Sipping Fine Wine

9.1

Grabbed a bottle to close the Summer on Labor Day weekend. Blend of 40% Chardonnay and 60% Pinot Noir this wine was rich and complex. Pale yellow, vibrant bubbles, Crisp fruit aromas, apples and pears. Palate shows generous mineral and toasty oak notes integrated with the fruit. Absolute a must on your list, a true house staple for me. Great Champagne value. Overall nice summer, a tad wet back east! — 7 years ago

Thomas Bennett-Stroud

9.1

Vibrant, expressive, feminine. Superior biodynamic quality of fruit, not masked by oak. — 8 years ago

Sipping Fine Wine

9.0

In 1912, Andrew James Symington became a partner in Dow's and today, five members of the fourth generation Symington family own and manage this historic house. 10 Years" indicates an average age – this Aged Tawny Port is a blend of older wines, matured in oak casts. Amber color with aromas of sweet dried fruits, citrus and nutty notes. On the palate sweet ripe fruit, vanilla oak, ending with fig and cacao notes. Smooth, Nice value. Tasting Sample. — 8 years ago

Leslie Miller

9.5

Liked it, no oak, a little funk. — 8 years ago

Bob McDonald

9.0

Medium to Deep Ruby. Aromas of ripe red and black fruits, coffee with spicy oak. Woody notes. A Shiraz drinkers Pinot! One of the bigger Pinots I have tried and certainly one of the first from South Africa. Latent Power and maybe tasted a little young even at 8 years of age. A joint venture between Burgundian house Bouchard Aine et Fils and Peter Finlayson. Would love to try this in 5 to 10 years. Bought this 1 bottle at a shop in Stellenbosch in SA in 2012 but the wine is from Walker Bay. Enjoyable but unPinot like. One of the 1001 wines. — 9 years ago

Keith Hammond

9.2

Solid Old School New School!

This has oak. Oh yeah, definitely oak, but in a good way. With lemon and flint a nice malolactic mouthfeel. This is the perfect wine for those that like old school Chardonnay and need to take a wine to someone's house or someone who doesn't like old school but needs to bring a bottle to an old school lover's house. I need more of this. What a great wine day. BOOM!! — 9 years ago

Richard Thatcher

9.0

A stunning Zinfandel blend of mixed oak. A very god selection for a Brazilian steak house where the meat never ends and the wine pairs with everything served. Big red. — 9 years ago

Eric Urbani

9.0

Love the flavor - aging finished in oak wine barrels — 9 years ago

Jody Petit

9.2

A little house moving Tempranillo. Smooth tannin, dried red fruit with a fun, oakey complexity. 2004 — 10 years ago

with Aly

Pasi Ketolainen

9.0

2013: cherry red colour. Delicate lively acidity, silky ripe tannins, slightly jammy red fruit, peppery, spicy and slightly smoky oak tones. Long and delicate fruit driven aftertaste, first glass make you wish for second. — 11 years ago

Greg Ballington

Co-Founder of Millennial Drinkers Wine Blog

9.4

First wine for Chops Grille House. Decanted for five hours and definitely helped with the heat. Deep and dark ruby red with a touch of garnet. Layered nose with volcanic ash, dark raspberries, oak, dark cocoa and dark spices. Medium plus tannins (7/10) and full bodied. Lush and rich palate with red mountain berries, dark sweet spices, a bit dusty and a little anise. Long and lingering finish. Drink till 2027. — 7 years ago

with Sean and India

Scott E. Becker

9.0

[Tasted on December 9, 2017 at Marsh House in Nashville with Jay]

Brimming with ripe Russian River Valley fruit. Black cherry, raspberry and strawberries, with oak and tobacco. Lush and well made, but not my personal style of Pinot Noir. Extracted and a bit too hot for my palate. 14.8% ABV. 90 cases produced by Tuck Beckstoffer Wines. — 8 years ago

Jason Sliwa

9.3

A house favorite!! Long and textured. Well integrated oak. A winner at Weygandts. — 8 years ago

with Vicki

Kai Wright

8.9

House red. Most closed of the ones we've tasted here--much more grip and body, oak spice notes. Plum, cherry. — 8 years ago

with Jedd

Aaron

9.6

Amazing wine. The nose is like sticking your face in a a dirt, oak, cherry mash. Flavor is full of blackberry jam and cherry with a good spice that keeps it interesting. Full mouth feel is smooth. Not a lot of acidity or oak. This wine is just complex enough to keep you drinking but not boring or overpower. If I could find more if it it would be the house wine. — 9 years ago

