As stated before, I am not a grenache fan, nor a fan of overblown wines, but somehow, this toes the line. For a 20 year-old wine, this is very youthful, with a rich kirsch and licorice nose. Lots of berry fruit on the palate, cherries, red currant and raspberry, accented by a bit of tobacco and cedar. Some heat on the finish, but overall pretty balanced considering the high alcohol.
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Pulled from the cellar at a cool temperature and was surprised to see a layer of seepage after I cut the foil. Nothing had leaked out prior, but the cork was sodden and needed an ah-so to remove. The cork came out with a hiss and a splutter which didn’t bode well. Initially the nose was very hot and funky so I decanted for an hour. After settling down this was a lot calmer, with notes of pepper, thyme, blueberries and vanilla, still with a fairly hot note. On the palate this is very rich, dense, powerful but almost lithe as the tannins have started to integrate giving it an undertow of almost-smoothness. It also has ever so slightly fresher flavours of chamomile, teak, red currants and some coffee beans. I don’t think there is will change much before it slides downhill so I’d definitely be tempted to pull this soon if you’re still sitting on a bottle.
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I am not a Grenache fan, generally, but I picked some of these up at auction recently to replenish my dwindling stock that I had purchased at release. Terrific ripe nose of kirsch and garrigue. A bit hot on the finish, showing its 15.8% alcohol, but shows a lot of grip, lively acidity and still chewy tannins. This is still a baby and needs more time to unwind.
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Cellared from release, 15.8% abv, opened in bottle for an hour. I think this is the first time I've ever had this vintage? Been awhile since I've had an Alban Grenache(2000 3yrs ago)...in their youth, they were painfully tart and acidic, and in need of serious time to come together. The 99 was never drinkable, but in 2012 finally came around, and blossomed into a real beauty! This 2001 is definitely softer on the acidity side comp to the 99...but still has a beautiful freshness of tart crancherry and raspberry vibrancy. Ample acidity...but totally integrated....big and ripe Alban style liqueured fruits, showing more to the red spectrum(and surprisingly some transparency) than the black hole Syrah. Wonderful complexities of licorice, cherry wood spice, dried red flower florals...very slight sweet asphalt...aged leather...lot of Bing cherry and kirsch in this...REALLY like the brightness...reminds me of a Rayas in a warmer year. Drinking fantastic right now, with plenty more good years ahead.
Still drinking very well. Decanted for about 2 hours before we started in on it, then drank over another 1-2 hours. Fruit is still very much alive. No longer bright, but still very pleasant. Dark black fruits and also almost a black olive. Also had some black pepper to it with leather and game. So dark in color still, almost black, would have guessed a new world Syrah blind, not Grenache. The fruit profile was mainly dark fruit, but also had some raspberry and currant. Only complaint about this wine is it has a little bit of heat on the end of the palate. It checks in above 15%, so not shocking, but that was the only thing I did not like about this wine. Sadly was my last bottle, but shows how great Grenache can be with some age...
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There is such thing as too much, and 16.8% with enough ripe fruit to balance out the alcohol is it. For fans of the style, I believe this is a great example. Just not for me anymore, so I'm glad to leave these for others.
No formal notes taken. Very hard to believe the age on this--drank like a baby. Very big wine with no lack of fruit, but was well balanced with some nice secondary characteristics--a real treat to drink. Not just a fruit bomb by any stretch. Thoroughly enjoyed by all. May try and seek out more
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Cork broke into a million pieces upon extraction. Wine filtered and decanted. Some solids remained in bottle. Wine has a beautiful deep purple color. Sipped some to test wine quality, but it seems o.k. Later on the wine showed more fruit, but it seemed over oaked.
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Pop-n-pour, color is dark ruby. Nose of plums and Asian spice. Initially I found French oak dominating the palate, but this integrated within a few minutes and the wine really smoothed out. Roasted dark fruits, smooth, spicy, showing great balance and purity. Wife loved it.
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Beautiful, intense, complex nose. Shows a tiny bit of alcohol, but a wealth of aromas to counteract it. Quite light on its feet in the mouth for, considering the rather high alcohol. Intense again in the mouth, quite powerful and superbly well balanced. Perhaps a little less explosive than some SQN grenaches or what you would get from some Rayas or so. Still, a fantastic wine!
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This wine is in a great drinking window. Similar to my last bottle, showing slight reduction on the nose and the burnt rubber aroma sticks around but adds to the interest. Dark, concentrated fruit (? on the syrah percentage) but not ponderous or heavy. Nicely balanced.
