This might not be very good Cabernet, but it is a very good red wine. About the only Cabernet Sauvignon tipicity I get out of this is Bell pepper. And it's more like bell pepper liqueur.
This pours out black and opaque; intense and hot nose of dark berry and coffee; viscous rich hot body with lots of berry flavor and splintery oak.
Rating this as a Cabernet , I would give it 84 to 87 points. As a red wine in general, it truly is a 90 point + wine. Would be curious to try this at 20 years. Or more!
This is definitely a love it or hate it kind of wine and I've surprised myself with how much I enjoy it. I'd like to try this with 20 or more years of age.
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I bought this wine during a trip to Napa about four years ago. I had a small tasting then at an Orin Swift store and loved it. It was much more refined and powerful tonight. For the Cabernet aficionados who read this, you might rate this as average. However, if you consider the WINE itself, like I did, you might reconsider your evaluation. After a 1 hour decant, this wine tasted more like a Syrah than a cab, in my view. Deep aromas of blackberry and spice, it led to flavors of dark red and black fruits, coffee, vanilla, stones, and pepper. Very mouth filling with supple tannins and a lovely, long finish - we really enjoyed this wine. I really wish we had another bottle or 12!
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Still drinking nicely. Balanced, feminine...not your typical powerhouse Cab. Think left bank Bordeaux, but much softer, and not quite as much terroir presented. Enjoyable.
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Quite good pop and pour on election night 2016. Initially quite tight and wound with heavy notes of alcohol and unrefined tannins. Gradually of the course of an hour and a half within the bottle, tannins softened with notes of plums, dark fruit, sweet raisins luxardo cherries and licorice develop. Dark, dense and chewy like most Orin Swift Cabernets (think Papillon) 2010 Cabernet with plenty of good fruit still available. Likely another 5-10 years ahead of it
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Decanted for 2 hrs. Fruit-forward tastes of cherry, plum, dark fruits, mocha, pepper. Yet soft & smooth on the tongue. Drinking really well now. Maybe better later?
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Decanted Shows moderate-plus intensity in aromas of currant, wild cherry, and plum with scents of cedar, herbs of bay leaf and thyme, mocha, pencil shavings, vanilla, black pepper and a hint of floral. On the palate full bodied with great structure. Medium-plus acidity, tannins and alcohol. Flavors follow suit and show currant, dark cherry and plum, herbs, cedar, vanilla, mocha, pencil shavings, black pepper and a touch of cigar smoke. Long on the plush finish. Still has a ton of life
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PnP w/30 min decant. Clear, deep purple, nice legs. Good med proper nose. Light to medium body, clean, good balance, easy to drink, decent finish. Nothing off. $28
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For their entry level Cab, this is great juice. It's the declassified cab that they don't use in the Mercury Head or Papillon. But it's creamy, toasty, balanced, easy to drink, unique label art concept...usually Orin Swift wines are over the top with their ABV %, but this wine isn't dominated by the alcohol at all. This is always one of my go-to CA cabs. Very solid QPR at $38 USD/btl.
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Typical Dave Phinney wine that is big, rich, and over extracted. One of his better wines though. Drinking well now, so start drinking. Falvors of blueberry, plum, dark berries, slight oak, heat, and that was about it.
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Not bad, but mostly a one-trick pony. It tastes like Napa Cab, medium body, decent finish, drinking well, but never really gets you thinking. Or saying to yourself "I want more of that".
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Gets better every time. Decent nose, blackberry, cassis, cigar box and stone on the palate. Medium body, medium finish. Nice, sweet tannins. Not to complex but easy drinking. Drink now or hold for another couple of years.
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Part of the Palermo 4 year vertical. Deep ruby hues with high viscosity and high concentration. the wine shows no rim variation and bright reflections. Allowing to breathe opens up the wine to express aromas of currant, fresh picked cherries, herbs of bay leaf and thyme, cedar, brambly blackberry, baking chocolate, black pepper and fresh ground espresso beans. The full bodied palate is structured with medium+ acidity, moderate + plush tannins and moderate+ alcohol. Flavors of currant, red cherries, blackberry, dark coffee, dark chocolate, wood, graphite, herbs, black pepper, vanilla and burnt sugar. The finish is long and moderate+ in intensity.