Shay A

9.2

It can be hard to rate wine appropriately when you are enjoying one of the best steaks out there! Lovely evening with family celebrating my wife and father-in-law's birthdays. This is an excellent house wine. This and the Sullivan's private label (Steve Matthiason is the winemaker for Sullivan's...maybe Del Frisco's too?) are without a doubt some of the finest house wines out there. This is a bold cab on the nose and tongue. Probably needs 2-3 years in the bottle to calm down since it's young at '14, but the tannins aren't overpowering. Big integration of oak; doesn't take away from the tart blackberries and candied plum. Lengthy finish. — 9 years ago

Nathan Carlson

9.5

v.2015 stainless steel & neutral French oak fermentation. Predominantly native yeast strains, full ML fermentation. All Edna Valley AVA, super cool-climate character from the Central Coast of California. Fresh cream and lemon-curd aromas, smooth palate, bright acid, complete. (We grow & make this wine, and it is in heavy rotation at my house.) — 10 years ago

Matt Trader

9.3

I love the Echo label made by Lynch, and this was a power house of a Bordeaux. Brick wall of tannin even 4 hours later and after 60, yes, 60 hours of decanting, the flavors being masked by high acidity and tannin of a young wine finally had their 15 seconds of fame. Dark rich flavors of creme-de-casis and blackberry tart, and gravelly minerality, with a toasty oak undertone and still finishing with a firm tannin but just more enjoyable than right out of the bottle. — 10 years ago

Sean Trapani

Founder/Educator Wine Fluent, Consultant ABC Fine Wines & Spirits

9.2

Outstanding. Black raspberries, prunes and feather-soft oak. Dry, med+ body and tannin. — 11 years ago

Simon Weston

9.1

Small batch rum, fruit nose, dried fruit with vanilla and oak to taste, dry & not especially sweet compared to other rums. Sits above Eclipse but below XO IMHO. — 8 years ago

Somm David T

Independent Sommelier/Wine Educator

9.3

Our second course was Hedy's Cauliflower Cured Spinach w/ Crispy Croutons. That’s her with her husband Jeff. Thank you hosting the event at your fabulous house and this amazing soup. My initial thought was to do white Burgundy with this creamy soup. However, when I found out it was accented with cured spinach, I switched the pairing to this Davis Estates Chardonnay. I don’t drink many CA Chardonnay’s as so many are over worked or over oaked or both. This is gently worked and oaked because at the heart of it is beautiful fruit. I still like my whites for their fruit and not hammered with oak & butter. This is a very well made Chardonnay and very fairly priced. — 8 years ago

Tom Inners

10

much like walking into a record store and picking up that album with the wild cover art that calls your attention, Fela Kuti + Saxophone + Beer = going home with me. Impulse buy turned raving fan. This beer fucks. Best beer I've had all year, hands down. Definitely now attuned to Shady Oak and their continued brewing — 8 years ago

David From The 504

9.2

House of Starks kind of wine! King of the North.... ( few bottles in, Sunday Funday?) — 8 years ago

Willie Carter

9.1

In the glass, a nice ruby color. Spicy aromas with hints of cocoa and big red fruits. Another example of what a California Zinfandel can, and in my opinion, should be. Not big and fat. This is sleek and sensual, it even feels a bit European at times. The Petite Sirah and Carignane add some structure and balance here. Savory notes of smoked meat, fresh cut grass, spices, and oak. That's not to say that the wonderful fruit doesn't make itself known, as well. Ten years on, this baby is drinking like a champ. — 9 years ago

Joshua Blissett

9.4

I could drink this all the time. Love the wines from this estate... a little reductive, native yeast, native ML, minimal oak, no fining/filtering. — 9 years ago

Allison Loeffler

9.4

Birthday dinner in Dana Point's Lantern District at Craft House with Ramon. Way to start of the birthday month. Crisp, dry and full of flavor! — 9 years ago

with Ramon

Chris LoRusso

9.5

Very special Chardonnay from Spring Mountain with a perfect balance of Oak and acidity. — 9 years ago

Bill Morgan

8.9

Nice flavor that slowly changes from first so to final taste. Creamy red fruit slowly changes to sherry/vanilla/oak finish. Very pleasant and enjoyable. — 10 years ago

with Steve

Rhonely Boy

9.4

Excellently balanced. Acid and salinity make immediate pallet cleanse, Golden fruit, dried grass, white flower, wet stone, lime pith & zest, most appropriate use of oak. Long finish. Oak has some dark & sweet qualities, which remind me of bourbon. Making this a staple in my house. Sexy Spanish White Wine. — 11 years ago

Kai Chang

9.4

Clear pale ruby with hints of garnet. It gives an elegant shine. Predominately raspberry on the nose lined with leather and grass with hints of smokey tobacco, hawthorn and strawberry. Dry on the palate with medium+ soft acidity, medium alcohol, and low tannin but still gives a nice structural complexity to this medium body wine. More noticeable flavours of smokey oak with hints of raspberry, strawberry, and hawthorn come up and lasts into its medium finish. Very good quality, drink now through 2020. — 11 years ago