Interesting read, can’t say I disagree, ultimately wasn’t a fan of the 04’s from the beginning.
This article caused me to go back and look at some tasting notes from my 04’s:
04 Paloma Merlot, tasted June 2011: “Not my cup of tea, big, jammy, flabby. I guess it’s the style, as everyone else here seems to love it, but for me this was another example of the “big, jammy” winemaking wave that seemed to have peaked around the 04 vintage.”
04 Caymus Special Selection, tasted May 2011: “Big brooding monster. Seemed even bigger than the 15.2% alcohol would predict. Not overly hot, but fully extracted while still in balance. Some might like this style, but I’m for at least a bit of nuance…this is about as nuanced as a aluminum bat to the head. Typical Caymus style, just dialed to 11 on every aspect.”
04 Caymus Special Selection, re-tasted August 2011: “I’ll stick with my previous notes. Had this one at the end of the night to enjoy its port-like qualities…it didn’t disappoint on that front. Top fuel, as my wife called it. Came up a bit flabby at the end, not surprising for what it is.”
Even 04 Dehlinger Claret, for heaven’s sake, tasted Feb 2009: “Not as balanced as I was hoping. To my great surprise, kind of a roasted fruit nose. On the palate, very big, smooth forward fruit. Finish is rather dull. Virtually no acidity to balance it on the front end, kind of smoothed out after being open for a while. This is the highest noticeable alcohol content in my many years of being a Dehlinger fan. I’ll chalk this one up to the times. It was better after being open for a while, but very unbalanced out of the gate. I love Dehlinger, I feel guilty.”
In fairness, I had some more positive notes for Darioush, Pride and the regular Caymus bottling…
Net-net, I’m very happy that things have dialed back in the past 15 years.