K. Syrah

9.0

2010. 9.0-9.1. Good for older Bordeaux fix, but lacks fruit to be great. Glycerin, minerals, some pencil lead come through at expense of muted blue and black fruits and moderate, integrated tannins. Little/no acid or tartness to round it all out. Certainly interesting but unlikely to gain what it needs over time. $74 at Liquor Outlet. — 5 years ago

Mike Viscosi

9.7

Great recommendation from a guy at Lisa’s liquor barn! — 6 years ago

Severn Goodwin

9.3

Nose has blackberry liquor, mellow toasty oak, blueberry mash and light, ripe black cherry.

Palate has over-ripe blackberry, fresh black cherry, charred oak sawdust, dark chocolate powder, light anise and blueberry-black currant juice.

Tannins are mostly non-existent, perfect spot. WS had this pegged at a 2013-2018 drinking window, would have liked to try this a year ago, but we generally don't touch Zinfandel with less than 6-8+ years of bottle age, need mellowing time. Anyone holding this bottle, could do so easily until 2020-21. What a focused, sexy wine... — 6 years ago

Sam Agami

10

Wow, old school perfection! California wine from a forgotten age. Pure Italian-American greatness. Reminds me of the wine my childhood landlord would make from the vines that grew behind our house just upstate from NYC. Dark fruits abundant, soft acidity and tanins, nice touch of oak, without obscuring the graps as so many California wineries are obsessed with doing for some reason these days. Found this at a random liquor store on a road trip, will seek it out now. Even better than the Cribari Chianti or Coppola Rosso, which were my previous favorite in this genre, the wonderfully underappreciated "backyard" wine... — 7 years ago

Allie Wiley

9.7

Velvet fruity with a buttery vanilla finish is the best way to describe this. Too bad it’s a limited batched. I’m going to buy the rest from my local liquor store. — 7 years ago

KDouglas

9.0

Smooth, clean. Gets you messed up.... — 7 years ago

David D

9.1

Medium bodied, light acidity, mellow tannins, leather, currants, cherry, raspberry. From Provincetown liquor store. — 8 years ago

Matt

9.5

Drinking beautifully with a Northern appellation feel to it, more Brune and schistous to me. Would love to know all the lieu dits that contribute and their proportion in the final blend. Its darken fruit profile, meaty/smokey and forest notes make the argument that it’s of northern origin. Its opening up for now there’s a rich stream of dark black fruits reminiscent of Black raspberry liquor, soaked plums, almost prune, and overripe black berry/cherry. There’s still freshness to the fruit however, nothing ox’d or decaying. Singed cedar, leather, ash, roasted meat and animal come next, followed by the garrigue and bacon fat. Threads of eastern spices and of course pepper. It elusive now, the aromas coming and going. Palate has some lovely richness and bones to accompany it well, never pushy, always with restraint and nerve. Reminds me of Barolo. Great “basic” cuvée for Rostaing this vintage. Day 2 this really got going, much more harmony and focus on the nose. Loads of bitter root and pastille notes developing among its dark content. Very delicious — 5 years ago

Matthew Cohen

9.4

Old Nebbiolo will make you cry. Either because it’s no good or because it’s so amazing it’s life changing. Fortunately tonight is category two. This has the texture of very good burgundy. Sweet sweet cherry fruit. A hint of spice. Nicely dense. Nose has cherry flowers and pine. Has at least another ten years ahead of it.

As this opens more dense cherry liquor. Crazy palate coat. Just a cherry Nuke bomb. Internal aromatics are sweet rose juice. Some rose on the nose.

Bought from fass selections. — 6 years ago

Personal Fowl

9.2

An excellent dinner at the Clove Club in London- finished off with a dessert that explodes with 2 parts Fernet Branca and 1 part Briottet Liquor de Menthe. Wow. — 6 years ago

David D

9.1

Lots of leather and tannins. Dried flowers, prune, cranberry, mineral and nicely saline. From Glass Half Full (Ptown liquor store on Commercial St.) — 7 years ago

Dawn E.

9.2

This is a gorgeous wine...violet in color with medium body and tannins. Blueberries..cherry liquor..chocolate..cedar..smoke...blackpepper..clove and vanilla! I let this decant for an hour..I am not sure but I think this is my first Merlot...What's not to like!! — 7 years ago

David D

9.0

On the lighter side of medium bodied. Lots of juicy acid, bright cherries, cranberry, light tea, dried violets. From Provincetown liquor store. — 8 years ago

Emma Gill

9.3

O'Brien's
Light, refreshing — 5 years ago

Ron Siegel

9.3

Ripe cherry, strawberry, kirsch liquor, dried herbs, lavender & violets. — 5 years ago

Matthew Cohen

9.1

Needs a 15 minute decant. A bit simple on open. Then a hint of bitterness rounds out the delicious soft plummy fruit. Some spice. Great Tuesday night wine. It has the joyous fruit you want but good balance and some geekiness.

Some lilac liquor as this opens.

Ana amazing bottle of wine for the price

Ok. Maybe it needs 45 minutes. I can’t decide if this is a truly great wine that is a tad flawed or a unique wine that is just different t. Either way to even be having this conversation about $20ish wine is crazy. These guys are masterful winemakers.

Bought from fass selections — 6 years ago

Gregory Fulchiero

9.3

Buttered pecan, walnut liquor, raisin and mushroom. Sweeter and with less bite than other styles of sercial. A delight — 7 years ago

Severn Goodwin

9.2

45% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Malbec, 25% Cabernet Franc & 5% Petit Verdot

Color is deep plum, like totally opaque, but a beautiful semi-translucent blackberry color at the edge of the glass.

Nose is liquor of cassis, some noticable heat from the alcohol (14.5%), plum juice, light oak.

Palate is very smooth, dusty plum, blackberry, blueberry skin, mocha, coffee bean; tannins are still grippy, finish is about 45s. Decanted about 2hrs.

Generally a very nice bottle, we bought this in March '18, just getting to it tonight finally. Very impressed by this effort, light years ahead of the entry level Balbo wines. We only ever came across this once, $35 was a solid buy, and hands down my favorite Balbo wine to date. I think this has years to go, my guess is this is peaking around 2022-2025.

24hr Update: Alcohol on the nose has dissipated, palate is a little muted today, but still can identify the same traits as yesterday. — 7 years ago

Greg Gregory

9.3

Trivia time, not that most of you don’t already know this, but this is the vintage they didn’t make the SS and its by far IMHO the best Caymus Napa ever. Found this today at a little deli/liquor store here in Palm Springs. Surprise surprise still drinking beautifully. — 8 years ago

Nancy Luxon

8.9

Yum! Nice notes of dark fruit and spice. Buy again. Good everyday. Liquor Boy. — 8 years ago