Enjoyed some very excellent wines with a group of four people. Since we were drinking(not spitting) these notes are what I can remember and no formal notes were taken. Just a fun night of California wines. I want to thank Uber for coming into the foothills of Colorado to get me back to Denver!
2007 Harlan Estate- First time I have had the 2007, in typical Harlan fashion, its very smooth, elegant and silky, dark fruits of blueberries and blackberries, some anise and clove(not overpowering at all). Just a great wine and still very young. Cant want to try this again in a few more years.
2006 Scarecrow- wet cardboard and unfortunately a flawed bottle. Cork taint.
2007 Scarecrow- with the 2006 being corked, our guest suggested we open this bottle, who am I to argue. To me not the best showing of this wine, but on the several occasions that I have had this its been almost a perfect wine. Overall the wine to me had some rough edges, still has some very good blue and red fruit and maybe just not the right night for it to be opened.
2004 Araujo- when I first tasted this I just said “Wow” as my experience with these is very limited. Very Borbeaux with a California heritage, nice structure, nice red fruit and very balanced. Over the course of the evening though it started to fade as I would hope it would develop more. Still a nice showing.
2013 Bevan Tench- Very Bevan and big fruited wine. Black and blue fruit dominated the glass. I am a big fan of Bevan, but to me it was not ready, I think this needs a few more years to come together.
2001 Shafer HHS- Where do I start with this wine. It was an afterthought, as the owner said “lets try a Hillside” I ran to the cellar and looked at several vintages and remember trying this when it was first released many years ago. At first taste I thought it was past its prime as it was giving nothing with some muted fruit and no nose. It was set aside as the other bottles were being tasted. About an hour later, holy crap, this turned into the HHS that I remember, just deep, concentrated and layered black and blue fruit, seamless and balanced. This wine has a long life ahead of it.