November 2, 2023 - Dark red. Nice and spicy syrah, pretty standard stuff. Quite clean, medium bodied, dark fruit, some olive paste and pepper. Simple but decent - went well with a burger.
July 1, 2023 - In a good place right now. Has lost some of its harder tannins and has gained minerality to balance out the ripe dark berry fruit, olive tapenade and spice on both the palate and nose. Lovely. Like I said, in a good place but will drink well for next 5-10 years.
June 27, 2023 - Another funny bottle, this one tasted soapy. I've put it down as flawed. I decanted a couple of hours in advance. I found the soapiness overwhelming. My guest noticed it when pointed it out, but he wasn't overwhelmed by it as I was. It wasn't soap residue on the glass, we checked that.
I had a bit left for the second day, and the soapiness had seemingly dispersed by then. It still seemed rather out of balance when first poured into the glass, with tannins prominent. But it did compose itself after a while in the glass, though wasn't as good as the last bottle.
Not getting a great deal of joy out of this particular case of wine.
April 12, 2023 - I enjoyed this with a duck dish. Littler bodied and elegant. Darker toned fruit, some spice.
December 9, 2022 - Back to my better April experience, in fact got a bit of creaminess to it too. Bit it did take a 2-hr decant and a good shake in the glass to get that out of it. I drank this over about 5 nights, and it wasn't so good by the end of that. But I really enjoyed it the first days.
October 6, 2022 - Another 6 months and it is seeming closed up again... Wasn't much fun.
March 4, 2022 - Put on a bit of body, and opened out a little since 6 months ago. It is now reminding me more of Thalabert from 30 years ago, in an average rather than great year. On that experience, it will still benefit from time. So the idea of this being an early-drinking wine, not really. Very different style from the New Worldish Crozes that many makers are now making.
September 10, 2021 - Could use a bit more fruit. A David Lillie selection.
September 2, 2021 - Still developing since previous bottle. Colour is darkening, but rim remains magenta. Main attraction remains in the nose. The palate is developing some mouthfeel and a bit of body. Tannins still very present. I now have a range of other things to drink so can be more patient.
January 25, 2021 - Medium body, herbal, short.