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The OC Blind Wine Crew goes Italian (Il Barone Ristorante, Newport Beach, CA): Served blind. Stem and reductive type notes speaking loudly of the Alban signature among roasted dark fruits and a brick lava rock note. The palate is rich but in no way heavy. Speaking of Grenache with some mouth gripping tannin. I was told it wasn't Alban so I fell back to SQN. Ha. I liked this quite a bit whatever it might be.
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My first 2001 Alban Grenache and the second "wow" wine of the evening after the '06 Rhys Chardonnay. A slight hint of reduction on the nose, which I enjoy. Dark berries, grilled sausage, in a velvety sort of way that just hangs on the tongue. This is definitely in a good place right now. No surprise but a great pairing with grilled rack of lamb.
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Utterly amazing wine. Deep ruby, opaque color with a lighter robe. On the palate, this is pure essence of a raspberry truffle -- ripe, rich, vibrant, velvety. Fantastic concentration, wonderful purity, luxurious mouthfeel -- this wine has it all. Gotta believe it's in its prime now, so drink up!
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A monster. Glass was still almost black. Great dark fruit intermixed with blood sausage, road tar and dense and smoky meat. This is still a baby. But smooth as can be.
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Decanted for a couple of hours, which really helped disperse the reductive character of this wine. More impressive than I anticipated, given my concerns with this house's reductive style.
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A brilliant wine showing bacon fat, roasted herbs, and menthol on the nose. The palate is showing a tad bit of heat, which keeps it from getting any higher score. But behind the alcohol there is some great red fruits and a lot of spice. Yum yum.
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Nose of petrol, tar, blackberries, leather and caramel. Tastes of fresh flowers, blackberries and tobacco. Elegant layered finish with good acidity. Evolving very nicely.
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This elegant yet rustic granache and syrah blend defies again the notion that granache is light and slightly fruity, or the 20% syrah is really higher. The Alban is big and balanced with notes of bacon fat and smoke. There are also notes of dark berries and eucilyptus. The finish is long and the only hint of angularity when the heat of the alcohol is a bit too pronounced. It is a little too young at 5 years.
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Tasted August 19, 2006 at an offline. Opened and served immediately in a Spiegelau Authentis Magnum glass. 15.8% alcohol. Garnet color in the glasss, clear hue throughout. Nose of bacon fat, roasted meat, plum and a mix of dark fruits. Flavors of black currants, black licorice, some pepper notes as well as some blackberries with a little bitters on the finish. This wine is the anti-thesis of a subtle Spanish Garnache! Medium acidity and tannins. Full bodied. Just a little high on the alcohol in my opionion. Has the stuffings to drink well for at least 5-6 years. You might want to cellar it another year anyway to see if it calms down any. Based on the currant retail price of $60.00 a bottle I wouldn’t be moved to buy it but I guess the value is acceptable. NOTE: when this bottle was first tasted 2-3 people remarked it might have a TCA problem but I don’t agree. I think it might have had just a touch of brett but it seemed to be blowing off before I finished evaluating the wine. Also, I believe this is the same wine WS rated as 93 points, thus the question marks above.
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At Eno Atlanta ($85) – very deep garnet but not to purple; very very cool nose of black fruits, bacon and wild herbs – just a touch of rubber. This is just awesome. Full and rich – gorgeous fruit. Lovely from start to finish. A wonderful synthesis of southern and northern Rhone (despite all Grenache). Will only get better (18+).
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The real Jeff Erhardt / Mahaffy offline (Rôtisserie Jules, London): Actually a blend of 80% Grenache and 20% Syrah, this had a strong and persistent odour of sulphur. Nice dark fruit, very peppery and with good underlying structure, this is clearly a wine that needs a bit more time. 89 now, but probably more with some age.
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the only non-syrah in either flight. not as open as i thought it might be, but, nor was it particularly tannic. it just struck me as a well made, yet undistinguised, wine. this was my bottle, and i'm going to stay away from my others for a while.
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Initially funk on the nose straight out of the bottle, but it begins to blow off after 10 minutes...nose of sweet red fruits, spicy, with a subtle earthy suggestion that is welcomed...full-bodied, but never "heavy", rich with an earthy funkaliciousness with an amazing amount going on, smoky, exceptionally long, dark red/black fruits, mouthcoating midpalate and one long finish ---- 25+ seconds for those of you that count such things. One final thought...this wine reminded me of a Lance Armstrong TdFrance...started out well enough, but you know given some time this will smoke the competition - well, the second day this wine blossomed into rare territory. I would suggest long decanting time for this wine to show it all! What a wine.
