We both like!? Smooth and berries — 4 years ago
My bottle of choice for the WNH virtual tasting (@David L , @Shawn R , @Eric LaMasters , @Joe Lucca , @Mike R , @Bill Bender , @Carl Fischer ) with a theme of 10yrs or older, chosen by Eric.
A beautiful bottle of aged Shiraz from a lovely producer. Double decanted in the event there was sediment but there was hardly any (cork was pristine as well). Where some Aussie Shiraz can come across boozy and out of sync, this is a great restrained example. Followed over a few hours and the aromatics didn’t change much...mostly raspberry fig, baking spices, tobacco and smoked meats accompanied by a touch of age. The palate was a reality check...totally youthful. Vibrant and juicy. Tart strawberries, rhubarb and black cherries. Fleshy. Gained some weight as it opened showing liqueur, boysenberries, licorice and overripe mixed dark fruits. Beautiful example of aged Aussie Shiraz. Not getting any better, but not falling off a cliff any time soon. Kudos to the man, myth and legend, Bill B. — 5 years ago
Bright and tart, minerals — a year ago
Nice fruity zin, no pepper, smooth — 3 years ago
Honestly I don’t remember the last time a wine made me shriek “F#iK YEAH” so... let’s lead with that this is sapid AF. One of those wines that is so layered but also you get them all at the same time so you are smacked down with I dunno...perfection? Really rich in ripeness that feels like a clove studded orange to me. Something that hits like lemonheads but maybe gold and mysterious incense...gold myth and frankincense? It’s hard to give precise taste metaphors when a wine is unapologetically itself. Why find tasting notes on a wine if the wine could be the taste itself? — 3 years ago
I’ve seen mixed reviews on this wine and must advise to properly aerate this bottle. Initially the nose is tight and the pallet a little too acidic. After about an hour though, the wine really opens up to scents of blackberry, raspberry, sweet tobacco and cocoa. On the pallet there is red plum, raspberry, blackberry, and vanilla with a medium plus body, medium alcohol, medium acidity. The wine is dry with a sharp dark chocolaty finish. Definitely not a pop and pour kind of wine despite its youth. If you have the time to spare the wine will pay dividends, both, in tasting experience and value.
PS This a high altitude wine; grapes grown at over a thousand meters above sea level in the Andean Slopes, and I’m tempted to correlate its initial tightness with it; however, there is no evidence to back it up my assumption. May be just a myth, but cheers to myths! — 4 years ago
The man, the myth... his cellar was stormed. This Palmer was opened for 90 mins, and it presents like it was just bottled. Beautiful detail of toasted oak on the nose. Palate shows rich, extracted black fruits, with bold tannins. Bowled over with how this showed today. — 6 years ago
Ted
Herbal. Steal for under $20. Cherry pie — 3 months ago