Christmas and birthday wines (Richfield and Winona): 30 minute decant, drank about half the bottle over 2 hours. I believe this wine was slightly corked or flawed in some other way. Having said that, it was still acceptable to drink and frankly drank better than a half bottle of 2013 Bonny Doon Vineyard Le Cigare Volant en bonbonne Reserve. The tell-tale wet cardboard was on the nose, and if you swirl profusely, there is some rich red fruit. The palate is structured and velvety, quite expansive, and yet the fruit seems to be missing. I think this would have been a show-stopper if not corked.
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Decanted for sediment then consumed over 2 hours or so. Slight bricking at the rim indicative of its age. This bottle had ripe cherry fruit, a bit of rubber, bit of brininess. While a nice bottle, the finish was a bit hot.
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Black cherry and berry on nose and palate with both savory and sweet spice. Lots to enjoy. Not quite as bright or fresh as my previous bottle in 2020, but still showing good depth and weight for a couple of hours.
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I didn't enjoy this as much as the '04 I drank a few months ago and I think it's because, as another commenter noticed, of an overly strong olive presence in the nose and on the palate. That overwhelmed the fruit on the first night, but dissipated on the second. There's great red fruit, and just the right amount of acidity left after that, though. Nice finish, too.
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Black cherry and berry aromas and flavors with hints of sweet spice. Incredibly bright textures are the real star here with silky tannins, bright acidity and a semblance of minerality on finish. Very fresh for at least two hours, then starting to trail off from there.
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Excellent! Deep fruit extraction without being a fruit bomb. It may be 16 years old. But it has a few more years of great drinking. Soft tannins, full mouth feel, and sustained finish. Nice structure from the oak and the fruit. Saving the remaining bottle for a few years from now.
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-- decanted for 1.5 hours before initial taste -- -- tasted non-blind over four hours --
NOSE: initially tight, but it became very expressive after a couple hours in the decanter; obvious tertiary elements present now: aged purple fruits; old wood furniture; perhaps a touch of red berry aromas, too.
BODY: medium to medium-full bodied; lots of medium-fine particulate matter present.
TASTE: high acidity; not tannic; aged purple fruits; hints of leather and mineral; 14.6% alc. nis not distracting; very nice, and probably at peak right now, but I'm willing to consider the possibility that it still has a little room for improvement left in it; Drink Now and over the next five years.
50, 5, 12, 17, 8 = 92+
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Like other bottles of Hommage à Max, this showed as an elite level syrah. Balanced between generous ripe and juicy CA fruit and some savory, meaty and spice elements that evoke Northern Rhone, this is both fun to drink and complex at the same time. Not necessarily for die hard Northern Rhône purists looking for heavy olive, herbs, meat to dominate instead of fruit but otherwise just a delicious, polished high end wine.
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-- tasted a single pour non-blind over 30 – 45 minutes -- -- from 3L --
NOSE: gorgeous complexity here! strong cigar note, dark fruits, and that smell of flowers that are just starting to turn; expressive.
BODY: very dark violet color; medium-full bodied.
TASTE: "fresh" --- halfway to full maturity from this format?; purple-fruited; spicy; long finish; 14.6% alc. not noticeable; excellent! great time to open a 750ml and check-in, as many would probably consider this at peak.
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Simply lovely syrah! Wonderful open nose and expansive palate with layers of delicious fruit, earth, and spice with delectable acidity on the long finish.
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-- decanted for 45 minutes before initial taste -- -- tasted non-blind over 2 days --
NOSE: very ripe dark fruit; hints of smoke and leather; smells tart and "big."
BODY: lots of superfine particulate matter present; medium bodied
TASTE: much lighter-bodied than I was expecting; medium-high to high acidity; garrigué; plum; damp dark soil/dirt; 14.6% alc. not noticeable; no tannin; a touch smoky; wet stones; tastes a touch oxidized on Day 2. Drinking nicely right now; Drink Now and over the next 5 years.
50, 5, 12, 17, 8 = 92
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A beautiful wine, typical Arcadian tartness on the finish with the first sips, BBQd steak and it became delicious, 2 hours later and it is at its best, long finish, completely coats your mouth, perfectly balanced. Tannins completely resolved.
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A spectacular syrah! Wonderful open nose and expansive palate with layers of delicious fruit, earth, and spice which kept evolving over time with a silky long finish. Truly a world class syrah!