Overall well structured and showing slightly better than the 09 and the most classic cab notes of the 09-12 vertical, with the highest acidity.
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Really nice, rich cab. As we drank it while watching the oscars it continued to open up and drank even better. I have never had never had Palermo but will definitely buy it in the future. It's a great cab for the cost and will be my new go to with Provenance the other go to everyday wine. Always looking for really good Cabs under $40.
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Fat but not at all flabby. Well-extracted fruit, mostly very ripe plums. Cocoa nibs and slight hints of wintergeen. A little tight but opened up beautifully with some air.
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As others have noted... better on Day 3 than Day 1. When opened there is more alcohol than anything else on the is wine... nose & palate. Better after recorked and tasting again on Day 3 where other aspects of the wine come through... sort of. All in all... just a better than average Cab and not worth the price.
Dark violet color Nose is very spicy, cinnamon, earthy leather with strawberry and cherry Taste is dry strawberry, cherry and very earthy Finish is dry Over all this wine needs to breath about 2 hour as it is a very young wine. But it really opens after it has decanted. Very excellent with food and light cheese such as Asiago A little pricey but very a good wine.
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First time ever for this wine. Tasted like an amped up Pinot. The Merlot has a real influence here. I really enjoyed it for what it is, especially at less than $30. Perfect for a party. No question it will be a crowd pleaser. An hour or so in the decanter and it was good to go. Probably benefits from a few years in the cellar, but fun to drink now.
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One of many tasted at Debbie and Brad's first wine dinner at Bella Ranch. Bottle decanted for about 1-2 hours and then ran through a vinturi when tasting. 78 Cab, 18 Merlot, 4 Cab Franc. This wine poured a dark red with purple accents. This was a medium to full bodied wine, smoky and blackberry filled nose with a hint of some sweetness. The wine on the entry was consistent with blackberrry, ripe black cherry, fig, and was a little heady right up FRONT actually. The wine settled to a more earthy presentation. The wine finished VERY tannic, and this one would have gone very well with a dark bloody steak to offset it all. I actually don't think this wine is ready to drink either. I'd give it at least another 1-2 years before even attempting it. Prime drinking is probably somewhere in 2015 or 2016. Done by 2020.
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Inky dark purple. Notes of blackberry, bramble fruit, cherry, mocha. Some have decried the 15.5 alcohol, but it's not drinking like a high-alcohol wine at all. Pairs well with food. Drinking well now.
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Dark purple. Lots of Dark Berry, Mocha, Cedar and vanilla. Strong alcohol, but fruit easily competes with it. Really a nice bottle. WS gave this 91 pts and I agree. Strong bottle at this price.
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Does not drink like a typical Napa cab, but more like a Napa red zin. Fruity with a bit of heat. High alcohol for a cab IMO at 15.5%. Like other Orin Swifts, it's a moderate price and very drinkable. However, unlike some of the others, I'm not sure I would buy this one again, despite cab being my wine of choice. I will wait on my last remaining bottle to see if it improves, but I do not have high hopes for improvement.
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Lots of jammy fruit and alcohol on the nose. Tight, unripe fruit flavors. Disappointing compared to other OS wines that I have had.
Night #2 - Finished the last two glasses. Much smoother than last night. I would upgrade the rating to upper 80's. I think that this wine is very young and needs a couple of years and then some decanting. Not a pop and pour wine.
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Blackberry, cassis and graphite. Sweet, jammy palate. A little disjointed and it seems acidified. I'm sure some people would love this. It's just not my style.
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A big hit of fruit in the front that carries through the middle to a strong cedar/oak finish. This high octane offering is not the for faint of heart. Probably just a half step down from the 2009 vintage.
