ponilitiza
Member #102,680 signed up 12/19/2009
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BigBoy_Sonoma
3,515 Tasting Notes
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Member since December 2009
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Member #102,680 signed up 12/19/2009
3,515 Tasting Notes
This member's profile is not public.
2013 Dierberg Syrah Star Lane Vineyard
2/6/2024 - ponilitiza Likes this wine: 90 Points
So it's been 18 months since the previous bottle, and as before, I couldn't keep avoiding it forever. It's my last bottle, and my assumption was that this wine was not going to get better, so might as well put it out of it's misery. I was wrong.
Surprisingly, there was none of the skanky moldy flavor of the previous bottle. Don't know if this is the result of bottle-to-bottle variation, or to an unusually delayed closed phase for the previous bottle. In any case, this was a softer, mature syrah with well-integrated tannins, but less of the bold, spiciness of a younger wine. If you have some of this wine, I wouldn't give up on it yet.
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2015 Zaca Mesa Mourvèdre
11/24/2023 - ponilitiza wrote:
Paired with mushroom wellington and roast turkey for Thanskgiving. Big, smooth, earthy richness. It was fantastic. Wine of the night. Too bad it was my last bottle.
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2013 Dierberg Syrah Star Lane Vineyard
6/15/2022 - ponilitiza wrote: 90 Points
I avoided this wine for a couple years, due to the other reviewer's notes, but couldn't avoid it forever, so decided to try it with just family at dinner.
Upon opening, every one of us detected a bit of the moldy flavors the other reviewer noticed. But, the reliable cab I opened as a backup quite frankly was no better immediately after opening.
Paired with pasta and peppery bolognese sauce, this wine was actually quite good. The best sip, however, was later in the meal, when I tried a back-to-back comparison with the cab, and sipped the cab first. On top of the cab finish, this syrah was astoundingly good. Never before have I recommended pairing a syrah with cabernet suavignon, but there you have it.
After the meal, sipping by itself, the skanky moldy flavor was back in spades, and this wine got a definite thumbs down from my 2 family members.
So, if you have some of this and don't want to just throw it away, and are a bit adventurous, I would recommend paring it with a salad and zesty dressing, plus a healthy dose of fresh ground pepper, then put the same dose of pepper on your entree. Or, if you are really adventurous, use it as a cab chaser. You will not be disappointed.
This is definitely not a wine to serve by itself, nor to serve to the non-adventurous. But it can be entertaining nonetheless.
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