Good but not for the price. Not overly smoky or or jammy. Blackberry, chocolate, and bergamot notes. — 7 months ago
This wine is dark ruby in the glass and offers a beautiful nose that is full of dark fruit aromas and a good bit of oak. Tar also appears, adding a very earthy angle to the bouquet. On the palate, big, jammy blackberry, blueberry and cassis flavors are joined together by oak spice and a healthy dose of tannins. Despite the oak mentions, the wine tastes clean and fresh. The winery recommends pairing it with aged cheeses. I like it with spaghetti and meatballs. I used the wine in my sauce. — 2 months ago
This wine is quite dark and quite aromatic. The nose would be fruit-forward if the oak spices weren’t so strident. The big display shows dark fruit - plum, blackberry and black currant - carried along by a huge whiff of clove, cedar, tobacco, cardamom and several other occupants of the spice rack, I’m sure. The palate is similarly blessed, or handicapped, depending on your own view of oak treatment. The oak in this wine is heavy-handed and best suited for blunt-force trauma. That is disappointing, since I have long been a fan of Bogle’s wines. I’ll stick with their other offerings in the future. — 4 months ago
This was lovely with dark fruit and spice. A touch of oak gave hints of vanilla and depth. Nice long lingering finish. — 9 months ago
A reduction of fruity berries, light caramel w spicy finish. — 3 months ago
Dark, moderately rich, brambly blackberry fruit mostly, very fresh and lively on palate, avoids the jammy, overripe notes that mar some Zins, seems quite youthful and capable of further development, my first Zin from Morgan T-P, very impressed!! (Drank MANY of his father’s Zins, dating back to the 1976 Vogelsong, his first!!) — 7 months ago
Classic and well done. Nose is extroverted and deep, with dark spicy blackberry, baking spice, and warm stony gravel. Mouthfilling, with rich ripe blackberry fruit, a little bit of Graves-like cigar box, and gravelly minerality. Acids are a touch low and it’s a bit pulpy, but it does not skimp on flavor, and it avoids the overripeness, heat, and sweetness of so many Zins these days. — a year ago
David T
Independent Sommelier/Wine Educator
Bruce Phillips and his wife were pouring their 2021. Talked w/ him at length. Very nice couple.
The 2021 showed well young with room for improving with 10-25 years in bottle and beyond. It showed some evolution, wasn’t all primary. Elegant, very well balanced with excellent structure and finish. Drink 2033-45 properly stored.
The general Napa consensus on 2022 vintage will be a story of did you pick before or after the 6 days of extreme heat during the harvest window. One producer told me his would add 5% of 2023 to some of his 2022’s, which is allowed. He mentioned that he was going to add 15%. But, I think he just misspoke? Get ready for an amazing 2023 vintage from Napa. It was a cooler, not hot-hot, which was a near perfect growing season for long slow even ripening. Some say a vintage of a lifetime and others would only say exceptional.
The Saturday-Sunday Pavilion tasting at Pebble Beach Food & Wine is an excellent four hours to taste a lot wine, taste curated dishes from chefs from all over the country and meet the people behind the bottle. These short ribs were one of the top two or three things I tasted at the Pavilion Saturday. — 23 days ago