Mid neck fill. Deep purple robe in glass. Developed bouquet and thick chocolatey fruit on palate with moderate tannins. No jammy fruit or heat (13.9% alcohol). Just slightly past peak .Patches of sludge inside of bottle. Nothing to be gained by holding any longer. Slightly better than the 97 I reviewed yesterday. 90/100.
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Aerate decant and pour, noting the tip of the cork was caked with sediment and some sediment in bottle. Darker than I expected -- very dark red. Both spouse and friend we drank this with commented that they really liked it. Nose was distinct and mature, with blackberry, smoke, leather, bramble, and pepper. Full bodied on the palate, with largely intact fruit of blackberry and marionberry, meat, tar, and pepper. Lots of extract and soft chewy tannins in a medium finish of 20-25 sec. Got this on an end of bin special for about 17, which was very worth it. An excellent accompaniment to NC baby back ribs from Corolla. Next time we'll do Pigman's, the one that keeps winning the "Best Of" award every year.
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We agreed this was the "Xtina Aguilera" slutty wine - nothing left to the imagination (or in a cattier vein, in previous years this wine was leaner but in this vintage it ballooned out). Initially, it had a very strong vanilla and coconut finish, no doubt responsible for at least half of the profits in the American oak industry in recent years. Lots of blackberry and blueberry in the beginning of the finish which had a screechingly hot tail-end, once again like Xtina. It had a more floral finish than a typical Barossa Shiraz and I posited a young McLaren. Indeed, it was the 2000 Château Reynella Basket Press Shiraz (McLaren). As the evening wore on I picked a definite and somewhat offputting burnt rubber smell. This is the third or fourth bottle of this vintage and I’ve never experienced this before. I think it is a (in this case reductive) bottle fault. 82 pts because of the fault. I’ve rated other bottles 90 pts.
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1/22/2012 - 41hijinx wrote: 90 Points
Mid neck fill. Deep purple robe in glass. Developed bouquet and thick chocolatey fruit on palate with moderate tannins. No jammy fruit or heat (13.9% alcohol). Just slightly past peak .Patches of sludge inside of bottle. Nothing to be gained by holding any longer. Slightly better than the 97 I reviewed yesterday. 90/100.
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8/9/2008 - Vinacull wrote: 89 Points
Aerate decant and pour, noting the tip of the cork was caked with sediment and some sediment in bottle. Darker than I expected -- very dark red. Both spouse and friend we drank this with commented that they really liked it. Nose was distinct and mature, with blackberry, smoke, leather, bramble, and pepper. Full bodied on the palate, with largely intact fruit of blackberry and marionberry, meat, tar, and pepper. Lots of extract and soft chewy tannins in a medium finish of 20-25 sec. Got this on an end of bin special for about 17, which was very worth it. An excellent accompaniment to NC baby back ribs from Corolla. Next time we'll do Pigman's, the one that keeps winning the "Best Of" award every year.
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11/30/2005 - Slipknot wrote: 85 Points
OK.
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10/28/2005 - The Chaplin wrote: 87 Points
Good. Full fruit. Some tartness
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10/28/2005 - Evargsoc wrote: 88 Points
WS
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4/25/2004 - SadEdjo wrote:
sweet berry fruit on entry with tart, likely manipulated acid. suspect going into dumb phase.
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11/26/2003 - SadEdjo wrote: 82 Points
We agreed this was the "Xtina Aguilera" slutty wine - nothing left to the imagination (or in a cattier vein, in previous years this wine was leaner but in this vintage it ballooned out). Initially, it had a very strong vanilla and coconut finish, no doubt responsible for at least half of the profits in the American oak industry in recent years. Lots of blackberry and blueberry in the beginning of the finish which had a screechingly hot tail-end, once again like Xtina. It had a more floral finish than a typical Barossa Shiraz and I posited a young McLaren. Indeed, it was the 2000 Château Reynella Basket Press Shiraz (McLaren). As the evening wore on I picked a definite and somewhat offputting burnt rubber smell. This is the third or fourth bottle of this vintage and I’ve never experienced this before. I think it is a (in this case reductive) bottle fault. 82 pts because of the fault. I’ve rated other bottles 90 pts.
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