Lewis Chester

9.6

1996 vintage. At Hotel TerraVina with my pal, Gerard Basset MW. Unfortunately we didn't get time to decant it sufficiently prior to having with lunch. Typically I would have had at least a 2 hour decant before serving. Medium garnet hue, very bright. The nose is simply stunning and evolved constantly in the glass. Blackberry, black plum, cedar wood, lots of spices, cocoa and hints of roasted coffee bean. Tertiary notes have developed but there still seems to be a bit of development to be teased out of this wine yet. The palate exhibited an enormous amount of structure - high acidity and high tannins that are ripe but chunky. There's nothing round here - more linear and angled than curvy. Almost light bodied but with a big two-step punch of a finish: there's an initial hit and then a powerful umph of additional rev's that makes your head bob up and down in joy and happiness. Though it's drinking extremely well now, this will hold for decades to come. Fabulous. — 9 years ago

Bob McDonald

9.2

Typical herbaceous brambly style from this maker with notes of geranium. Moss Wood in a lesser year but still an excellent Cabernet- one of Australia's best. — 10 years ago

Mike Saviage

9.2

5 hrs of air. Nice bold Brunello notes. Cassis with dark berry fruit. Tannins integrated but still some stringent wood notes. Great with and elk main in a byob restaurant. — 11 years ago

Howard Yang

9.0

Deep burgundy purple, smell of cassis, dark fruit, vanilla wood and plum, medium to dull body, smooth tannin with good acidity at the end, balanced and refined with a medium to long finish. — 13 years ago

Aurash Jason Soroosh

9.0

Crisp, clean, yet pleasantly tanniny. More of a pink color than orange. Good wine, nothing crazy, but good. — 9 years ago

Greg Ballington

Co-Founder of Millennial Drinkers Wine Blog

9.1

Surprise bottle at the end of the tasting. A real treat. Garnet red with medium intensity and quite a bit of sediment. Layered nose with soft blackberries, soft black cherries, and a soft undertone of provenance herbs (lavender). Palate floats right across your tongue with some light red cherries, some toasted wood and a little leather. Still solid moderate tannins (5.5/10) and well integrated with the solid acidity. Medium to light bodied with great structure and texture. Moderate plus finish with a dryness to it. Drink till 2020. — 10 years ago

with Sean and India

Mason Balistreri

Sommelier, International Wine Guild; Balistreri Vineyard; Sales, Joy Wine and Spirits

9.2

Bright acidity from the concrete egg fermentation. The flavors are approachable even though it is a grape most people haven’t heard of. Fresh pineapple and vanilla. People would love it if they could give it a chance. — 12 years ago

Hyunju and Ray

9.0

Good with chocolate. Hints of cherry and some cedar wood on the finish. — 10 years ago

Craig Stanfield

9.5

Started wth a slight must on the nose, but that blew off. Opened to round and bright red and some blue fruit. Tobacco and wood (not lavish oak, maybe cedar) round it out. Fine grained tannins and a wonderful finish. Love the value of Rioja and hard to believe I just got some of these babies recently. This was the 125th vintage. — 10 years ago

Joe Davant

9.3

Took some time to open up. When it did, it had wonderful soft red fruit and cherries with a tiny bit of herbaceousness. By no means was this a big, plush merlot. I really like how these folks make their wine. It was very versatile, going well with scallops, gnocchi, and Korean pork on a steamed bun. — 11 years ago

with brent