TN: 2005 P.B. Hein Vineyards Syrah Trailblazer Vernasco Vineyard (USA, California, North Coast)

WINE TALK
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  • 2005 P.B. Hein Vineyards Syrah Trailblazer Vernasco Vineyard - USA, California, North Coast (2/10/2010)
    Day 1… Pop and Pour. A nice, medium bodied wine. Some fruit. Very tasty and delish! Maybe some prunes. Not tannic. This tasted more like a $15 bottle (or more), rather than the $5 I paid for it over on http://www.wineberserkers.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; on their anniversary. At 120 minutes, the fruit was really showing. At 240 minutes, this was still showing well. Talk about a great party wine. On the second night, this wine still tasted better than I expected. Some heat, but not a deal breaker. If only all wine taste this good at the price! (88 pts.)

Posted from CellarTracker

Posted exclusively on Wine Berserkers.

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Universal praise for this wine - at the BerserkerDay special price, it appears to be an all-time no-brainer.

I’ll be serving it at an upcoming party - perhaps I should crack a bottle to see what it is like!

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Loved it. For my palate, was even better than the Arcadian. Probably the buy of the year. Love those Berserkers specials!!!

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Took a bottle to dinner last night to see what everyone thought and it was a big hit! When told of the price everyone was amazed!

Great deal, great wine, I LOVE WB!

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It was a really nice surprise for me as well! I found that the longer it was open the longer the finish lasted and the more the fruit showed. Very happy with the purchase and I agree with Otto I liked it better than the Arcadian that I bought in the SD deal last week. I actually was not impressed at all by the Arcadian. Maybe the year or something but I found it much too acidic/tart tasting. I’m looking forward to tasting more P.B. Hein wines. [welldone.gif]

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My wife took a bottle to a friends home coming after the first arrival. They all loved it and my wife is a white wine drinker, so I ordered 3 more cases in addition to the 3 I had previously ordered for my self and a couple of friends. I must admit that I have not yet tasted it because I am trying to clear out some older Cali cabs & blends to make way for the new wines I have purchased, but I am anxious to do so given the TNs.

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The first bottle I had was just OK, although I popped it the day it arrived so that may have had something to do with it, as the next bottle really was fanatastic, especially for the price.

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first bottle was good.

second bottle was slightly corked.

note for first bottle posted in CT.

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I’m hoping that was my problem as well…I popped a bottle the day I got it and it was a little strange tasting. I’ll pop another today - If it’s as good as everyone’s saying…best buy ever!

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I am amazed at how many people dont let the wine settle that is shipped to you. when wine is shipped it is tossed, shacken and treated overall very badly. and I am not talking about any weather issues that we work hard to neutralize.

Let the wine sit for 4-5 days and let it settle back together. Everyone that opened a bottle on the day it arrived will have the same experience.

Any other retailers or wineries out there back me up on this?

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I always let them settle at least 2-3 days - mostly far, far more.

The Cabots like to open the tape and open the bottle, though.

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I always let any shipped wine sit at least a week, more is preferred. It’s an organic thing that really needs to settle. There is a term out ther called bottle shock-no not the movie. It’s precisely the pumping, movement and handling of the wine into bottle that accounts for the term. I correlate shipping to the same phenomena.

I finally tried a bottle and liked it with about 2 hrs of air. It tasted very sweet, hot and not much varietal correctness at first. With about 2 hrs, it really showed quite nicely. Very good job and for $5-you can’t beat this. This will be my Hollywood Bowl wine for '10-of course we will have others along with it.

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99% of the time I do let them sit….for a very long time. But considering the price and I was anxious to try ‘em out, I couldn’t resist. But the 2nd bottle I had a few days later was MUCH better, at least now I know there’s truth to the old adage to not open a wine the day (or day after) you receive them.

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Come on Yoni, you’re better than that. Let the little guys rest. I’m jealous, my case is supposed to be delivered tomorrow, but with all this snow, we’ll have to see. I won’t touch these until next weekend… I think.

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My view exactly. I let the case sit for three or four days before opening one (usually I wait a couple of weeks), but was completely pleased with that first bottle. Very good wine, regardless of price. At the price, a real steal.

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So I let my case sit for about 2.5 weeks before opening one about 30 minutes ago. Poured through a vinturi. Right now the aromas are outpacing the flavors, but I have all night. This wine is really terrific as a daily drinker. I have to say I feel badly for paying the berserker price. This is certainly a complete and absolute steal. no real need to get into tasting notes as plenty have been left. But for those of us lucky enough to have pounced on this offer, we lucked out.

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Absolutely, Jeb.

I poured it at an alumni get-together, with some La Ferme Julien from Trader Joes’. We went through ONE bottle of the white, and EIGHT bottles of the P.B. Hein!!!

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[winner.gif] We had a tasting of mainly Syrah on Sunday. The Trailblazer tasted 2nd out of five and came in behind a Basel Cellars Pheasant Run Reserve. The Trailblazer is affectionally called Cowboy Wine now in our group, and all who purchased it were greatly pleased. Of the two bottles opened, there was not any left for me do any further than an original pop & pour. Definitely an outstanding QPR on special and a good QPR at the regular price as well.

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Dave,
Are you saying there is such a thing as travel shock? [shock.gif]

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That says it all Todd! [winner.gif]