August 12, 2023 - Opaque blood red color. Nose shows meat, anise, blueberry. Intense yet elegant on the palate. Blackberries, blueberries, hint of anise, black pepper. Smooth tannins, sharp acidity, great balance. Finishes long, dark-fruited with a hint of licorice. Smoother and more red-fruited with air. Previous notes seem to have indicated that this had gone into a dumb phase. It seems to be out of it now. Great wine and nowhere near peak. I'd give it 4 to 5 more years to develop and drink for the next 8 to 10 years. 82% Syrah; 18% Mourvèdre. 15.9% ABV.
February 13, 2023 - Been a while since I revisited this. Unfortunately, seemed a bit flabby to me. Any acidity that had been there to hold it together was gone. Maybe it is approach or hit its peak already.
December 19, 2021 - I have had this wine a few times, each time leaving me impressed by the ability of the acidity and fruit to keep the alcohol in balance, unfortunately that was not the case on this one. After 2 hours open, the fruit was masked HEAVILY by the alcohol, and honestly was left that 15.9% might be lower than it actually was. I think this wine might have been in a transition phase and completely closed down. I shut down the tasting after a few hours hoping to gather more insight on Day 2, unfortunately much the same. This wine must be going through a closed phase, bottle wasn’t bad, fruit was just shut down. I will certainly hold my remaining 2013’s for another couple years before I revisit.
September 3, 2021 - Nose: salty meat, forest floor, mushrooms, pepper, blueberries, smoke. Palate: velvety, salty meats, Blueberry, full body, a nice touch of acidity on the finish, thin tannins.
June 24, 2021 - Two years since last bottle and let this open up for a few hours. Improving.
March 1, 2021 - This inky beast was much better on day 2. Today it was a hammer covered in velvet, yesterday it was just a hammer. Recommend at least a couple more years in the cellar unless you plan a 24-hour or so decant.
November 8, 2020 - Big Syrah based wine, dark, inky purple. Can hold for several more years as it tasted better on day 2.
June 24, 2020 - Incredibly dark color, inky purple red. Not the most giving nose. Some plum and blueberry, maybe even a little lavender there. Very soft on the mouth, maybe too ‘flabby’. But there’s a nice bite to the finish. Blackberry, black cherry, definitely dark fruit through and through. A bit of heat on the finish. Unsure on this, might soften and improve a bit over next three years. But good.
May 16, 2020 - Drank my other one back in Aug 2017 and this one was similarly unappealing. Big bruiser that clobbers you with fruit, oak, and alcohol. Maybe it just needs a good decant for a week or two? My tastes have so moved on from these. I don't think age improves their wines as they might really need to be drank in the first few years. So far, their Estate wine is the only one that makes sense from a QPR perspective as this is a $70 Buster Douglass of a PR wine.
April 12, 2020 - I usually really dislike the Epcoh wines, which offer none of the things I like in say, a Relentless, but do offer a ton of allspice-type flavors and stew-y fruit. To me.
This has a reasonable dose of plum fruit, fresh spices and not so much of that over-roast thing.