Community Tasting Note

Corrado wrote:

Friday, December 11, 2009 - Color/Appearance: 5/5 - Bold, dense burgundy (the color, not the wine) color right out to the edges.

Nose/Bouquet: 12/15 - Expressive nose begins with black pepper, blackberry and woodiness. Later, the black pepper fades and is replaced by subtle aromas of Twizzlers and sugar-coated blueberry candy.

Flavor : 7/10 - Better after a decant of a few hours. Entry is very smooth and the inevitable grip of the tannic jaws are carried nicely by the full body of the wine. While the structure and body are in full force, the flavors are missing depth. There's cassis, blackberry, and dark chocolate in there, but the overall effect is that of a VERY dark, bittersweet chocolate where you wish it was about 5% less pure cacao.

Finish: 9/10 - Initially this goes through a series of, "I'm fruity," "I'm tannic," "I'm oaked," phases before you're aware that your teeth have been frosted with delicious Petite Sirah, and then this nice amalgamation of bittersweet chocolate, blackberry, and vanilla that just glows for long afterwards.

Aging Potential: 3/5 – Hard to say. Right now, this wine will not see any improvement from short-term cellaring, making it either a "drink now" selection or a "wait a decade" wine to lay down through its dumb phase and hope it comes out of its cocoon well.

Overall/Quality: 4/5 - Of the three bottles I've had since 2007, my opinion is that this was drinking better then than it is now. It remains a solid, well-made, excellent wine.

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