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I found this to be quite a mess. I knew what I was getting in to with the 15.5% ABV and was in the mood for a cocktail wine. I generally like Orin Swift wines, even the 09 vintage of this. It smells yummy, but more like a $10 wine. Gratuitous amounts of oak and cedar, cherry candy and vanilla extract. I like the label, but you should get a t-shirt and this wine for $32!
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Blackberry and cherry on the nose. Hint of vanilla or oak as well. Huge burst of flavor. Fruit forward is an understatement. Extremely concentrated load of jammy, fruit off the bat followed by moderate tannins and acidity. Mellows out into a long enlyable finish. The wine is hot but you actually don't get overwhelmed while drinking it. I am a huge fan of phinney's wines and would love to blind taste this against prisoner, abstract and papillon.
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Smells like raspberry jolly ranchers soaked in cherry robitussin and nail polish remover. Would suspect that the ethyl acetate was a flaw, but judging by my previous experience with OS wines and their unapolagetically overblown alcohol levels, this is just more poor winemaking. This wine hits the palate with a load of cloying glycerine then hollows out into a disjointed, alcoholic mid-palate and an overly tannic finish that dries out the palate and leaves you feeling as though you've just licked a plank of burnt cedar. Tannins seem forced and artificially procured, and no amount of time in the bottle will help this astoundingly unbalanced wine come together or improve. This wine is an abortion.
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Giant Wine Sale & Tasting 2/4/2012 (Cellar on Greene, Columbia, SC): This is delicious. Maybe not for everybody, but if you want a big thick juicy wine, this is it. Their style of ripe, high alcohol, fruit forward, deep, brooding wines is somewhat like an Australian Shiraz. There is definitely a time and a place for these wine, like steak time. There is a lot going on here. Whether you like it or not, we can spend several minutes talking about the flavors, aromas, and mouth feel of this wine. It starts out with deep rick purple color. The nose is almost crowded with all the good stuff we expect from Cabernet, starting with super ripe and rich big black fruit, then there is big vanilla, lead pencil, toasty oak, brown spice, herbs, green pepper, and cassis. The fruit is what you expect from 15.5% alcohol wine, very ripe, explosive black berry and black cherry. Rich and full in the mouth, but still surprisingly elegant. This is kind of young, I suspect the oak will integrate more with bottle time. Very civilized tannins. Moderate acidity. The finish is a little candied with big black fruit, hints of caramel, licorice, graphite, and black pepper.
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Very unimpressed. Absolutely no backbone, very soft at such a young age. definitely not cellar worthy. Very ripe fruit and plenty of oak. Great label, no sole. You can find a ton of wine that's better for half the price.
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Aromas of blackberry, currant, pencil shavings and herbs flirt with cedar, ground espresso beans, earth and bell pepper notes after an hour decant. The deep purple hue with long legs invites you to taste. The palate is firm with well structured tannins and acidity, that long coat the palate, and I mean long. Currant, cherry and blackberry flavors are laced with mineral, black pepper, cedar, violets and cocoa. The finish is long and and dripping with ripe fruit, wood and mineral. Very comparable to the '09
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6/18/2022 - IAmVintage wrote: 91 Points
A fun BBQ party wine that everyone enjoyed (interestingly including the non-Cab fans (Rhone rangers))
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7/5/2020 - VAD wrote: 90 Points
Pop and pour. A little bit of heat at the finish when we first had it. Over the night it got better. It’s a fine wine, nothing amazing.
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3/25/2020 - brasstab Likes this wine: 91 Points
Won’t change your life, but delivers much pleasure. Aged nicely, with balanced fruit and excellent structure. Not a lot of finish tho.
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7/24/2019 - Racer117 Likes this wine:
This might not be very good Cabernet, but it is a very good red wine. About the only Cabernet Sauvignon tipicity I get out of this is Bell pepper. And it's more like bell pepper liqueur.
This pours out black and opaque; intense and hot nose of dark berry and coffee; viscous rich hot body with lots of berry flavor and splintery oak.
Rating this as a Cabernet , I would give it 84 to 87 points. As a red wine in general, it truly is a 90 point + wine. Would be curious to try this at 20 years. Or more!
