March 27, 2024 - At HoPR. Beautiful refined nose of cherr and cassis, palate deep and rich with absolutely zero heaviness. An excellent wine of pleasure with silky tannins that melted in the company of prime rib. A very fine Napa showing.
February 13, 2024 - drinking wonderfully. Open now
September 29, 2023 - 3 hour slo-ox. Full throttle tannins remained tight even after an hour or so later. Recorked and enjoyed the following evening:
Sumptuous delivery of predominantly black and some reddish-purple core fruit. Nice spice and earth on the tail end of its silky finish. Fresh and concentrated, a very impressive rutherford cab that impressed all with its intensity, complexity and youthfulness. Try opening the next bottle the night prior and sampling it starting in the morning. Or hold for 2-5 years.
July 3, 2023 - fresh dark red and blue berries
tannins settled after a while
liked by all
April 2, 2023 - Opened in the bottle for a few hours. Not yet ready at this stage. Sour cherry, plum, bitter dark chocolate, new leather and dusty earth. Actually drinks like a full bodied Tuscan wine. Give it five plus years more as it’s too astringent now.
June 20, 2022 - Very enjoyable. Needed a decant, and will likely contribute to evolve over the coming years. Will try to revisit in 2-3 years.
May 16, 2022 - My first Greer to open. I had a glass of the 2011 2-3yrs ago and loved it, which prompted me to sign up. Borders Scarecrow’s JJCohn vineyard. Very Rutherford, and very 2015 (concentration to the max; a nice marriage of 2014’s open/sexy profile and 2016’s structured/serious profile). I double decanted this back to the bottle for an hour, and then back to the decanter for the remaining four hours.
Aaron Pott made, and very much in his style. Purple in the glass, and a high toned mix of red, blue and black fruits on the nose. A definite sweetness aromatically but in no way offputting. Behind the wall of ripe fruit is bright potpourri, bitter dark cocoa shavings, espresso and a mineral-earthy note.
The palate was much more compact. The fresh squeezed fruits continued but there was a darker core. Towards the end of the four hours, the profile started showing layers of violets, red and black currant, graphite, and high percentage dark chocolate. Excellent acidity and fine grained tannins on the finish.
For me, this falls in the “elegant” category. I could have simply smelled the wine all evening as the aromatics were intoxicating. On the young side, but I imagine this improves over the next 3-5yrs and becomes an even better bottle. Decant 3-4hrs or hold.
November 9, 2021 - Halloween in the Vice Versa Cave: It’s been 2.5 years since my last bottle. Having the chance to try this again is a lesson in service and delivery. This, like many other wines at this event, was a straight pop of the cork and a have-at-it kind of observance. The resulting dispensing of flavor was not surprisingly a bit reticent. With some time and air in the glass (which admittedly was not enough), the more red-fruited and linear flavors begin to unfold. There is a sorbet sweetness that takes some coaxing to dissipate, but the more learnt flavors start to educate the palate to more cultured end so that the experience is elevated and expansive than how it initially begins. Red and black berry fruit wrestle a bit here and there along the journey, with some red-purple plum fruit (a Pott hallmark) subtly coming into fold. Finishes soft but still somewhat over-direct for now. Try again in 2025+. 94+ conservative points for now.
September 7, 2021 - Underwhelming given the notes by others. It seemed to be stuck in first gear within the 2+ plus hour decant recommended. The wine was tight, flavors were mute, and finish was short. I experienced this somewhat with the 16 as well a few months ago, but on day 2 it opened up nicely. Wondering if I shouldn't take Rob Greer's advice and just hold or give a full day decant. Thought about getting the 18s, but might not after this bottle.
August 13, 2021 - Let breathe under cork for about 2.5 hours. Also opened a 2015 Scarecrow.
The Greer was fantastic - great balance to this wine. Little more purple fruited than the Scarecrow (which trended more red). But still very much a Rutherford wine in the style I love. Tannins not quite as refined as the Scarecrow yet.
Very impressed that this stood toe to toe with it's neighbor. Two great wines on a great night.