Mike Saviage

10

Tasted blind. Light gold color, youthful and heavy in the glass. Notes of citrus, white clay, sea shells, wet river stone, kiwi and some honey. High pitched. Massive fruit and structure. This powered along all night and never slowed down. Easy to guess as the 90 Raveneau Clos as we've had this many times. A debate ensued about what is a perfect white burgundy and where this sits... it would be really hard to get better than this, IMO. Spectacular. — 3 years ago

Brandon T

9.4

Always a winner! Still slightly prefer the whole cluster las madres, but it’s close and you can’t go wrong with either, IMO. — 5 years ago

Brandon T

9.3

Young, but a 2 hour decant works wonders. Darker fruits, big time blackberries. Beautiful wine that will be dynamite in 2-3 years, IMO. — 5 years ago

Brandon T

9.1

Definitely too young. Solid, but needs a couple years to come together, IMO. — 6 years ago

Scott Kahn

8.9

A rich medley of mature berries integrated with savory spices. The wine opened quickly which added to our enjoyment of the bottle along Spain’s northern coast, but not at the expense of an overall complexity that remained with the wine. This wine is ready for consumption now IMO. — 6 years ago

Mark Flesher

9.3

Very nice Riesling, and so so young. Pours a lighter straw color than I thought it would. Nose of kiwi, peach, hint of butterscotch, hint of rosemary, hint of cashews. Entry is initially rather acidic which carried through the entire experience. Tames to a sweeter tropical character that fades in the back. Lemongrass, mango, herbs and peach on the finish. This wine is really nice now. And will continue to improve over the next 5 years IMO. I don't think I would be in a hurry to drink this if I had more. — 6 years ago

Eric

9.3

Ripe strawberries and raspberries. Lush as a mutha yet smooth. Not really a Merlot IMO but still love it. — 7 years ago

Paul T HB

9.4

Quite a bit more flavor than the Herman Story, IMO
But is a bit younger so the dry tannins are still present — 7 years ago

Eric

9.3

Time really helped this one. Big bold and a little stemmy. Still young IMO — 3 years ago

Bruce Leboff

9.3

Classic Sonoma Pinot - hint of vanilla from American oak ( IMO). Lovely - fresh and approachable. — 4 years ago

with Michael and David

Scott Kahn

9.3

Leaves and soul on the nose with a hint of violets to complete the bouquet. Fully integrated tannins with vanilla oak, charcoal and tar on the palette. The Cabernet Franc is a pleasant component of this vintage. The wine is still in its prime and it will be for years to come IMO. — 5 years ago

Brandon T

9.2

Wound tight- still not where I expected it to be after a 5 hour decant. A beast right now that definitely needs a few more years, IMO. — 6 years ago

Bob McDonald

9.7

The epitome of Moss Wood. Cassis, Herbs, Brambles, and Tomato bush aromas. A beautiful aged Margaret River Cabernet Sauvignon flying high at 23 years of age - at it’s peak. Seamless on the palate still with great intensity and balance - resolved Tannins. Would hold its own with top shelf Left Bank Bordeaux IMO. The winery says 1996 was a 10/10 vintage. My last bottle of 750 ml but the good news is I have a Magnum which I will leave for a few more years and probably consume on my 70th!!! — 6 years ago

Mark Flesher

9.4

Out of the 4 wines opened at The Bird, this one edged out the Numanthia 12 by a hair. Quite similar profiles IMO. This Walla Walla Syrah was quite enjoyable with dark black fruit on the front. Consistent with the 2015 I tasted a bit ago but IMO, this one had a bit more of a smoked beef flavor in the middle that the dark sweet and still youthful fruit gave way. Chose this as the "food" wine since most chose the Bird Burger (a grass fed beef burger)....it went rather well. Popular with the crowd of novices and winos, the smoky finish was very complementary. Maybe I might acquire a few of these WA Syrahs afterall to have for these purposes....(not a word, @Shay A .... 😆) — 7 years ago

Joe Lyons

9.2

16’ are finally softening, but still big dark fruit, but drinking more like Pinot now. black berries, dark cassis…. Big dark flavors that are slowly softening… still had many years IMO! — 4 years ago

with Michelle

Deborah M

9.3

Christmas Eve with the parents. Ripe red cherry and lively acidity. This paired perfectly with French cut pork rack. IMO this could improve in a few years. — 4 years ago

Eric

9.8

Never disappoints. Decanted for an hour- great spiced coffee thing going on. Not overly fruity. Really different this vintage IMO but man what a wine. — 5 years ago

Adam Eagan

9.6

This bottle marks the first time I have had a booker wine with this much bottle age. IMO, still a long way to go with this one. Deep blue and blackberry flavors with rocky minerality, and vanilla flavors (almost root beer like). Love pretty much anything Booker makes. This wine included. — 6 years ago

Benjamin Keator

9.5

Unfortunately we were not able to give this a proper decant this time. Nonetheless the quality and finesse still shines through. IMO the 2003 is just now entering it prime drinking window. Tannins have softened nicely. Good fruit integration. Still needs a bit of time in the glass to open. Over the course of an hour it was only getting better and better. Wish we had had time to do a 4-5 hr decant. — 6 years ago

with Jimmy

Matt

10

Gorgeous! Purity, length, complexity and harmonious structure throughout. Blown away by the freshness this had, from color to fruit character to energy on the palate. Carries the vintage well, structured yet showing incredible finesse right now. I don’t drink Bordeaux often, but damn when it hits, it hits in all the right spots. This will be even better with time IMO. What a wine — 7 years ago