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Plu, liqueur, black cherry aromas. Bit of sulfur. Huge, massive, jammy fruit on palate, much easier to enjoy on its own than with food. Good length, again with lots of power and concentration.
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12/2/2021 - GrapeScott wrote: 92 Points
As stated before, I am not a grenache fan, nor a fan of overblown wines, but somehow, this toes the line. For a 20 year-old wine, this is very youthful, with a rich kirsch and licorice nose. Lots of berry fruit on the palate, cherries, red currant and raspberry, accented by a bit of tobacco and cedar. Some heat on the finish, but overall pretty balanced considering the high alcohol.
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5/11/2021 - bavaur wrote: 93 Points
Pulled from the cellar at a cool temperature and was surprised to see a layer of seepage after I cut the foil. Nothing had leaked out prior, but the cork was sodden and needed an ah-so to remove. The cork came out with a hiss and a splutter which didn’t bode well. Initially the nose was very hot and funky so I decanted for an hour. After settling down this was a lot calmer, with notes of pepper, thyme, blueberries and vanilla, still with a fairly hot note. On the palate this is very rich, dense, powerful but almost lithe as the tannins have started to integrate giving it an undertow of almost-smoothness. It also has ever so slightly fresher flavours of chamomile, teak, red currants and some coffee beans. I don’t think there is will change much before it slides downhill so I’d definitely be tempted to pull this soon if you’re still sitting on a bottle.
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4/2/2021 - GrapeScott wrote: 93 Points
I am not a Grenache fan, generally, but I picked some of these up at auction recently to replenish my dwindling stock that I had purchased at release. Terrific ripe nose of kirsch and garrigue. A bit hot on the finish, showing its 15.8% alcohol, but shows a lot of grip, lively acidity and still chewy tannins. This is still a baby and needs more time to unwind.
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9/5/2019 - Mrbuzz Likes this wine: 95 Points
Cellared from release, 15.8% abv, opened in bottle for an hour. I think this is the first time I've ever had this vintage? Been awhile since I've had an Alban Grenache(2000 3yrs ago)...in their youth, they were painfully tart and acidic, and in need of serious time to come together. The 99 was never drinkable, but in 2012 finally came around, and blossomed into a real beauty! This 2001 is definitely softer on the acidity side comp to the 99...but still has a beautiful freshness of tart crancherry and raspberry vibrancy. Ample acidity...but totally integrated....big and ripe Alban style liqueured fruits, showing more to the red spectrum(and surprisingly some transparency) than the black hole Syrah. Wonderful complexities of licorice, cherry wood spice, dried red flower florals...very slight sweet asphalt...aged leather...lot of Bing cherry and kirsch in this...REALLY like the brightness...reminds me of a Rayas in a warmer year. Drinking fantastic right now, with plenty more good years ahead.
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3/10/2018 - ckinv368 Likes this wine: 93 Points
Earth and blood and lavendar on the nose. Leather, earth, grapey. Still tannic. Still big. Delicious!
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9/3/2017 - RMundell Likes this wine: 90 Points
Fruit is mostly gone but still decent
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7/1/2017 - kdubler Likes this wine:
Still drinking very well. Decanted for about 2 hours before we started in on it, then drank over another 1-2 hours. Fruit is still very much alive. No longer bright, but still very pleasant. Dark black fruits and also almost a black olive. Also had some black pepper to it with leather and game. So dark in color still, almost black, would have guessed a new world Syrah blind, not Grenache. The fruit profile was mainly dark fruit, but also had some raspberry and currant. Only complaint about this wine is it has a little bit of heat on the end of the palate. It checks in above 15%, so not shocking, but that was the only thing I did not like about this wine. Sadly was my last bottle, but shows how great Grenache can be with some age...
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1/25/2016 - jerhardt Does not like this wine:
There is such thing as too much, and 16.8% with enough ripe fruit to balance out the alcohol is it. For fans of the style, I believe this is a great example. Just not for me anymore, so I'm glad to leave these for others.
