October 13, 2023 - Black pepper galore. A nose and palate of it all cracked up in its goodness. Aromas too of potpourri from the whole cluster, what Brig called purple flower. Tar/creosote, blueberry, smoke, cooked meat. Man, this is the kind of stuff that I want to drink in syrah when I have it my glass. Some structure here but moderate at best. I'd say this is within my drinking window, with enough fruit and the aromatics to really create a nixe mix.
March 29, 2023 - Quite funky. Perhaps it needs more time (this is probably the case).
October 5, 2022 - Exuded class and complexity for three days. It never lost anything from cork pop to last sip. This is the best cool-climate Syrah I've had in a long time. Plum, mint, tar, roasted meat, herbs, and black pepper aromas made me want to keep swirling and sniffing. Plum, lavender, and black pepper on the full-bodied palate. Slightly grippy tannins let you know this was still young and has a long ways to go.
December 23, 2021 - Pop and pour. Dark red to rim, red fruits, herbs, meaty notes on the nose. Medium-full body, well balanced though tannins a bit intrusive, better on day 2. Very good.
December 18, 2021 - A somewhat murky red plum color. Forest floor and dark fruit on the nose. Lively red fruit on introduction followed by some salinity as the wine passes back. A suggestion of slate. Terrific tartness.
November 13, 2021 - Full bodied, traditional styling. A triumph for California winemakers aiming to produce in a Northern Rhône style. Prior to this bottle I would not have expected it possible - the Chave clones, 2500 ft, gneiss-soils, and adept winemaking all shine through.
Almost overwhelmingly dense with tannins and forest-notes for the first hour, then the fruit on the nose and body begin to take over. The conifer needles stay strong throughout. Demands 2-4 years of development to enter drinking window, but exciting even today. 92-94 on potential
March 3, 2021 - There is an outstanding wine here, but I’m not quite sure it’s ready yet. This is my first bottle of Halcon fwiw.
Garnet / purple color in the glass, relatively translucent. Lot of dark fruits on both the nose and palate, violets, some herbs de Provence notes. Surprisingly fruity, would have expected a bit less from an old world style wine, but may settle down in another year or two (not fruit bomby by any stretch but definitely more fruity vs a traditional Cote Rotie or Cornas, which this wine is often compared to). This isn’t quite opened up, but you can feel the coiled energy on the palate and it’s obvious that something special is underneath. Tannins aren’t yet fully resolved either though they certainly aren’t too heavy handed. Pretty sharp acidity which is nice and keeps this refreshing.
I’d give this 2-4 years before I try another bottle, but a lot of potential for sure and not bad now.
February 25, 2021 - Opened the bottle and poured a glass, then let the wine sit in the glass and in the open bottle for about three hours. Based on the glass vs bottle, I decided a decant was in order as this needed a good amount of air. Drank in a Riedel Sommeliers Hermitage/Syrah glass.
Color is medium purple (I couldn't decide between garnet and purple so I would say somewhere in the middle - not sure that that matters!). Nose: wild brambly red berries, blood, iron, some savory herbs, violets, and some pepper. Palate: medium plus body, medium plus acidity, and tannins were quite big and grippy, with a long finish - this wine can go the distance! Very bold with some restraint and finesse. Lots of pepper, again brambly red berries, iron, blood, and some violets. Overall, a fantastic wine but for my palate, I do prefer the Alturas, all else equal.
February 13, 2021 - Drunk several days back, I should have recorded a note while this wine was fresh in mind; but it had enough of an impact on me to take a moment now. I drank the wine over three days. It was opened and tasted without any decant or significant aeration the day after finishing a '17 Drew Valenti Syrah. The Drew was such a transparent, energetic, and transcendent a bottle of Syrah, I had to know how the Halcon top shelf wine would compare at not much over half the price. In my mind, the two wines were likely comparable, but I'd not tried a Drew Syrah for a while and wanted to make the comparison, granted one vintage off. At any rate, that's enough about the Drew, which I guess didn't get a note. This wine came out the bottle with semi reticent nose, great structure of silty tannin, and showing a meaty dark-berried, full on the mid wine that I've come to recognize from Paul's Syrahs. I thought the wine drank exceptionally young on day-1 and it seemed to ask for more time (bottle or open). At any rate, the wine was only finer, more complex, and composed on day-2 and happily even better and incredibly fine on day-3 where I finished the 2nd half of the bottle. I have to believe this wine is going places. I want more of it. Of the many great California Syrah wines in recent years, these Halcon and Drew are my favorites. Ok, there are a lot of other greats, but these are the go-to producers for my house.
February 4, 2021 - -- decanted 15 min. before initial taste --
-- tasted non-blind over a few hours on Day 1; revisited on Day 2 --
NOSE: strong black pepper; firmly planted in the savory/green olive camp; hints of dark raspberry and oak. Day 2: same as Day 1.
BODY: magenta-tinged garnet color of medium depth; medium to medium-full bodied.
TASTE: medium+ acidity; very stemmy; very tannic; Ash didn't like it on account of the intense stemminess. Day 2: same as Day 1. 13.3% alc. not noticeable. I liked this, but, quite frankly, it tastes like a typical stemmy/savory St. Joseph, and lacks any apparent distinctive qualities at this time. Extremely strong HOLD recommendation on this one --- I'm burying mine in offsite for at least 5 years, unless I start seeing inspirational TNs from others before then.