This is definitely a love it or hate it kind of wine and I've surprised myself with how much I enjoy it. I'd like to try this with 20 or more years of age.
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8/15/2018 - Hover low 64 Likes this wine: 92 Points
I bought this wine during a trip to Napa about four years ago. I had a small tasting then at an Orin Swift store and loved it. It was much more refined and powerful tonight. For the Cabernet aficionados who read this, you might rate this as average. However, if you consider the WINE itself, like I did, you might reconsider your evaluation. After a 1 hour decant, this wine tasted more like a Syrah than a cab, in my view. Deep aromas of blackberry and spice, it led to flavors of dark red and black fruits, coffee, vanilla, stones, and pepper. Very mouth filling with supple tannins and a lovely, long finish - we really enjoyed this wine. I really wish we had another bottle or 12!
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6/30/2018 - libero wrote: 90 Points
Let is breath for one hour or more.
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6/30/2018 - libero wrote: 90 Points
Dark chocolate taste, like Cote du Rhône an Chateauneuf du Pape.
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3/17/2018 - bxskier wrote: 94 Points
Probably my favorite Orin swift wine.
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7/31/2017 - Scott Shapiro wrote: 90 Points
OK easy drinking.
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12/20/2016 - sellerscellar Likes this wine: 91 Points
Still drinking nicely. Balanced, feminine...not your typical powerhouse Cab. Think left bank Bordeaux, but much softer, and not quite as much terroir presented. Enjoyable.
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11/8/2016 - Cholera Likes this wine: 92 Points
Quite good pop and pour on election night 2016. Initially quite tight and wound with heavy notes of alcohol and unrefined tannins. Gradually of the course of an hour and a half within the bottle, tannins softened with notes of plums, dark fruit, sweet raisins luxardo cherries and licorice develop.
Dark, dense and chewy like most Orin Swift Cabernets (think Papillon)
2010 Cabernet with plenty of good fruit still available. Likely another 5-10 years ahead of it
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7/24/2016 - VAD wrote: 91 Points
Pretty intense and heavy cab. Drinking pretty well right now. Good balance and finish.
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7/10/2016 - bbcc66 Likes this wine: 90 Points
Decanted for 2 hrs. Fruit-forward tastes of cherry, plum, dark fruits, mocha, pepper. Yet soft & smooth on the tongue. Drinking really well now. Maybe better later?
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4/5/2016 - bjamesclark wrote: 92 Points
Decanted
Shows moderate-plus intensity in aromas of currant, wild cherry, and plum with scents of cedar, herbs of bay leaf and thyme, mocha, pencil shavings, vanilla, black pepper and a hint of floral.
On the palate full bodied with great structure. Medium-plus acidity, tannins and alcohol. Flavors follow suit and show currant, dark cherry and plum, herbs, cedar, vanilla, mocha, pencil shavings, black pepper and a touch of cigar smoke. Long on the plush finish.
Still has a ton of life
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3/3/2016 - Barry Notes Likes this wine: 91 Points
PnP w/30 min decant. Clear, deep purple, nice legs. Good med proper nose. Light to medium body, clean, good balance, easy to drink, decent finish. Nothing off. $28
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2/8/2016 - sellerscellar Likes this wine: 91 Points
For their entry level Cab, this is great juice. It's the declassified cab that they don't use in the Mercury Head or Papillon. But it's creamy, toasty, balanced, easy to drink, unique label art concept...usually Orin Swift wines are over the top with their ABV %, but this wine isn't dominated by the alcohol at all. This is always one of my go-to CA cabs. Very solid QPR at $38 USD/btl.
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1/30/2016 - Mtnmd1 Likes this wine: 90 Points
Giant plush cab, good if you're in the mood for that sort of thing
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6/8/2015 - ZachF88 wrote: 89 Points
Typical Dave Phinney wine that is big, rich, and over extracted. One of his better wines though. Drinking well now, so start drinking. Falvors of blueberry, plum, dark berries, slight oak, heat, and that was about it.