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5/6/2014 - slmshdyms Likes this wine: 94 Points
No formal notes taken. Very hard to believe the age on this--drank like a baby. Very big wine with no lack of fruit, but was well balanced with some nice secondary characteristics--a real treat to drink. Not just a fruit bomb by any stretch. Thoroughly enjoyed by all. May try and seek out more
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11/22/2012 - lvjohn wrote: 93 Points
Cork broke into a million pieces upon extraction. Wine filtered and decanted. Some solids remained in bottle. Wine has a beautiful deep purple color. Sipped some to test wine quality, but it seems o.k. Later on the wine showed more fruit, but it seemed over oaked.
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12/26/2011 - rdsboca wrote: 94 Points
Wowza! Fruit and funk. I love John Alban?
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10/24/2011 - MotoMannequin wrote:
Pop-n-pour, color is dark ruby. Nose of plums and Asian spice. Initially I found French oak dominating the palate, but this integrated within a few minutes and the wine really smoothed out. Roasted dark fruits, smooth, spicy, showing great balance and purity. Wife loved it.
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5/18/2011 - fhirsch wrote: 93 Points
Beautiful, intense, complex nose. Shows a tiny bit of alcohol, but a wealth of aromas to counteract it. Quite light on its feet in the mouth for, considering the rather high alcohol. Intense again in the mouth, quite powerful and superbly well balanced. Perhaps a little less explosive than some SQN grenaches or what you would get from some Rayas or so. Still, a fantastic wine!
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4/4/2011 - Patrick wrote: 92 Points
This is drinking very well right now. Needs a few minutes to open up and still shows a little heat, but everything else is there in spades.
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7/23/2010 - JFish wrote:
This wine is in a great drinking window. Similar to my last bottle, showing slight reduction on the nose and the burnt rubber aroma sticks around but adds to the interest. Dark, concentrated fruit (? on the syrah percentage) but not ponderous or heavy. Nicely balanced.
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6/26/2010 - WetRock wrote:
The OC Blind Wine Crew goes Italian (Il Barone Ristorante, Newport Beach, CA): Served blind. Stem and reductive type notes speaking loudly of the Alban signature among roasted dark fruits and a brick lava rock note. The palate is rich but in no way heavy. Speaking of Grenache with some mouth gripping tannin. I was told it wasn't Alban so I fell back to SQN. Ha. I liked this quite a bit whatever it might be.
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6/26/2010 - Frank Murray III wrote:
OC Blind Wine Crew Does Dinner and Italian (Il Barone in Newport Beach, CA): Served blind. The best wine of this flight and was of stand out caliber to me. Started off with a bloody, marrow aromatic. Great fruit, balanced but very dark in tone, generous and delicious.
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4/2/2010 - JFish wrote:
My first 2001 Alban Grenache and the second "wow" wine of the evening after the '06 Rhys Chardonnay. A slight hint of reduction on the nose, which I enjoy. Dark berries, grilled sausage, in a velvety sort of way that just hangs on the tongue. This is definitely in a good place right now. No surprise but a great pairing with grilled rack of lamb.
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1/14/2010 - KevinS wrote: 96 Points
Utterly amazing wine. Deep ruby, opaque color with a lighter robe. On the palate, this is pure essence of a raspberry truffle -- ripe, rich, vibrant, velvety. Fantastic concentration, wonderful purity, luxurious mouthfeel -- this wine has it all. Gotta believe it's in its prime now, so drink up!
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11/18/2009 - rdsboca wrote: 93 Points
A monster. Glass was still almost black. Great dark fruit intermixed with blood sausage, road tar and dense and smoky meat. This is still a baby. But smooth as can be.
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7/27/2009 - Frank Murray III wrote:
Spicy and intense core, with some juiciness. Pretty good and for me, if I got my notes right, came off as classy and well put together.
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8/31/2008 - rowen wrote:
Decanted for a couple of hours, which really helped disperse the reductive character of this wine. More impressive than I anticipated, given my concerns with this house's reductive style.
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7/14/2008 - winelovr2001 wrote: 96 Points
A brilliant wine showing bacon fat, roasted herbs, and menthol on the nose. The palate is showing a tad bit of heat, which keeps it from getting any higher score. But behind the alcohol there is some great red fruits and a lot of spice. Yum yum.
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6/29/2008 - LikeABC wrote:
decanted for 90 minutes. a big, dark grenache
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9/10/2007 - the godfather wrote: 92 Points
The Syrah is really showing in this, really tasty wine although not as complex as I would have thought.
