May 25, 2015 - Decanted. Mature but many years ahead. Delightful freshness and balance. 13.7%
April 16, 2015 - Great with pork shoulder!
January 3, 2015 - Overall for the price and reputation I have expected more. Decent wine but nothing special.
March 31, 2010 - Dinner at Suze with Harry K (Suze Restaurant, Dallas): Blind Red 4 - one of my contributions. Opaque in the glass. Meaty iodine on the nose. Smells a lot like a Northern Rhone wine, maybe St. Joseph or Cornas. Somewhat tart black cherry fruit with a complex pepper quality. This is showing better than my previous bottle with enough fruit to balance out the savory. Still didn't get much love from the group and no one was fooled as to its place of origin.
November 20, 2009 - a very solid syrah. great right out of the bottle and gains some depth after being open for a 30 plus minutes. it is not your typical cali syrah. it is not big bright fruit, but a darker wine. the fruit is not the primary taste. worked great with roasted chicken...enjoy
November 20, 2009 - Nice dark color. Some dark fruit and iodine on the nose. Meaty palate, like beef jerky with a black tea finish. Nice tannins. Well structured and integrated. I respect the quality of this wine, but it is not exactly my style. Would like to see the fruit shine a bit more. Old world wine.
November 11, 2009 - 13.7% ABV. Popped and poured. Deeply colored dark garnet and slightly cloudy translucent. Savory, iodine and meat. This Syrah reminds me of St. Joseph, without the funk and brett. Some lime and ripe olive. Concentrated. Something like liquified steak. What's the opposite of hedonistic? Intellectual? That probably describes this wine, though I confess I wasn't really looking for "intellectual" on this particular night. Interesting wine. The next evening the wine had gained some femininity and the Viognier was more noticeable in the nose as a high toned, slightly ripe olive aroma.
October 22, 2009 - Full, enchanting and complex nose. Flowers, black fruit, herbs, iodine, meat and spice. Exceptionally well balanced palate with medium-rich fruit and juicy acidity. Very lively and complex in the mouth. Very French like for me. Outstanding.
June 26, 2009 - Sonoma-Napa Trip Day 1; 6/25/2009-6/26/2009 (Sonoma): Napa-Noma Summer 2009 - Cofermented with about 10% Viognier. 13.7% ABV. High toned Syrah fruit. exotic nose. I don't recall it having obvious peach or stonefruit on the nose, but the Viognier was noticeable. Rich concentrated. Some chalk nuance. Good. This only saw neutral barrels. The grapes were sourced from Griffin's Lair, Brousseau, and Petaluma Wind Gap.
June 2, 2009 - Big package here with loads of black fruits, leather, herb and smoky oak.
Tinge of acidity and relatively low alcohol (13.7%) keep this full-bodied wine in check with a very delicious finish showing primary complexity.
Youthful but already beginning to integrate nicely.
Well done.