Heavy oak, vanilla, and spice on the nose. On the palate, some dark fruit but it's mostly hidden behind a wall of oak, vanilla, and back-of-the-throat-burning spice. Yes, my friends, another sub-$10 California oak-chipped wine. God I hate this stuff. Tastes like oak syrup to me. Looking at the other notes below, it appears that this style is enjoyed by many. To me, this is characterless, formula wine designed to mask inferior fruit with monolithic flavors. Honestly, can you folks actually discern any Syrah character in this wine? I can't -- it could be wine made from table grapes for all I can tell. Here's my impression: wine producer buys inferior bulk grapes on the cheap, ferments them, sticks them in the cheapest available tank, and throws in a bunch of oak chips for fast flavor modification. Glad I only paid $8 for this plonk.
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After the delightfully peppery 07 recently I returned to my local store to find 06s back on the shelves. This is jam packed with tightly wound dark fruits. Its 15-20 minutes for the wine to unwind be expressive. Licorice. blackberries dominate the lush palate. A little monolithic this time but still a great drop for the money.
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4/15/2018 - SeattlePaul wrote:
Massive wood smoke, gets in the way over everything. I guess it's dead.
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7/16/2009 - PIntag wrote: 77 Points
Heavy oak, vanilla, and spice on the nose. On the palate, some dark fruit but it's mostly hidden behind a wall of oak, vanilla, and back-of-the-throat-burning spice. Yes, my friends, another sub-$10 California oak-chipped wine. God I hate this stuff. Tastes like oak syrup to me. Looking at the other notes below, it appears that this style is enjoyed by many. To me, this is characterless, formula wine designed to mask inferior fruit with monolithic flavors. Honestly, can you folks actually discern any Syrah character in this wine? I can't -- it could be wine made from table grapes for all I can tell. Here's my impression: wine producer buys inferior bulk grapes on the cheap, ferments them, sticks them in the cheapest available tank, and throws in a bunch of oak chips for fast flavor modification. Glad I only paid $8 for this plonk.
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5/27/2009 - mdstenner wrote: 87 Points
After the delightfully peppery 07 recently I returned to my local store to find 06s back on the shelves. This is jam packed with tightly wound dark fruits. Its 15-20 minutes for the wine to unwind be expressive. Licorice. blackberries dominate the lush palate. A little monolithic this time but still a great drop for the money.
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3/28/2009 - robnmo wrote: 86 Points
consistent with prior bottles.
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3/16/2009 - robnmo wrote: 86 Points
consistent with prior bottles.
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