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12/25/2006 - kstoddard wrote: 93 Points
Nose of petrol, tar, blackberries, leather and caramel. Tastes of fresh flowers, blackberries and tobacco. Elegant layered finish with good acidity. Evolving very nicely.
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9/12/2006 - tastingsbytheglass wrote: 93 Points
This elegant yet rustic granache and syrah blend defies again the notion that granache is light and slightly fruity, or the 20% syrah is really higher. The Alban is big and balanced with notes of bacon fat and smoke. There are also notes of dark berries and eucilyptus. The finish is long and the only hint of angularity when the heat of the alcohol is a bit too pronounced. It is a little too young at 5 years.
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8/19/2006 - wineismylife wrote: 89 Points
DAWGS Offline - August 19, 2006 (just a skosh's house in Dallas, TX): WIML89,WA92,?WS93?
Tasted August 19, 2006 at an offline. Opened and served immediately in a Spiegelau Authentis Magnum glass. 15.8% alcohol. Garnet color in the glasss, clear hue throughout. Nose of bacon fat, roasted meat, plum and a mix of dark fruits. Flavors of black currants, black licorice, some pepper notes as well as some blackberries with a little bitters on the finish. This wine is the anti-thesis of a subtle Spanish Garnache! Medium acidity and tannins. Full bodied. Just a little high on the alcohol in my opionion. Has the stuffings to drink well for at least 5-6 years. You might want to cellar it another year anyway to see if it calms down any. Based on the currant retail price of $60.00 a bottle I wouldn’t be moved to buy it but I guess the value is acceptable. NOTE: when this bottle was first tasted 2-3 people remarked it might have a TCA problem but I don’t agree. I think it might have had just a touch of brett but it seemed to be blowing off before I finished evaluating the wine. Also, I believe this is the same wine WS rated as 93 points, thus the question marks above.
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8/19/2006 - win wrote: 89 Points
Skosh OL: From a large tasting. Minimal notes. Very funky on initial tasting, but opened up after 2 hours. 87-91
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12/10/2005 - dbkitc wrote:
At Eno Atlanta ($85) – very deep garnet but not to purple; very very cool nose of black fruits, bacon and wild herbs – just a touch of rubber. This is just awesome. Full and rich – gorgeous fruit. Lovely from start to finish. A wonderful synthesis of southern and northern Rhone (despite all Grenache). Will only get better (18+).
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9/20/2005 - Russell Faulkner wrote:
Inky purple, deep nose of somke and spiced meat (biltong), but let down by obvious sulphur and perhaps a tiny hint of reduction on nose.
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9/20/2005 - Rani wrote: 89 Points
The real Jeff Erhardt / Mahaffy offline (Rôtisserie Jules, London): Actually a blend of 80% Grenache and 20% Syrah, this had a strong and persistent odour of sulphur. Nice dark fruit, very peppery and with good underlying structure, this is clearly a wine that needs a bit more time. 89 now, but probably more with some age.
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8/23/2005 - BrunelloMan wrote: 96 Points
in-freaking-credible!!!
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1/9/2005 - mnh wrote:
Really outstanding, very Grenache like, rich fruit driven. Great food wine.
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10/15/2004 - jeff nowak wrote:
the only non-syrah in either flight. not as open as i thought it might be, but, nor was it particularly tannic. it just struck me as a well made, yet undistinguised, wine. this was my bottle, and i'm going to stay away from my others for a while.
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7/20/2004 - mnh wrote:
Good bottle.
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7/16/2004 - CO CHRIS wrote: 95 Points
Initially funk on the nose straight out of the bottle, but it begins to blow off after 10 minutes...nose of sweet red fruits, spicy, with a subtle earthy suggestion that is welcomed...full-bodied, but never "heavy", rich with an earthy funkaliciousness with an amazing amount going on, smoky, exceptionally long, dark red/black fruits, mouthcoating midpalate and one long finish ---- 25+ seconds for those of you that count such things. One final thought...this wine reminded me of a Lance Armstrong TdFrance...started out well enough, but you know given some time this will smoke the competition - well, the second day this wine blossomed into rare territory. I would suggest long decanting time for this wine to show it all! What a wine.
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2/18/2004 - Burgundy Al wrote: 89 Points
Plu, liqueur, black cherry aromas. Bit of sulfur. Huge, massive, jammy fruit on palate, much easier to enjoy on its own than with food. Good length, again with lots of power and concentration.
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