2002 Jaffurs Syrah Upslope - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Barbara County (3/27/2009)
Nice deep dark purple color to it. Somewhat gamey nose with dark fruit, a touch of chocolate. Hot at first, but that seemed to mellow after a while. Big wine with black fruits really coming through on the palate, but something was missing. I can’t quite put my finger on it but It wasn’t as put together as the last bottle I had. Finish came with some really dark chocolate and still a very nice backbone to it, so I think this will last a little while. Good wine, but I wanted to like this more than I actually did. (88 pts.)[/list]
2005 Quinta de Roriz Douro Prazo de Roriz - Portugal, Douro (4/2/2009)
Solid wine, although nothing spectacular. Deep dark almost black color to it. Very Green. Got a ton of bell pepper on this along with green olives and a good helping of oak. Medium bodied with the green peppers and maybe some blackberries coming through as well. Tannins were very prevalent and dried the mouth pretty quickly. I’m honestly not sure how to feel about this wine at the moment. Maybe some age will help? Even if it is only a $13 bottle, maybe age will give the tannins some time to mellow and integrate with the oak? (86 pts.)
2006 Schramsberg Vineyards Blanc de Noirs - USA, California, Napa Valley (3/28/2009)
Seriously folks. For my money, there isn’t a better American sparkling house around, IMO. This was just solid all the way around.
Beautiful light golden color to it. Got a nice toasty almond nose with golden apples and light cherry. On the palate was just really bright cherries all around, making this a pleasure to drink. Finish was an absolute delight with an almost candied (but not overly sweet) cherry coming through now. (92 pts.)
2003 Columbia Crest Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve - USA, Washington, Columbia Valley (3/28/2009)
I bought 6 of these for 17 bucks from K&L because at that price this is a solid wine. Lots of dark fruit to this. Blackberries, Blueberries, and some definite Vanilla. ‘Lush’ wine with dark fruits really coming through on the midpalate. Finishes with really surprising big, dry tannins and a ton of dark chocolate. This obviously got the oak treatment, if you aren’t an oak fan you won’t like this. I do feel that with a couple of years, the oak will mellow out and this will be a really solid wine. (88 pts.)
2006 Jaffurs Syrah Bien Nacido Vineyard - USA, California, Central Coast, Santa Maria Valley (3/28/2009)
I’m an unabased Jaffurs whore. I decanted this for 3 hours prior to drinking. Wow. My WOTY so far (granted we’re only in April.) This was just gorgeous.
Deep dark inky color to this. Gorgeous nose of Game, blackberries, spices, graphite and wet cement. Huge wine but I never got any heat on it. The fruit covered any heat that may have been there. It wasn’t all about fruit as even after being open a few hours there was a great juicy acidity to this to go along with great big sweet tannins and a long 60+ second finish.
Sure, I’m probably biased, but this was just outstanding. (95 pts.)
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