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US & Australia Syrah/Shiraz (Two Biale Petite Sirah's) (Minneapolis (Sara's House)): Roasted nuts, white pepper, stones, spice and red fruits. This has an amazing nose and required about an hour in the decanter and a Vinturi to really show its stuff. There is a great scorched earth element to the wine and has long finish. Very Northern Rhone like and one of the best Syrah's of the year. This might be the first time I have ever agreed with the Rhone Report on a score. A top ten wine for sure in 2011.
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14.6% alcohol. Opened seven hours before serving but not decanted. Two more years in the bottle have really helped this wine take off. It is superb. Dark red-purple color. Stunning nose of black and blue fruit, meat, pepper, and spice. No hints of funk here. In the mouth, concentrated and pure, with a great sense of power and elegance. Packed with fruit, but with prominent earth, spice, meat, and pepper notes. Plush and velvety, with a long finish that has integrated tannins. Even the next day, this wine just continued to evolve and open, becoming even more gentle and refined. A truly compelling wine. A
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Not as full bodied as I expected. Mid weight with red fruit, some earth and barnyard. Finish was clipped. It appealed more to this Francophile than my Northern California syrah loving friend, but I think the barnyard became more pronounced with air and was testing my tolerance.
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Verydark in the glass. Notes of black fruit, beef with some choc/spice and cigar box. Beautiful texture in the mouth. seemless. Lenthly finish. The wine feels so young. I have one left and have no plans to open it for a long while
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Arcadian in the OC with Joe Davis (Jim Dietz's): My kind of Syrah nose with tar and bacon. Tar seems integrated into a palate of dark berries with good tart acidity and good grip. Probably has its best days ahead of it but very good.
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This didn't wow me like the first time. It may be my fault. I drank it pop and pour and this is a big wine that could have used even a quick decant perhaps. The nose was muted. Not much I can say about this definitively.
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The Wines of Arcadian ... plus a Dehlinger (Lucio's): Nice wine. Words that come to mind to describe this wine are dark and powerful. I probably did not do this wine justice with my entrée selection of tuna (which is what I always order at Lucio’s). Goes without saying that it would have paired better with the pork chop or the filet. Dark fruits, earth and leather. I liked it a lot, despite the unfortunate food pairing.
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Opened six hours before serving. Very funky initially on the nose, in a really good way. A tremendously concentrated, youthful wine. Dark, inky color. Gobs of black fruit lead the palate, but this is a wine about depth and complexity rather than just obvious fruit (although there's plenty of that). Beef, bacon fat, flowers, and dark earth all linger behind the fruit. Excellent acidity. Massive tannins on the back side. This wine just clamps down because it is so tightly wound. Beautiful. But in need of serious time. A-
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Superb syrah. Great balance, classy sweetness that was brilliant on it's own and even better with braised short ribs. One of the better syrah based wines from USA that I have ever tried. Definitely a lot of backbone and power. I feel this will last a long time if you so desire. This wine rocks!
Day 2 - Wine has lost a lot of the sweetness and is quite a bit more restrained. Some drying tannins on tail end. Lovely nose.
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12/27/2023 - galewskj wrote: flawed
Christmas and birthday wines (Richfield and Winona): 30 minute decant, drank about half the bottle over 2 hours. I believe this wine was slightly corked or flawed in some other way. Having said that, it was still acceptable to drink and frankly drank better than a half bottle of 2013 Bonny Doon Vineyard Le Cigare Volant en bonbonne Reserve. The tell-tale wet cardboard was on the nose, and if you swirl profusely, there is some rich red fruit. The palate is structured and velvety, quite expansive, and yet the fruit seems to be missing. I think this would have been a show-stopper if not corked.
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4/1/2023 - ekorn wrote:
Decanted for sediment then consumed over 2 hours or so. Slight bricking at the rim indicative of its age. This bottle had ripe cherry fruit, a bit of rubber, bit of brininess. While a nice bottle, the finish was a bit hot.
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6/9/2022 - pjhr Likes this wine: 93 Points
Aging beautifully! Open nose and palate with delicious fruit, earth, and spice with delectable acidity on the long finish.
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5/13/2022 - Burgundy Al wrote: 90 Points
Black cherry and berry on nose and palate with both savory and sweet spice. Lots to enjoy. Not quite as bright or fresh as my previous bottle in 2020, but still showing good depth and weight for a couple of hours.
