November 5, 2008 - A little green on opening - but much better after 2 days open uncorked.
September 28, 2008 - Tasted blind. Enjoyable nose of blueberry and currant. Simple, light and easy drinking. Good tasting without any bitterness or major flaws.
January 30, 2008 - Robust and chewy. A little green on opening - but better on day 2 and day 3. Better with a year or two in cellar.
December 29, 2007 - pop and pour: right out of the bottle lots of cedar and tobacco. a LOT of cedar and tobacco. Some secondary aromas of fruit and smokey new shoe leather under there.
colour: dark ruby, pink-er miniscus.
after a couple of swirls: cedar and tobacco fade to background. I get blackcurrant and a sour cream kind of smell, followed quickly by dark cherry and more leather.
medium body, reasonably smooth mouthfeel. slow on the attack. upfront it seems a little hollow but there is a great complexity of flavours waiting to burst over the palate. acidity is just enough to put an interesting curl on the edge of my tongue. Finish is long and gorgeous - starts with some dark cherry and blackcurrent with this really great almost peppery raspberry type flavour in the back of my throat. The finish is at least a minute long, and really enjoyable.
After 45 mins decant time: cedar and tobacco are back, but they brought their fruity friends and a sprinkle of black pepper. all the aromas listed above, but now well integrated. on the palate, this is a very different wine. feels heavier to me, and a very velvety mouthfeel. along with the heavier feel, I get dark luxurious fruits - i'm imagining the dark cherry in a lounge suit sipping a martini - and a really really well balanced awesome bunch of fruit. Nothing crazy fruit bomb, just well integrated bunch of dark fruits. Acidity is bang on, the finish is still long and brings more tobacco-ee kind of tinge to the blackcurrent and dark cherries.
December 24, 2007 - Another solid value from Wa. Just a little spicy oak and chocolate on the nose. Nicely balanced, and very soft, easy mouthfeel, with notes of currant, blackberry, spicey/cedary oak, and an underlying layer of chocolate. Moderate finish. Would recommend.
October 21, 2007 - Nice deep purple color. Dark fruit on the nose and palate balanced with nice acidity and fine tannins. A little closed and needed a good hour to open up. Held up well and tasted just as good on the 2nd day. Good quaffer on its own and paired well with grilled strip steak. Will wait 6 - 12 months before opening another.