September 22, 2011 - Great fruit and acid - delicious with roasted chicken. Wish I had more!
September 12, 2011 - Very nice wine. Purple and inky in color. Hoage wines are big wines. This was no exception. Nothing delicate about this. It is an in your face kind of wine. That said, it is delicious with good fruit. Nice texture. The alcohol is under control. Not sure how it ages, but is a fund wine right now.
November 14, 2010 - Needed 1 hour of air. Showed a nice nose of kirsch, blackberry and black pepper, with licorice and meat notes coming with air. This lead to a medium bodied mouth of kirsch and black pepper with a nice finish.
October 10, 2010 - Night 1: Very little I like about this wine. Lots of $6 bottles out compete this. Fruit is slightly sweet, not a lot of complexity, too much alcohol. Doesn't seem very balanced and not a lot of potential seemingly. I can think of only a few 2007 CdRs that I wouldn't rather drink than this for balance sake at least. It's everything I don't like about CA trying to do S Rhone. For my palate, my score is generous. I thought of pouring it down the drain. Maybe Night 2 will bring a miracle, its happened before.
Night 2: Slight upgrade from 84 to 85. Still monolithic and not interesting in any way, but not as sweet.
June 15, 2010 - Brickish, cloudy purple in appearance. Very complex nose of asian spice, cardemon, and sour cherry. There is also a touch of alcohol burn on the nose. Pretty though in all. Very pleasent wine on the palate; structure, balance and length, but I have to confess that this is where I get dissapointed in California Rhone varietals. The nose excites me that the Rhone is in there and then I get all that big Californina fruit on the palate. Its a dichotomy of sorts that may help New World wine enthusiests make the transition to Old World traditional Rhone wines, but never the reverse.
November 21, 2009 - Luscious fruit, big and bright, leather, berries. Holding other bottles for a couple more years.
October 24, 2009 - Beautifully round on the palate, roasted, smokiness and fruit with good acid made it perfect with grilled wild boar. Happy to have several more bottles to age and enjoy later~~
July 18, 2009 - Decanted two hours, enjoyed over three. The thing I love about Terry's wines is the wonderful acidity. In this bottle, the grenache lent red fruits and spiciness, while the syrah gave it richness, smoke and meaty notes. Still a little disjointed, more bottle age will certainly take care of that.
June 13, 2009 - Another great wine from Terry. Dark and rich, not only in appearance. Decanted for 1.5 hours before getting into this one. On the nose there was kirsch, blackberries, chocolate covered black cherries, smokey roasted meats, black pepper and with time some sassafras and black tea notes. The palate was luscious with soft supple tannins, full of black fruits, baked blueberries, and a bit of the smoked meats carried through.
April 29, 2009 - Cherry, raspberry and earth with well integrated charred oak. Full bodied with a heavy mouth feel. Good acidity. Rich, layered finish that lasts for over a minute. Hedonistic.