weirdness. I got mostly raspberries with a bit of blueberry and cherry. Spice on the back end with a little prickly bite at the front of the tongue. My dinner companion got more blueberry than raspberry. I got both fruits, but in the opposite order. There was also a tiny taste of some kind of roasted meat juice, making me wonder whether maybe there were a few Mourvedre grapes that snuck into that block in the vineyard.
  
  The only thing that kept this from getting to 99 points (nothing gets 100 because then a better wine would have to be 101) was that it was still just a tiny bit tannic and rough. Another 5 years of bottle age and it might be there, but, alas, this turns out to be my only bottle.
  
  Every taste of this wine over the time period was better than the one before. If you open one, give it at least a two hour decant and then taste it over another 2-3 hours. The finish was long for a non-sweet red wine.
  
  If your preference is Cab Franc from the Loire or old Bordeaux (I had a 1975 Cos d'Estournel tonight and it was sort of OK), you may not like this wine. You AFWE guys out there - you know who you are - will not like this wine and I would be happy to take it off your hands if you happen to own one.
  
  By the way - the ABV is not really noticeable. I did not even think about it until I checked the notes on the Saxum website to confirm that it was 100% Grenache.

  1 person found this helpful Comments (1)

• jsmorris707 Likes this wine: 97 points

  June 21, 2023 - Similar to prior notes after a 90 minute double decant, but entering its prime drinking; outstanding, drink or hold, no rush

  Comment

Pro Reviews 1

Wine Definition

• Vintage 2013
• Type Red
• Producer Saxum
• Varietal Grenache Blend
• Designation Cuvée Rocket Block
• Vineyard James Berry Vineyard
• Country USA
• Region California
• SubRegion Central Coast
• Appellation Paso Robles Willow Creek District

Community Holdings

• Pending Delivery 8 (1%)
• In Cellars 683 (61%)
• Consumed 428 (38%)

Food Pairing

Who Likes This Wine

More About This Wine