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4/4/2015 - lockestep Likes this wine: 88 Points
Not bad, but mostly a one-trick pony. It tastes like Napa Cab, medium body, decent finish, drinking well, but never really gets you thinking. Or saying to yourself "I want more of that".
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9/25/2014 - jctra wrote: 91 Points
Gets better every time.
Decent nose, blackberry, cassis, cigar box and stone on the palate. Medium body, medium finish. Nice, sweet tannins. Not to complex but easy drinking.
Drink now or hold for another couple of years.
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8/24/2014 - Romol Likes this wine: 91 Points
Decanted 2 hours. Better than last bottles, but for me eralier orin swift vintages (generally) were better. 91 pts
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4/12/2014 - bjamesclark wrote: 92 Points
Part of the Palermo 4 year vertical.
Deep ruby hues with high viscosity and high concentration. the wine shows no rim variation and bright reflections.
Allowing to breathe opens up the wine to express aromas of currant, fresh picked cherries, herbs of bay leaf and thyme, cedar, brambly blackberry, baking chocolate, black pepper and fresh ground espresso beans.
The full bodied palate is structured with medium+ acidity, moderate + plush tannins and moderate+ alcohol. Flavors of currant, red cherries, blackberry, dark coffee, dark chocolate, wood, graphite, herbs, black pepper, vanilla and burnt sugar.
The finish is long and moderate+ in intensity.
Overall well structured and showing slightly better than the 09 and the most classic cab notes of the 09-12 vertical, with the highest acidity.
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3/2/2014 - smileBD Likes this wine: 89 Points
Really nice, rich cab. As we drank it while watching the oscars it continued to open up and drank even better. I have never had never had Palermo but will definitely buy it in the future. It's a great cab for the cost and will be my new go to with Provenance the other go to everyday wine. Always looking for really good Cabs under $40.
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11/22/2013 - gavinesq Likes this wine: 93 Points
Fat but not at all flabby. Well-extracted fruit, mostly very ripe plums. Cocoa nibs and slight hints of wintergeen. A little tight but opened up beautifully with some air.
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11/1/2013 - Lax4 Likes this wine: 88 Points
Drank with dinner. Nice bodied wine for the price.
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10/23/2013 - shadow wrote: 93 Points
Little cherry coke, touch of oak that rolls into a nice finish
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10/7/2013 - mpricher wrote: 91 Points
Same as last TN's. This is a real value at this price point. Always delivers a great Calif Cab experience. worth the coin.
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8/16/2013 - wadcorp Likes this wine: 90 Points
Consistent with previous bottle. If anything, the cherry notes have moved forward. A little cherry cough drop seems to have popped up. Working well.
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8/2/2013 - Madkat Does not like this wine: 87 Points
As others have noted... better on Day 3 than Day 1. When opened there is more alcohol than anything else on the is wine... nose & palate. Better after recorked and tasting again on Day 3 where other aspects of the wine come through... sort of. All in all... just a better than average Cab and not worth the price.
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7/25/2013 - libero wrote: 90 Points
Better after one hour
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4/29/2013 - LCHammer Likes this wine: 92 Points
No detailed notes but everyone loved it. Lucky I found more.
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4/27/2013 - JDR58 wrote:
Definitely needed a little time to open up but once it did it was as smooth as any I have tasted
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3/17/2013 - ncivello wrote:
A smooth taste, well balanced with a good finish. Slightly earthy with a some cherry and good spice on the nose. Very good... I liked it.
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2/17/2013 - crushzone wrote: 88 Points
- Violet color with fast forming legs. It's somewhat balanced with a medium/full body. Juicy texture with a medium finish.
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2/9/2013 - copdyke wrote: 90 Points
earthy with a hint of strawberry and cherry. Would get again and hold on to it for a while
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2/1/2013 - CarlCP Likes this wine: 89 Points
Dark violet color
Nose is very spicy, cinnamon, earthy leather with strawberry and cherry
Taste is dry strawberry, cherry and very earthy
Finish is dry
Over all this wine needs to breath about 2 hour as it is a very young wine. But it really opens after it has decanted. Very excellent with food and light cheese such as Asiago
A little pricey but very a good wine.
