Huge blackberry cobbler, camphor, brush, and booze. It has the hallmarks of the SQN Syrah flavor profile that I love, but like all things SQN, I recommend at least another 7+ years (more like 10)…
Red and black fruits present as ripe and succulently semi-sweet at the onset. The first sip is kinda like gulping a bowl of the rainbow milk left in the bowl after you just wolf down a solid helping…
Not dissimilar to the 2020 Distenta II Syrah served beside it, this year-older sibling is even more megabomb boom in its delivery. The 2019 is more busting out the seams with just pure black and blue…
"We got the funk.yeah. Chave got the funk." If you're billet is a barnyard and your palate is a pistol pinging for peat, then the 2005 Chave Hermitage is a call of the wild for you my friend. Earth…
If you had told me this was a 2005, I'd say you were a couple cans short of a six pack. I would've called this thing as ten years younger easy. I know that SQNs typically need more time than I…
I gotta be honest, I would've never called this out as a Syrah at first glance. This had more similarities to a 2004 Unico than it did with our sassy neighbors to the south. A bit more leather and…
A biiiiiiig daddy, the M7 is the most powerful and bicep-driven of all the 40+ wines served up over the course of three days. Having come off a tasting where the 2016 M7 was the belle of the ball in…
Red cherry, strawberry, and leather dominate the profile here. A bit of funk, tobacco leaf, and earth rise to the surface, making for an older-world profile, which is also heightened by the…
Rich without being rich, day one of this wine was fairly plush, pumping full throttled black fruit and chocolate notes out like a firehose. A baby Vice Versa M7, the Lail was unsurprisingly showing…
The nose on this monster is off the hook crazy intoxicating. The attack on the palate is less mind-altering initially, with a hyper-linear and primary delivery of powerfully torqued-up unripe black…
Restrained blackberry seed, dried thyme, black cherry, and river rocks, the Lore shares characteristics similar to a 2016 Shafer HSS served beside it, but for the profile of the Lore being more…
Dark chocolate, black cherry, stewed plum, medjool date, menthol, and anise dominate the profile, with earthy elements complementing chewy black licorice, purple flowers, cedar, and Christmas spice.…
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…
Even on the first glass from a pop-n-pour (cuz you have to get after it early on this wine, otherwise it'll be drained in the blink of an eye amongst this eager group of wine mongers), the 2018…
More accessible and blacker fruited than its 2013 sibling served next to it, the 2015 is still just as medium-bodied but offers more mouth-watering fruit, with less of the 2013's green elements…
Saturating, juicy, delectable, and all the superlatives you can conjure up to describe what is indeed the most giving of the bunch. Heightened complexity is temporarily on hold during the initial…
Speaking of proper service, having this wine a couple of weeks ago and having it again now just shows how important knowing (or attempting to target) a wine's sweet spot in terms of air, temperature,…
At first pass, this is a crunchy unripe black cherry covered in salty sawdust. I recall having that "Uh-Oh" feeling, wondering, "What wine is this? Did someone throw in a pirate here??" It doesn't…
Though the oak here is perceptible, it does not show as aggressively as Harlan on the initial pull of the cork. Earth, eucalyptus (or is it bay leaf?... or is it mint??), grippy unripe blackberry and…
Compared to wine before it in the lineup (which was a red-"fruited" [mostly tannic] Abreu Thorevilos), this was all about black fruit, bitter chocolate, and black minerality. Did I mention black?…
Red, powerful, tannic, and dry, with a woody finish that makes for an arid exit. A salty olive brine note adds to the initial feeling of astringency. With air, menthol, gravel, and unripe red cherry…
At the onset, this bottle of Voleuse was like a little Sweetheats candy. "Be Mine. Cutie Pie. Hug Me. XOXO." I was always partial to, "For Shizzle My Nizzle." (Maybe that was a different candy -…
This was not part of the blind tasting of 2016 Napa Cabs, but of course, and you know how these things go, due to the continuing graciousness of our hosts, this 2019 MacDonald found its way into the…
Black earth, soil, black cherry, blackberry, and a slight vanillin chocolate note, this was the most succulent and deep wine in the lineup. It shows cascading opulence without being overdone. The…
