One sniff at opening and I remember why I enjoy Jeff's wine (especially Mourvedre) so much. Big savoury fruit (dark cherry?), earthy notes, plum, herbs. Palate is still moderately tannic. Finish is medium.
Flavours didn't change a whole lot with air, but did knit and integrate more. Good match with lamb rack.
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Had 3 bottles and drank 2, same reaction with both bottles of being a little disappointed. Probably was influence by the "cool" skull bottle. One of those wines where you feel it tasted better in the tasting room. Peppery flavors with spice finish, the body is medium. Not as smooth as I expected, could have waited too long to drink
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Cloudy, garnet-tinged magenta. Strawberry, cedar, earth and spice nose. Medium bodied, dirty raspberries, cherries, fine-grained tannins, pepper, pomegranates, cola, and a medium to long finish. Delicious. Happy Halloween!
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Largely consistent with my previous review. Bright and spicy nose, just an insinuation of sweet on the tongue, along with some meatiness. Truly luscious.
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After seeing the notes, I am not sure if I had an off bottle or not. There was some nice underlying red fruits and peppery spice but the wine seemed a bit muted and flat and had a slight reductive note on the nose. This was my only bottle so I guess I will never know for sure.
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PnP: Too cold and needs air. Nose is tight blue/dark red fruit and not much else. Touch of heat. Palate is surprisingly sharp, actually, and with a little bitterness. The tannins are in a nice middle ground and the main flavour is deep cherry with blueberry. Finish is long and enjoyable.
Bitterness fases over time, but the rest of the character remained. Fruit became even more vibrant and gained a brambly tone of fresh black raspberry. Revisit this in 1-2 years.
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This turned out to be a very surprising and interesting discovery. I expected the blackberry and cherry flavors, but was pleasantly surprised by rich vanilla, tobacco, hints of buttercream. All that rolled into an overall peppery, earthy balance.
100% Mourvédre grapes (I wish more California vineyards would experiment with this). High alcohol but you don't notice it. Filtering recommended but not necessary.
This is the perfect time to drink this one. I'll be buying several more bottles, so get them while you can.
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2/20/2021 - merryberry Likes this wine: 92 Points
Still great. A nice combo of fresh fruit and well integrated rustic notes.
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9/14/2019 - foobarski Likes this wine: 92 Points
Almost four years later, very little has changed. Still magnificent.
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10/7/2017 - calimo Likes this wine:
We had this at the vertical party at Michael and DoQuen's. Delish...better than the 10, 11 & 12
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3/18/2017 - klezman wrote:
One sniff at opening and I remember why I enjoy Jeff's wine (especially Mourvedre) so much. Big savoury fruit (dark cherry?), earthy notes, plum, herbs. Palate is still moderately tannic. Finish is medium.
Flavours didn't change a whole lot with air, but did knit and integrate more. Good match with lamb rack.
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3/11/2017 - merryberry Likes this wine: 92 Points
Similar to last bottle. Still going strong. Fresh and delicious.
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3/27/2016 - msmelin wrote: 85 Points
Had 3 bottles and drank 2, same reaction with both bottles of being a little disappointed. Probably was influence by the "cool" skull bottle. One of those wines where you feel it tasted better in the tasting room.
Peppery flavors with spice finish, the body is medium. Not as smooth as I expected, could have waited too long to drink
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11/21/2015 - fruitofthevine wrote: 92 Points
stunning. well balanced. Wished I had saved it.
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10/31/2015 - merryberry Likes this wine: 92 Points
Cloudy, garnet-tinged magenta. Strawberry, cedar, earth and spice nose. Medium bodied, dirty raspberries, cherries, fine-grained tannins, pepper, pomegranates, cola, and a medium to long finish. Delicious. Happy Halloween!
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10/31/2015 - foobarski Likes this wine: 92 Points
Largely consistent with my previous review. Bright and spicy nose, just an insinuation of sweet on the tongue, along with some meatiness. Truly luscious.
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1/31/2015 - Rich S wrote:
After seeing the notes, I am not sure if I had an off bottle or not. There was some nice underlying red fruits and peppery spice but the wine seemed a bit muted and flat and had a slight reductive note on the nose. This was my only bottle so I guess I will never know for sure.
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11/7/2014 - PublicArt Likes this wine: 94 Points
Bold and smooth, with flavorful and savory fruit, not overly sweet but lots of character. Definitely agree that I wish I had more...
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2/14/2014 - foobarski Likes this wine: 92 Points
Big, powerful, but also with some nice subtle grassy notes. Wonderful
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9/27/2013 - klezman wrote:
PnP: Too cold and needs air. Nose is tight blue/dark red fruit and not much else. Touch of heat. Palate is surprisingly sharp, actually, and with a little bitterness. The tannins are in a nice middle ground and the main flavour is deep cherry with blueberry. Finish is long and enjoyable.
Bitterness fases over time, but the rest of the character remained. Fruit became even more vibrant and gained a brambly tone of fresh black raspberry. Revisit this in 1-2 years.
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4/14/2013 - citizen1 wrote: 91 Points
I liked this wine a lot - wish I had another. dark fruit and a touch of caramel.
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2/24/2013 - pkbackman Likes this wine: 92 Points
This was real good, and actually better than I was expecting. Pure red fruit, with some toasty oak undertones.
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1/4/2013 - robmillis Likes this wine: 94 Points
This turned out to be a very surprising and interesting discovery. I expected the blackberry and cherry flavors, but was pleasantly surprised by rich vanilla, tobacco, hints of buttercream. All that rolled into an overall peppery, earthy balance.
100% Mourvédre grapes (I wish more California vineyards would experiment with this). High alcohol but you don't notice it. Filtering recommended but not necessary.
This is the perfect time to drink this one. I'll be buying several more bottles, so get them while you can.
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