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1/10/2013 - JimN wrote: 89 Points
First time ever for this wine. Tasted like an amped up Pinot. The Merlot has a real influence here. I really enjoyed it for what it is, especially at less than $30. Perfect for a party. No question it will be a crowd pleaser. An hour or so in the decanter and it was good to go. Probably benefits from a few years in the cellar, but fun to drink now.
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11/5/2012 - 1H2oMan wrote: 90 Points
Love this cab
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10/28/2012 - mflesh wrote: 90 Points
One of many tasted at Debbie and Brad's first wine dinner at Bella Ranch. Bottle decanted for about 1-2 hours and then ran through a vinturi when tasting. 78 Cab, 18 Merlot, 4 Cab Franc. This wine poured a dark red with purple accents. This was a medium to full bodied wine, smoky and blackberry filled nose with a hint of some sweetness. The wine on the entry was consistent with blackberrry, ripe black cherry, fig, and was a little heady right up FRONT actually. The wine settled to a more earthy presentation. The wine finished VERY tannic, and this one would have gone very well with a dark bloody steak to offset it all. I actually don't think this wine is ready to drink either. I'd give it at least another 1-2 years before even attempting it. Prime drinking is probably somewhere in 2015 or 2016. Done by 2020.
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10/19/2012 - wadcorp wrote: 90 Points
Inky dark purple. Notes of blackberry, bramble fruit, cherry, mocha. Some have decried the 15.5 alcohol, but it's not drinking like a high-alcohol wine at all. Pairs well with food. Drinking well now.
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10/13/2012 - libero wrote: 90 Points
Easy drinking , fruity
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9/21/2012 - GTFreek wrote: 89 Points
Pretty fruit forward. Not sure time will change that. Nice flavors though, easy drinking.
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9/7/2012 - mpricher wrote: 91 Points
Dark purple. Lots of Dark Berry, Mocha, Cedar and vanilla. Strong alcohol, but fruit easily competes with it. Really a nice bottle. WS gave this 91 pts and I agree. Strong bottle at this price.
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7/22/2012 - n2wine wrote: 88 Points
So far this wine is an "upper 80's". Still a "tight". It is good, not great. Needs more time to evolve before it is one of OS's typical quality wines.
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7/16/2012 - ernie237 wrote: 87 Points
Does not drink like a typical Napa cab, but more like a Napa red zin. Fruity with a bit of heat. High alcohol for a cab IMO at 15.5%. Like other Orin Swifts, it's a moderate price and very drinkable. However, unlike some of the others, I'm not sure I would buy this one again, despite cab being my wine of choice. I will wait on my last remaining bottle to see if it improves, but I do not have high hopes for improvement.
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6/27/2012 - jctra wrote: 90 Points
Needs more time
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5/21/2012 - brian przyzycki wrote: 92 Points
would buy again if I could find another.....very nice.
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5/3/2012 - yasha wrote: 90 Points
Very good, it's still young. i think will improve in a few years.
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4/27/2012 - czollinger wrote: 93 Points
Good! Nice cab. A little smokey. Smooth. Nice fruit. W
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4/24/2012 - targa72e wrote:
I like orin swift wines. liked this as well
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3/14/2012 - Charlie.Gail wrote: 85 Points
Much too young. Not complex. Kind of fruity; certainly not what one would expect from a Cab.
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3/11/2012 - n2wine wrote: 80 Points
Lots of jammy fruit and alcohol on the nose. Tight, unripe fruit flavors. Disappointing compared to other OS wines that I have had.
Night #2 - Finished the last two glasses. Much smoother than last night. I would upgrade the rating to upper 80's. I think that this wine is very young and needs a couple of years and then some decanting. Not a pop and pour wine.
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2/24/2012 - shaftlet wrote: 87 Points
Blackberry, cassis and graphite. Sweet, jammy palate. A little disjointed and it seems acidified. I'm sure some people would love this. It's just not my style.