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7/29/2020 - Broch6833 Likes this wine: 91 Points
I didn't enjoy this as much as the '04 I drank a few months ago and I think it's because, as another commenter noticed, of an overly strong olive presence in the nose and on the palate. That overwhelmed the fruit on the first night, but dissipated on the second. There's great red fruit, and just the right amount of acidity left after that, though. Nice finish, too.
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5/27/2020 - Watchster wrote: 93 Points
Still some fruit left. Complexity with smoothness. Very nice.
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3/17/2020 - Burgundy Al wrote: 92 Points
Black cherry and berry aromas and flavors with hints of sweet spice. Incredibly bright textures are the real star here with silky tannins, bright acidity and a semblance of minerality on finish. Very fresh for at least two hours, then starting to trail off from there.
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11/28/2019 - bradfriedlander Likes this wine: 95 Points
Excellent! Deep fruit extraction without being a fruit bomb. It may be 16 years old. But it has a few more years of great drinking. Soft tannins, full mouth feel, and sustained finish. Nice structure from the oak and the fruit. Saving the remaining bottle for a few years from now.
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7/28/2019 - jgreco Likes this wine: 94 Points
Wow. is all I can say! This wine has amazing exuberance for one coming up on its 16 years birthday.
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5/5/2019 - Maphill01 Likes this wine:
Great mature Syrah. Powerful dark red fruit and spices. Not jammy.
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1/9/2019 - pilot360 wrote: 85 Points
Thick black olive on the nose and palate, underlying fruit. Slightly bitter.
Very good
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5/12/2018 - grafstrb wrote:
-- popped and poured –
-- tasted non-blind over approx. 30 min. on Day 1; revisited on Day 3 --
NOSE: "dark" and woodsy. Day 3: aged fruits; medium+ expressiveness; black cherry; garrigué.
TASTE: licorice; purple fruits; garrigué; Does not require more time, but there's no rush to drink, either.
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3/12/2018 - grafstrb wrote: 92 Points
-- decanted for 1.5 hours before initial taste --
-- tasted non-blind over four hours --
NOSE: initially tight, but it became very expressive after a couple hours in the decanter; obvious tertiary elements present now: aged purple fruits; old wood furniture; perhaps a touch of red berry aromas, too.
BODY: medium to medium-full bodied; lots of medium-fine particulate matter present.
TASTE: high acidity; not tannic; aged purple fruits; hints of leather and mineral; 14.6% alc. nis not distracting; very nice, and probably at peak right now, but I'm willing to consider the possibility that it still has a little room for improvement left in it; Drink Now and over the next five years.
50, 5, 12, 17, 8 = 92+
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11/22/2017 - amateurwino wrote: 93 Points
Like other bottles of Hommage à Max, this showed as an elite level syrah. Balanced between generous ripe and juicy CA fruit and some savory, meaty and spice elements that evoke Northern Rhone, this is both fun to drink and complex at the same time. Not necessarily for die hard Northern Rhône purists looking for heavy olive, herbs, meat to dominate instead of fruit but otherwise just a delicious, polished high end wine.
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11/11/2017 - grafstrb wrote:
-- tasted a single pour non-blind over 30 – 45 minutes --
-- from 3L --
NOSE: gorgeous complexity here! strong cigar note, dark fruits, and that smell of flowers that are just starting to turn; expressive.
BODY: very dark violet color; medium-full bodied.
TASTE: "fresh" --- halfway to full maturity from this format?; purple-fruited; spicy; long finish; 14.6% alc. not noticeable; excellent! great time to open a 750ml and check-in, as many would probably consider this at peak.
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7/23/2017 - pjhr Likes this wine: 94 Points
Simply lovely syrah! Wonderful open nose and expansive palate with layers of delicious fruit, earth, and spice with delectable acidity on the long finish.
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4/18/2016 - grafstrb wrote: 92 Points
-- decanted for 45 minutes before initial taste --
-- tasted non-blind over 2 days --
NOSE: very ripe dark fruit; hints of smoke and leather; smells tart and "big."
BODY: lots of superfine particulate matter present; medium bodied
TASTE: much lighter-bodied than I was expecting; medium-high to high acidity; garrigué; plum; damp dark soil/dirt; 14.6% alc. not noticeable; no tannin; a touch smoky; wet stones; tastes a touch oxidized on Day 2. Drinking nicely right now; Drink Now and over the next 5 years.
50, 5, 12, 17, 8 = 92
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4/19/2014 - wequedad Likes this wine: 94 Points
About as good as Syrah can get ... Yet still has years of life ahead.
