June 14, 2014 - Polished. Dark blue tones with occasional rustic Syrah hints. Still could go a couple more years.
December 16, 2013 - Gave a few hours in the decanter. Dark purple black int he glass. Nose is fully of black berries, meaty spice, light eucalyptus and some violets. On the palate comes chocolate, grape lifesavers, and more spice. Full in the mouth with strong yet balanced tannin. Dark toned fruit on the finish, buttery going down. PJG: 92
October 9, 2012 - Dark red/garnet, slightly opaque. 14.5% abv. Tannins have smoothed out, with a balanced attack, and fresh mid-palate. Somewhat restrained personality (not a fruit bomb), but concentrated and deep, with satisfying black fruit flavors. At or near its peak, should hold 4-5 years. Much better than previous 3 bottles.
September 18, 2011 - Blind Wines and football (Phil's place, Chicago IL): nose: upfront and forward nose of black fruits, blue fruits, spice tones and blueberry pie tones. Balanced, but lacking some depth
taste: full bodied with good supporting tannins and medium acidity and plump tones of blue fruits, spice tones, dark red cherries and blueberry pie tones
overall: this did come off as a cali syrah blind. On the forward side but balanced with the fruit. This seemed like it could basically just use a 2 hour decant at this point
June 4, 2011 - At its peak balanced acid a hint of tanins great mouth feel. Red fruit & spiced meat on the nose & palate. 93pts.
April 9, 2011 - Slightly jammy mix of red and black fruits, red vines. Soft and round with not a lot to sit and contemplate. Decent cocktail sipper at this point and probably on the downslope.
November 16, 2009 - Wow, Mike Smith is a very talented winemaker. This wine shows great fruit with a mix of red and dark fruit, also has hint of black licorice. A juicy wine with excellent length. I love how the wine hides the atoh very well. This is a very good wine dominated by delicious factor
October 17, 2009 - Lake’s: Intense aromas of blueberry, cassis, and mocha and coffee hit my nose from quite a distance. The wine had really nice structure, good acidity, bright, very pure fruit, and was impeccably balanced. 14.5%
April 24, 2009 - syrah smackdown (Barrington IL, Wally's house): nose: very jammy nose that comes across as simple with nice tones of red and black fruits, red licorice and red cherries. Came across as run of the mill and non-descript
taste: nice medium tannins with a medium/full feel. Jammy flavors that lack a bit of depth of red fruits, red licorice and red cherries
overall: there were others that liked this a lot more then I did when the scores were revealed. I found this to be a very good wine, but it came across to me more as a $10-15 aussie shiraz in style and feel and it lacked some depth for my taste
December 19, 2008 - Decanted 2 hrs. Really pretty nose of wilted flowers and red fruit. From the first sip all I could think was impeccable balance, super pure red fruit ( cherries, raspberry ) a hint of roasted meat and a really fresh burst of acidity. Not a big wine, medium weight, but a Pinot lovers Syrah. Excelent!!!