Joe Gillies

9.8

An absolute beast a wine! Needs a short decant to open up and let the glycerol smell and taste blow off. I decanted for 30 min.

Huge dark fruits, charcoally smokiness, and spice. Inky deep deep black color and of course it doesn't get any more full body than this. — 7 years ago

Martin G Rivard

9.5

@David L Thank you David for sharing this incredible beauty with me! Such a soft, opulent rich wine. The bottle age definitely helped and was evident throughout. Drinking superbly right now and I imagine would evolve for another 15+ years! It was that good!!!!
I am biased, I am a huge fan of Spottswoode. I felt like a kid that robbed a candy store when I uncorked this one. I hadn't tasted their 2003! It was in my top three for wine of the night. Swing, batter batter swing, homerun! — 7 years ago

with Ryan and Christine

"Odedi"

9.1

For my 888th review, I chose this wonderful Napa Valley Petite Sirah.

Dark deep purple /almost black, with a purplish rim.

An explosion of ripe black fruits on the nose with blackberries, prunes, dried figs, raisins, plums, raspberries, oak, vanilla, licorice, spices, leather, dirt and black pepper.

Full bodied and bold, with medium plus acidity and long purple legs.

Bone dry and fruity on the palate, with blackberries, figs, raisins, chocolates, prunes, cherry pie, black currants, earth, leather, spices and peppercorn.

Long finish with huge, green tannins and bitter spices.

This Napa Petite Syrah is still young and needs 3 more years in the bottle, but it is very enjoyable now, if you can tolerate the big tannings, or if you have it with BBQ Meats.

I enjoyed it by itself, by the pool. Not fully balanced, yet it has enough acidity and tannings to last it for a long while. This 2012 vintage is very ripe and very enjoyable.

14.1% alcohol by volume. — 8 years ago

Dennis Smith Jr.

10

Beautiful. Huge. Flavors of vanilla pull through the entire experience. — 9 years ago

Jon Grauman

10

Perhaps the best bottle of wine I have ever had! Pure perfection! Elegant, rich, perfectly balanced, huge aromas, still tons of fruit, and a finish that's still lingering. Better still, I enjoyed this bottle at Martin Berasetegui in San Sebastián, a 3 star Michelin restaurant. Outstanding!! — 9 years ago

Naveen

9.0

"Cherry, currents & blackberry Pepper, oak, vanilla & violet"

They describe it perfectly.. altho I didn't get as much of a vanilla taste.. — 9 years ago

Matthew Valade

9.2

Excellent Rioja and it makes Zach's hands look huge. — 9 years ago

with Zach

Nathan Piland

9.8

Great wine — 11 years ago

James Bailey

10

I may be biased but this was awesome. Big, fruity, structured! — 11 years ago

Peter Brush

9.7

Decanted for 5 hours and should have decanted for 10 or more. Still a huge wine. Amazing. — 7 years ago

Geoff Troup

Sales Eder Brothers, Cellar Fine Wines

9.4

Such beauty and elegance. I'm sure some of it is the age, but an AOC known for power emitting such elegance...Wow. Anyhow, jammy raspberries and a whole garden of vegetables on the nose. Palate is quite refined with white pepper, rock and all the trademark CDP flavors. Im never a huge fan of that fruit in the front, but the mid and back arr gorgeous. What's truly remarkable is the balance...The ability to isolate any single flavor to ruminate on, how each nuance to perfectly morphs into the next. Still some pronounced tannin in this guy! — 7 years ago

Joe Gillies

9.4

This is massive! Huge concentrated black and blue fruits, chocolate and eucalyptus. Still young and has many years ahead of it but why wait? — 8 years ago

Steve Martinelli

9.5

I am not a huge Aussie Shiraz fan but this one delivered. Great balance nothing overdone. Love the jammy blueberry fruits that just oozes out. Subtle toast undertones. — 8 years ago

Patricia Novo, CSW

9.3

I just love this Pinot! Such beautiful texture and elegance... Definitely a favorite — 8 years ago

Matt Brown

9.2

Great beer to catch a buzz as you scare trick or treaters on Halloween.👻 — 9 years ago

Lydia

9.3

Very much enjoyed Will buy again — 9 years ago

Sean Driscoll

9.1

Big Russian River fruit - crushed raspberries for days, balanced by nice acid. Not a huge Cali Pinot drinker, but I buy KB year after year for the pure "delicious" factor, and this delivers in spades. — 9 years ago

Jens Hoogstad

10

99+/100. Flirting with perfection. Might be one in 5 to 6 years. Huge aging potential. — 10 years ago

Jörgen Lindström Carlvik

Owner, Brix Wine Consultants

9.0

Oaky and very fruity, powerful Chardonnay expression, very pure and mineral laced, long finish. — 11 years ago

Hyoji Jang

10

2010 the Kongsgaard! Massive big huge oaky smokey nilli vanilli.. Anyway, wow! I kind of running away from this kid of char, but now I want to go back to it again!! :) — 11 years ago

Edmond Bordelon

8.9

I am a Huge fan of Scouts Honor. However this 2014 was so jammy right out of the bottle, we almost passed it up. We gave it over and hour and drank the Philip Togni for a while. (Amazing). Coming back to it, the jam died down and the excellent fruit blend came through. Lesson learned. Don't give up on this historically great wine! Just give it time. — 7 years ago

with Katherine and Ryan

Lenard Henson

9.6

Lenard had this 7 years ago

with Somer

Gregory Fulchiero

8.9

Huge bargain for good Napa cab — 8 years ago

Chris Shott

9.2

Damn good Cab — 8 years ago

Angelo Rosati

9.2

Not a huge sweet wine fan, but this is the one to drink if you're drinking sweet wine!!! — 9 years ago

with Anna

Steven Gullo

9.2

An Orin Swift hallmark. 16 months in French Oak, 40% new. Blend of five Bordeaux Varietals. opens quickly with aeration to show black currants and chocolate covered raisins. Huge, chewy concentration yet smooth, velvet finish. Just awesome. — 9 years ago

Peter Cobos

9.5

2008. Huge fan of this one. — 9 years ago

David Hackett

9.2

Great concentration, huge tannins, still developing, nose slightly closed off, could use decanting, graphite, fresh dates, has a little heat to it. — 9 years ago

Jennifer Jane

9.5

So full bodied and peppery. Tastes like a delicious blend of cab sauv and zinfandel. Drank this at Bear Creek Cottage with a delicious meal of steak, grandad's potatoes and fresh corn on the cob over Fourth of July weekend! — 10 years ago

with Joshua

Juel Bell

9.4

Very smooth — 11 years ago