December 16, 2017 - Dark fruits, a bit of bbq and black pepper on the nose. The palate is fruit-forward with blackberry/black cherry, some bbq sauce and a touch of herbs. Light tannins and acid add structure. Overall tasty just not too complex and I'd drink in the short term.
October 27, 2017 - 30m decant. Nose of flowers, metal (?) and blueberries. Opened up a bit as the night went on but never did much for me. Hints of raspberry, olive, tannins. Angular and hits the front of the palate. Nothing objectionable in this wine, but also forgettable.
August 26, 2017 - Dark, modest nose of dark cherries, iron, scorched Earth, graphite and pepper. The palate is light bodied, offering bright acidity that, with air, turns a bit tart, and well-integrated tannin. It is in nice balance. The fruit is mostly red with a surprising amount of plum dominating. It has a bit of wet soil and bitter greens. Better consumed right after popping the cork than after extended decanting.
July 25, 2017 - Exactly as advertised by notes below. Just kind of "Meh." Vino had good color, nose okay, but as my wife said-not very exciting, not a lot going on. Was part of a 6 bottle "Mystery Case" from Last Bottle. Won't be buying any more of those buggers.
April 12, 2017 - Popped and poured...no formal notes. Drank over two days and this never really seemed to go anywhere interesting. Nothing inherently wrong...it just lacked character and didn't really deliver a whole lot of enjoyment. Could be young but I didn't get the sense there was anything special hiding deep below, either. It was just kind of gutless. Drink now or hold.
December 14, 2016 - Good effort from California, but somewhat nondescript. Solid coffee and vanilla dominate the palate now, but the underlying fruit is there if you look for it. This tastes very similar to a lot of muscular Cali Pinots I've had recently, but that is less an indictment of this wine than of the Pinots. I'd probably buy this again at $20, and then cellar it for a few years.
December 2, 2016 - Let me admit... when it comes to Syrah I am a northern Rhone snob... and I certainly was not expecting anything good from this $20 Californian syrah. At first smell I knew my prejudices were going to be wrong. The nose is full of violets, some vanilla, blueberry and every once in a while I thought I got meats. The palate is full of fruit.. raspberry, blueberry pie, strawberry even. There is a ton of structure (and this is what surprised me as I find most new world Syrah flabby and round). There is a bit of peppery spiciness. The 14.4 ETOH is well intigrated. There are no other notes here so please someone tell me if I'm off here...