Sarah Stierch

Food & Wine Editor Sonoma Valley Sun

9.6

Best rose of the year — 10 years ago

Young Bock Lee

9.4

deep, dense perfume of violet, lavender. dried cherries, hint of muddy soil. balanced among fruitness, acidity(med plus), structure. med plus tannin. lovely! — 11 years ago

Jack Finnegan

9.6

Delicious. Dark spice, black pepper, deep plum, earthy notes of leather and soil, a perfect compliment to a well-seared ribeye steak. Meaty, bold, assertive. Wonderful gift from a wine-snooty friend, @Jay Svoboda. — 12 years ago

John Kemper

9.9

By a wide margin, the wine of the night was the opaque purple '08 Herman Story Syrah 'Nuts & Bolts'. Exuding blackberry, graphite, tar and licorice aromas, and then filling the mouth with bold layers of spice, pepper and plum flavors. This astonishing rich effort ends with sweet and polished tannins. Simply WOW! — 13 years ago

Kyle Groombridge

9.3

"I make wine at Lafite and Latour, but my heart is at Calon"... I can see why Nicolas Alexandre Marquis de Segur said these iconic words after having this wine in my glass. The nose is so inviting with warm spice, cigar smoke, embers, and toast. Raspberry syrup, plums, vanilla, and toffee on the palate. Nice thread of smoke throughout with nice balancing fresh fruit. What an enjoyable wine! 20 months in new oak - obviously the more accessible style the new owners are going for... the Pinot the other night gave an experience, this one tells a story. — 10 years ago

Rob Klafter

9.4

The delight of a well aged wine. Pine and underbrush. Soil and peat. Sweet fruit wrapped in earthy structure — 11 years ago

Alejandro Artigas

9.6

Still amazed by this Herman Story On the Road Grenache. Second bottle a year apart and it still one of my favorite. Big, bold with plenty of acidity framing the fruit and giving it a liveliness and youth. Showing black fruit, oak, licorice and a bit of stone. New world done right — 12 years ago

Eric Guido

9.3

The 2012 White Hawk showed incredible intensity, yet remained balanced and graceful throughout, showing a unrelenting bouquet of black cherry, baked plums, violette floral tones, cola, smoke, crushed stone and spice cake. On the palate, it was silky with sweet, spiced dark fruits, cherry sauce, and licorice. It literally saturated the senses without showing a hint of its 15.4% alc. The finish went on and on with dark fruit, spice, and purple floral tones. This is full throttle yet refined and layered—color me impressed. — 11 years ago

Anthony Trumbo

9.1

Finishing off our second bottle of this meaty rosé with some sausage bolognese. — 11 years ago

André Guérin

Manager Ambassador Wines & Spirits

10

True story: at some point in this bottle's 23 years of aging, the cork sank into the bottle. When I saw that that had happened, I thought I'd lost this treasure. I thought it had to be bad, but nope. This legendary wine withstood the test of time! Even without a cork intact, the wine stayed really, really good. Thank goodness and yummmmm-y! — 13 years ago