Served next to the 2015 Outpost Cabernet Sauvignon (which I preferred ever so slightly - mainly for its elevated frame and grip). Purple and black core fruit, with black currant, black soil,…
Previous notes apply, though I experienced this as much less angular this time around. With the proper decanting (approximately 5+ hours total), this really started to show nicely. Somewhat…
Previous notes from December 2017 still apply. This is continuing on it path nicely, with seemingly even more room to grow over the next year, as it really started to pick up its pace after a couple…
Previous notes apply with this wine. I kicked it up another point or so because this chubby baby might have shed a pound or two since I last had it a couple of months ago, but it still needs to hit…
Same notes as before. An hour+ of air brought out some really nice boysenberry and bitter dark chocolate notes. A wine I should leave alone for another year or two. 95-96+ points.
Previous notes apply. Finished the bottle. Likely in that 92 point arena for me right now. There are some potentially fascinating flavors lurking deep within the bowels of this coiled-up snake, but…
This was a tough one for me. It came off as a simpleton that seemed displaced from any affiliation with the Araujo label. "Second wine" or not, this was a seemingly willowy example. Higher toned, red…
Finished the bottle. Previous notes apply. It took about two hours of decanted air to blow off some heat that pulled away from the core fruit flavors. In the end, I would hold for another year+ on…
Another Coravin pour. Same as last week. Solid...but...in need of some oomph... I'll finish this bottle soon enough, but I'm not super confident I'll be chasing this wine down in the coming vintages.
Continuing to follow this bottle with another Coravin pour. Same as last month. With a decent amount of coaxing, plum, limestone, currant, and subtle cassis notes emerged. Flat, linear, and otherwise…
Previous notes apply. What a great wine. Right out of the gate on PnP, this was already captivating and ready for some fun. Explosive, but still managing to find a noteworthy seamlessness that…
Coravin pour. A little more subdued and "quieter" than the last time. Still, excellent purity of fruit, with a black, red, and purple core that delivered ripe but controlled levels of extraction.…
It's been about a year since I last had this wine, which now shows noticeable smoothing-out and an elevated sophistication that was not fully resolved back in mid-2017. Though part of me misses the…
Another Coravin pour from the same bottle as last month. Gave it a few hours of air. Still not enough. Previous note applies. This didn't budge much. Some identifiable unripe purple plum, currant,…
This is a follow up from my note from last week, which was a Coravin pour. This time was a PnP with a couple of hours of air. Previous notes apply, except that the additional O2 really brought out an…
Well hot damn if this wasn't one of the best examples of a Cab Franc/Merlot blend (88/12) that I've had in a long while. Just when I've been all keyed-up in a recent grumpy rant over the doughy…
Previous notes apply. This was a PnP and it ultimately did not get enough air. Fairly tight throughout consumption. Either decant and give this the breathing room it deserves, or hold for at least…
Notes of black and dark red core fruit, black currant, dark soil, and cedar. Offers up some decent flavor on the initial attack, but fairly pedestrian overall. Medium and somewhat flat mid-palate.…
Similar to my previous notes, except that this showed a cedar element that clipped the finish; the fruit was solid, but took a back seat at times. This seems to be transitioning toward its next phase…
Previous note applies. Ideally I'm going to try to give this another 2 years before opening my next bottle. Drinks beautifully after a couple of hours in the decanter, but shows even more potential…
Previous notes apply. Sweet blackberry liqueur, blueberry smoothie, dark chocolate chunk, vanilla bean, bread dough, mocha, clove, and anise. Still exhibiting a bit of a clumsy profile, with a fat,…
Super young, high and tight, this Marine was in bootcamp mode, with a fairly stiff delivery, high-toned red cherry and black raspberry core fruit, and a finish that was washed over by alcohol and…
Captivating and concentrated black core fruit, a fistful of dark spices, and black minerality all pulsate across the palate in a beautifully powerful display of flavor and intensity. This Moonracer…
Starting to come around a bit better; slowly but surely. Previous notes apply; some nice black core fruit, with bitter chocolate, dark roast coffee, sweet oak vanilla char, blueberry, and some earthy…
