June 11, 2021 - This wine is past it's time. Color is now amber and has lost most of it's fruit. A disappointment for waiting this long.
May 10, 2011 - This tastes much better, I think age is bring this one around, fruit forward, sour cherries.
March 27, 2011 - And my last bottle is consistent. This seems to be over the hill based on my last two bottles and the latest tasting notes. Sour cherry rhubarb. Very disappointing from Schrader.
November 14, 2010 - Not sure what happened to this one. The Hell Hole Cuvee was pretty delicious and was not at all what I expected. The Gnarly Stump was not at all what I expected, but not in a good way. The wine was light red and almost transparent in the glass, and the nose was cigar box and earthy spice - I could not taste any fruit. In fact, that is all I could smell/taste in the glass - the overpowering earthy cigar smell permeated the entire palate, from start to painfully long finish. I could not even take a fourth sip. Either I had a bad bottle, or it's definitely past it's prime. Either way, a disappointment considering I enjoyed the Hell Hole Cuvee previously.
October 10, 2010 - To call this wine a disappointment, would be an understatement. Red fruit dominated with a very light color, this wine is rather mixed up. Plastic notes and earth tones and vegetal tones, funky and weird. Not sure this wine can be fixed with air or time. The bottle is not easy to store, and the cork is quite a pain. The price of bottle plus shipping and tax pushes this wine passed a point of worthy experimentation. Too light and too funky, maybe a Pinot Noir drinkers interpretation of Zin
June 24, 2010 - Popped and poured. Muted fruit and earth. Average finish. Not as good as last bottle. Good but terrible QPR.
March 11, 2010 - See previous note. Improved texture this time around. Nice, fruity and easy to drink, but one -dimensional.
December 12, 2009 - Light for a zin, and very fruit forward. Not a whole lot of spice ad very balanced tasting for 15% alcohol. We all loved it (including Kira!)
December 12, 2009 - Floral, specifically violets, on opening, opened into fresh straw and dill - very strong straw scent and dill carried to the tongue (almost overpowering). The finish was weak and a bit sour, but small caramel notes at the end. generally a very weak offering compared to the 06, which was much much better.
August 12, 2009 - Much better the second day, but still not a lot of balance.