June 1, 2023 - Very fragrant and expressive bouquet of ultra ripe plums and figs, vanilla oak, leather and toasted clove and star anise. Palate is rich, sweet and spicy. Tannins are still firm for this matured wine. The stewed fruity note filled the entire fresh mid-palate. Full-bodied. Dense and deep but bitter finish. At its peak now and will continue to hold for at least more 5 years if kept well. No hurry to drink up now.
January 30, 2021 - Muy bueno. This is a rich, flavor packed Shiraz, drinking brilliantly right now.
Deep color, a tiny bit of bricking but mainly ruby and certainly doesn’t look 20 years old.
Lovely and quite intense aroma, which is really rich - juicy dark plum, menthol and eucalyptus, cedar and tar.
Full body; medium acid; tannins have softened way down but still coat the mouth. Flavor delivers on the promise of the aroma - rich plummy fruit (slightly jammy but not too much) with the menthol making the flavor very interesting. A bit or tarry and chocolaty tertiary flavor. You want to take a *large* swig and when you do, the flavor really lingers.
January 16, 2021 - Dark reddish purple in color. Aggressive aromas of candied small black and blue fruits, licorice, bbq smoke and hint of mocha. Full bodied palate shows sweet and ripe crushed black berries, dark chocolate, licorice, medium acidity, fully resolved tannins and oak and a long fruit filled finish with a hint of leather. This has resolved well with age.
October 8, 2020 - This bottle was in terrific shape (even thought the cork shattered). Fully mature, but lots of vitality! PnP and enjoyed slowly over two hours. Tons of black and blue fruits with a little leather, eucalyptus and dust on the nose. Deep blackberry almost liqueur-like flavors with earthy minerals and maybe a bit of licorice. Long, rich finish with no heat and very fine tannins. I expect this could last another few years, but why wait?!!
July 9, 2020 - Mature, super concentrated jammy blueberries, menthol. On the palate rocking alcohol and intensity. Quite a nice profile but way too much fruit.
Holds really well for 19 years
August 16, 2019 - Drank with Mike and Bev at their firepit. Really nice drinking across the board. Good flavors and balance. Very claret like, as much like a nice blend as a Syrah.
February 11, 2019 - I find this quite interesting. I had a bottle of this 2 months ago, and I note that the character of this particular bottle is strikingly different than the other bottle. Still an excellent wine, but for this bottle I find strong cola and sharp cherry on the nose, with raspberry, lime, and cola on the palate. Very good length with some spice lingering. Compare that to my other note from December, which was blue fruit dominated and which I gave a higher score. I have 4 of these, all acquired in the last year. I must assume that this bottle was cellared differently than the first bottle. It will be interesting to see what the other two bottles tell me in the next year or two.
December 1, 2018 - Fantastic wine. A touch of bricking, but just at the edges. Aroma of fruit and oak. Strong flavors: blackberry, blueberry, cranberry, cola, smoked/salted meat, vanilla, peppercorn. Full bodied, flavorful, complex, with lots of fruit. Give it 30 minutes of air, and it continues to improve for another hour. Excellent length. 94-95.
November 3, 2018 - Color: dark ruby - advanced. Nose: ripe black fruit (blackberries, blueberries), spices, torrefaction, raisins, some leather. Mouth: sweet ripe black fruits (but not jammy), good acidity and fully integrated but noticeable tannins. Full bodied - massive concentration - excellent balance and long finish (16 sec). 17 Years old but still going strong. Drink now though. 94 pt.
June 3, 2017 - Intense!