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2/24/2012 - mmoss wrote: 89 Points
A big hit of fruit in the front that carries through the middle to a strong cedar/oak finish. This high octane offering is not the for faint of heart. Probably just a half step down from the 2009 vintage.
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2/17/2012 - bigdogflow Likes this wine: 91 Points
Decanted for 1 hour. Very nice and balanced.
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2/17/2012 - Drankthewholebottle wrote: 70 Points
I found this to be quite a mess. I knew what I was getting in to with the 15.5% ABV and was in the mood for a cocktail wine. I generally like Orin Swift wines, even the 09 vintage of this. It smells yummy, but more like a $10 wine. Gratuitous amounts of oak and cedar, cherry candy and vanilla extract. I like the label, but you should get a t-shirt and this wine for $32!
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2/14/2012 - moore1289 wrote: 93 Points
Blackberry and cherry on the nose. Hint of vanilla or oak as well. Huge burst of flavor. Fruit forward is an understatement. Extremely concentrated load of jammy, fruit off the bat followed by moderate tannins and acidity. Mellows out into a long enlyable finish. The wine is hot but you actually don't get overwhelmed while drinking it. I am a huge fan of phinney's wines and would love to blind taste this against prisoner, abstract and papillon.
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2/12/2012 - mcole23 wrote: 92 Points
Drinks very well now. Just as good as the 2009 vintage.
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2/12/2012 - gcamalo wrote: 86 Points
Wine is still very young and lacks structure. Should improve once it gets some years under it.
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2/8/2012 - Sweet_Berry_Wine!! wrote: 60 Points
Smells like raspberry jolly ranchers soaked in cherry robitussin and nail polish remover. Would suspect that the ethyl acetate was a flaw, but judging by my previous experience with OS wines and their unapolagetically overblown alcohol levels, this is just more poor winemaking. This wine hits the palate with a load of cloying glycerine then hollows out into a disjointed, alcoholic mid-palate and an overly tannic finish that dries out the palate and leaves you feeling as though you've just licked a plank of burnt cedar. Tannins seem forced and artificially procured, and no amount of time in the bottle will help this astoundingly unbalanced wine come together or improve. This wine is an abortion.
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2/4/2012 - Mike Kopanski wrote: 90 Points
Giant Wine Sale & Tasting 2/4/2012 (Cellar on Greene, Columbia, SC): This is delicious. Maybe not for everybody, but if you want a big thick juicy wine, this is it. Their style of ripe, high alcohol, fruit forward, deep, brooding wines is somewhat like an Australian Shiraz. There is definitely a time and a place for these wine, like steak time. There is a lot going on here. Whether you like it or not, we can spend several minutes talking about the flavors, aromas, and mouth feel of this wine. It starts out with deep rick purple color. The nose is almost crowded with all the good stuff we expect from Cabernet, starting with super ripe and rich big black fruit, then there is big vanilla, lead pencil, toasty oak, brown spice, herbs, green pepper, and cassis. The fruit is what you expect from 15.5% alcohol wine, very ripe, explosive black berry and black cherry. Rich and full in the mouth, but still surprisingly elegant. This is kind of young, I suspect the oak will integrate more with bottle time. Very civilized tannins. Moderate acidity. The finish is a little candied with big black fruit, hints of caramel, licorice, graphite, and black pepper.
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2/4/2012 - brigcampbell wrote: 84 Points
Very unimpressed. Absolutely no backbone, very soft at such a young age. definitely not cellar worthy. Very ripe fruit and plenty of oak. Great label, no sole. You can find a ton of wine that's better for half the price.
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1/28/2012 - bjamesclark wrote: 92 Points
Aromas of blackberry, currant, pencil shavings and herbs flirt with cedar, ground espresso beans, earth and bell pepper notes after an hour decant. The deep purple hue with long legs invites you to taste.
The palate is firm with well structured tannins and acidity, that long coat the palate, and I mean long. Currant, cherry and blackberry flavors are laced with mineral, black pepper, cedar, violets and cocoa. The finish is long and and dripping with ripe fruit, wood and mineral.
Very comparable to the '09
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