A solid performance with this particular bottle. Decanted for a few hours, which really allowed the firm tannins to soften and the black fruit and obsidian notes to emerge. No green peppercorn or…
Gently decanted for an hour in a small vessel. Plum, deep and dark red and black muddled cherry, leather, old cigar, torched orange rind, soil, and black currant.
Honed, focused, chiseled, mineral, black goth berry-rock, and a mean streak all up and down it, the 2016 HSS is serious business in the best of ways. Give it another 5+ years and be rewarded. It…
Tannic and drying, the chest on this thing is bumping and thumping with push, thrust, grip and clutch, but the fruit has a difficult time elbowing past the bro-code bullishness of the frame. Black…
PnP and this at-first-look beauty caressed the palate with lovely black core fruit and black/blue river rock. With every moment of air, however, this HSS started to quickly soften. In little time,…
Nope. I don't get this thing at all. Serves no purpose. A syrupy simpleton. One wonky note of chocolate-blackberry goofiness. This is why most wineries shouldn't have a desert wine. 79? points.
Classic meets modern. Tight and coiled-up, like a snake ready to strike. Pretty massive overall, but also displaying an intriguing sophistication that draws one back for another sip. Needs air! Lots…
Wild blackberry, plum, asphalt, wood, charcuterie, and some garrigue. Some quasi-interesting flavors trying to self-identify, but overall lacking much-needed complexity and finesse. Powerful and…
The first pour of this wine was flawed, but the staff was nice enough to serve a freshly popped bottle for comparison. The new bottle was not flawed, but it was pretty disjointed and lacking any sort…
Notes of green apple, Asian pear, lemon verbena, tropical fruit, acacia, and some sea salt. The initial attack started out smooth and enveloping (characteristically as most rounded-out Nor-Cal…
Same as all of my previous notes. Always a solid performer. A bit of air coaxed out some really nice bitter chocolate, tar, railroad tie, and black pebbly flavors to accompany the core black fruit.
Same as before. A solid red over the course of two days. A little tight on PnP and in need of some air throughout consumption. Ultimately, I'd recommend a short decant (2+ hours) or hold for another…
Same as all of my previous notes on this wine. PnP was the way to go. Performed optimally at 54 degrees throughout service. Solid 95 points during this time period. (1-1.5 hours).
Same as all of my other notes on this wine. Decanted for a couple of hours just for the hell of it, but it really didn't even need it. Taking a step back, this really is a gorgeous bottle of wine.…
Previous notes on specific flavors still apply. Awesome wine, and inching its way up in score for me as time goes on. PnP was near-perfect and ready right out of the gate.
Same as my previous notes on this wine. Nice dark fruits and some notable minerality. Drinking well with an hour or two decant, or hold until early 2017 for even more optimum drinking.
As with other CT notes, I really did like this wine quite a bit. It was impeccably balanced and still had a beautifully rich and unctuous texture and mouthfeel about it, the likes of which I don't…
Same as my CT notes from 09/07/2015. Great stuff. Improved with two hours in the decanter. Could probably use another year in bottle for total optimum drinking.
