January 14, 2022 - Pnp. Mine was perfect. Nothing odd was found in here. The wine was pure and straight forward. It’s a great wine to share with newcomers in wine. The bright sides of wine can be seen easily.
May 15, 2021 - Past its prime, but still tasty. Saving a bit for sampling today.
February 26, 2021 - A horse jumped out of the bottle on opening the brett was so strong. Decanted for about 15 minutes but it went from watery to undrinkable pretty quick.
December 27, 2020 - The best Merlot I have had in 2020. Fruit was well integrated and drinking flawlessly. Only got better throughout the evening. One more bottle left of this excellent vintage.
March 29, 2020 - I don't understand the negative posts here...This is a California Merlot folks! Not a French Merlot from St. Emilion. For what it is, this is spot on winemaking, embodied
by its richness and noticeable oak influence. Its also note worthy to say that in 2006 heavy extraction was in style and it continues today in Napa for many big producers and cult wines. Yet this wine was not over extracted and reminded me a bit of a fleshy old world wines as it warmed up and started flaunting a bit of terroir of its own in the form of dark soil tones.
Maybe its because my bottle was a Magnum from my cold cellar, but it was just delicious. At perfect maturity, yet in no danger of near future fading. The wine was rich and had noticeable levels of oak, but the harmony between the fruit, soft tannin, and oak made things balanced and very nice drinking. Great length....As I was getting down to the last part of the magnum I was thinking...This wine will blow the mind of California Merlot drinkers and open the minds of French Bordeaux drinkers....This is the longest note I've written in a while. I felt the wine deserved a different point of view. Drink
November 23, 2017 - Portlike, heavy California merlot. Plenty of alcohol in the taste, cherry and gobs of jammy berries bury the merlot. Tastes like any other heavy handed red wine, pretty much a well made and balanced Zinfandel.
November 14, 2017 - Served side-by-side with a 2006 Beau Sejour Becot which was clearly WOTN.
This Paloma was not what I had enjoyed with previous bottles of the 2001 and the 2007. This bottle was very disappointing - think stewed dark fruit. Did it suffer from a period of heat at some point? Possibly.
September 17, 2017 - My last and caught just about in time.
The core of vey ripe blackcurrant/dark berry fruit is taking on a jammy brûlée character and getting somewhat out of balance as the liquorice, spice and acidity has started to fade and the deadening truffle element starts to come to the fore. Almost sweet feel as the grippy elements dissipate with age.
Still good but well off its excellent best and for drinking up yesterday.
July 24, 2017 - Much as my two recent notes. Fully mature and for drinking over the next twelve months.
One more to go.
March 13, 2017 - Still drinking well.