Opened in a the glass over the first hour and was a big hit.
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6/7/2013 - Giacomo wrote: 94 Points
A beautiful wine, typical Arcadian tartness on the finish with the first sips, BBQd steak and it became delicious, 2 hours later and it is at its best, long finish, completely coats your mouth, perfectly balanced. Tannins completely resolved.
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4/11/2012 - pjhr wrote: 95 Points
A spectacular syrah! Wonderful open nose and expansive palate with layers of delicious fruit, earth, and spice which kept evolving over time with a silky long finish. Truly a world class syrah!
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11/5/2011 - 3daywinereview.com wrote: 95 Points
US & Australia Syrah/Shiraz (Two Biale Petite Sirah's) (Minneapolis (Sara's House)): Roasted nuts, white pepper, stones, spice and red fruits. This has an amazing nose and required about an hour in the decanter and a Vinturi to really show its stuff. There is a great scorched earth element to the wine and has long finish. Very Northern Rhone like and one of the best Syrah's of the year. This might be the first time I have ever agreed with the Rhone Report on a score. A top ten wine for sure in 2011.
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12/1/2010 - gutt22 wrote:
14.6% alcohol. Opened seven hours before serving but not decanted. Two more years in the bottle have really helped this wine take off. It is superb. Dark red-purple color. Stunning nose of black and blue fruit, meat, pepper, and spice. No hints of funk here. In the mouth, concentrated and pure, with a great sense of power and elegance. Packed with fruit, but with prominent earth, spice, meat, and pepper notes. Plush and velvety, with a long finish that has integrated tannins. Even the next day, this wine just continued to evolve and open, becoming even more gentle and refined. A truly compelling wine. A
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7/11/2010 - tbone wrote:
Excellent again. Clear winner in a blind tasting of syrah's from all over the world.
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4/25/2010 - Diane (LI) wrote:
Not as full bodied as I expected. Mid weight with red fruit, some earth and barnyard. Finish was clipped. It appealed more to this Francophile than my Northern California syrah loving friend, but I think the barnyard became more pronounced with air and was testing my tolerance.
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2/15/2009 - charbo wrote:
Verydark in the glass. Notes of black fruit, beef with some choc/spice and cigar box. Beautiful texture in the mouth. seemless. Lenthly finish. The wine feels so young. I have one left and have no plans to open it for a long while
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12/7/2008 - WetRock wrote:
Arcadian in the OC with Joe Davis (Jim Dietz's): My kind of Syrah nose with tar and bacon. Tar seems integrated into a palate of dark berries with good tart acidity and good grip. Probably has its best days ahead of it but very good.
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12/7/2008 - Cheryl wrote:
This didn't wow me like the first time. It may be my fault. I drank it pop and pour and this is a big wine that could have used even a quick decant perhaps. The nose was muted. Not much I can say about this definitively.
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12/6/2008 - rjoyer wrote:
Understated, nondescript nose that really wasn’t giving much up. Black salted fruit and young feeling on the palate.
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8/12/2008 - scofer wrote: 90 Points
The Wines of Arcadian ... plus a Dehlinger (Lucio's): Nice wine. Words that come to mind to describe this wine are dark and powerful. I probably did not do this wine justice with my entrée selection of tuna (which is what I always order at Lucio’s). Goes without saying that it would have paired better with the pork chop or the filet. Dark fruits, earth and leather. I liked it a lot, despite the unfortunate food pairing.
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8/12/2008 - gutt22 wrote:
Opened six hours before serving. Very funky initially on the nose, in a really good way. A tremendously concentrated, youthful wine. Dark, inky color. Gobs of black fruit lead the palate, but this is a wine about depth and complexity rather than just obvious fruit (although there's plenty of that). Beef, bacon fat, flowers, and dark earth all linger behind the fruit. Excellent acidity. Massive tannins on the back side. This wine just clamps down because it is so tightly wound. Beautiful. But in need of serious time. A-
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4/6/2008 - tbone wrote:
Superb syrah. Great balance, classy sweetness that was brilliant on it's own and even better with braised short ribs. One of the better syrah based wines from USA that I have ever tried. Definitely a lot of backbone and power. I feel this will last a long time if you so desire. This wine rocks!
Day 2 - Wine has lost a lot of the sweetness and is quite a bit more restrained. Some drying tannins on tail end. Lovely nose.
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