TN: 2011 Saxum James Berry Vineyard (USA, California, Central Coast, Paso Robles)

WINE TALK
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  • 2011 Saxum James Berry Vineyard - USA, California, Central Coast, Paso Robles (11/8/2019)
    Day 1: This wine improve over the course of 3 hours. Up front too much floral and big fruit. Over time this wine added funk, spice, stone, cherry, blue currants and rose petals. Medium to long finish. Drinking well now but I could see this aging for another 10 years. 94 points
    Day 2: Rich wine with underbrush, spice, stone, concentrated fruit featuring cherries and plums and menthol. Nice floral elements on the lengthy finish. This has a long life ahead. 95 points
    Recommendation: Drink now with a solid 2 hour decant or hold for at least a decade. (95 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

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Had this wine several times. I agree with your notes. In my opinion, as good as it is when first opened, and it is very very good, it’s much better on day two. Is also just getting into its peak drinking window. I’ve enjoyed Saxum in the 6-8 year window the best. So this is in its prime drinking window.

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This wine shines in cooler years for me personally, 2008 and 2011 are 2 of my favorites, it has more energy vs. sheer power.

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2011 was a ‘challenging’ year for much of CA, but certain regions, including Paso and Santa Barbara County, did not receive the extreme rain amounts that our neighbors up north received. We also had a pretty major frost early on that created yield challenges.

No surprise that this one is aging well - and my guess is that it will continue to be on the upswing for quite some time.

Thanks for sharing!

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And I continue to have a ‘challenge’ with how this is categorized in CellarTracker - I know that I’m a bit of a ‘broken record’, but this should be not ‘Central Coast’ - it really should be USA, California, Paso Robles, Willow Creek AVA . . .

Cheers

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Thanks for the note John, I was looking at these in the cellar, will hold off a couple more years. [cheers.gif]

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Count me in as another who likes the 11’s. We had a heartstone recently that was very good.

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I have to say, I did not enjoy these the first couple of years after release. I kept a few and will pop one soon. I’m excited to see such positive notes!

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And I continue to have a ‘challenge’ with how this is categorized in CellarTracker - I know that I’m a bit of a ‘broken record’, but this should be not ‘Central Coast’ - it really should be USA, California, Paso Robles, Willow Creek AVA . .

Was it always as you state or did it change after the first few vintages. Seems like Eric could make an easy fix.

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John,

This is something that’s been going on for awhile. If you look at Napa and most of Sonoma, it does state ‘North Coast’ which would be the equivalent term.

I have brought this up with Eric - but was told it would be 'difficult’nto go back and make the changes. The explanation did not make sense to me - it’s a database . . .

Cheers

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I like your “energy vs. sheer power” comparison and totally agree–I think in years like those (2011 in particular) the top producers made superb wines. We just opened a Dark Blossom Syrah from SQN Saturday night and it was excellent.