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2005 Pax Syrah Cuvée Christine - USA, California, Sonoma County (6/20/2012)
Very restrained!! That’s right. Pax ages and sheds some of its over the top fruit forward sweetness and morphs into a more restrained style - BUT NOTE - this is barely 7 years old. Still a baby by Hermitage standards. It’s varietally correct with pepper spice, red fruit (cherry) and a bit of blueberry, but relatively calm. The moth feel is smooth without being creamy and the overall presentation is very dry with limited to no sweetness in it. (90 pts.)
Posted from CellarTracker
And this thread has morphed into a discussion of other Pax wines people have opened recently, so who am I to argue?
I still have a few older Pax in the cellar and I continue to be impressed with them.
The Pax age well. I also have several older vintages of their Moriah, Chiristine, and Walker and all are drinking well.
Very good to hear the wine showed well for you guys! Opened one a few weeks ago with friends, and all us were disappointed. Very hot, not balanced, a poor showing, went away with a feeling it would never come together no matter how long it was aged. We spent some time after the first taste discussing what to do with the rest of the wine? Make a sauce from it? Figured it could be used for some useful purpose since none of us thought it drinkable? Expected a lot more.
We’re popping one this evening.
Mike D, if you have an extra 05 Castelli you can check in on for me, I’d appreciate your perspective.
My experience mirrors Nick’s. I sold all of my remaining bottles of Pax recently to a retailer because they didn’t hold together to my palate. The promise of the wines when young never materialized for me. I may well be wrong, but believe that they were heavily manipulated (picked too ripe and maybe someone accidentally put a garden hose in the tank, around the time a bag of tartaric acid fell in, too).
Mark, I don’t agreethe with your remark on the 05 Castelli. It’s the same vintage as the TN above and while my palate has really changed the last few years, and I used to prefer a fatter style, the 05 Castelli from last September was smooth, polished and had life left in the bottle. This is why I wanted to see if Mike had a couple to test drive. Some of the older wines are big, yes. But not all Pax is as you describe, at least in my opinion and with respect to the 05 Castelli.
Mark,
Sorry the wines didn’t meet your expectations in the long term…the wines were farmed and vinified with aging as the goal…that being said The Christine was always my least favorite bottling…mostly all destemmed and lots of new oak…but that was the idea…have a cuvee that was more approachable young big and smooth and concentrated, but easier to sink your teeth into young than say a Griffins Lair or Castelli-Knight Ranch. For clarification purposes, very rarely was a wine watered back after 2004 …and without question not an ounce of tartaric acid was added to a single 2005 wine…the vintage was a breath of fresh air after the hot 2004 vintage and all of the wines had plenty of natural acidity…
Drink more Syrah!
~Pax
The Alder Springs and Kobler wines have aged extremely well and are both drinking great right now ( both '05 and '06)
I have to agree with with Pax that Cuvee Christine is my least favorite.
Pax,
Thanks for your clarification. I wish you great continuing success. And the right to make wine under your own name, should you choose to do so.
It has been my experience that 2005 was a great year for Pax, and the wines keep on improving in the bottle. The 2005 Cuvee Keltie is special, and the various Alder Springs also in top form.
I have had more mixed results for 2003 and 2004, and in general i like the Pax Mendocino and SC wines more than the RRVs.
Still have a 2005 Walker Vine Hill and 2005 Castelli Knight Ranch Syrah in the cellar. Will be curious to see how they are drinking. Anyone have any recent tasting experience with the Walker Vine Hill?
Parker sure likes them:
2005 Cuvee Christine - 95 - Drink: N/A
2005 Castelli Knight Ranch - 93 to 95 - Drink: 2006 to 2026
2005 Walker Vine Hill - 94 - Drink: 2007 to 2017
Nick, it’s been almost 3 years since I finished my last 05 Walker but at that time, i thought the wine would age. I’d be curious to try one now, given my palate change and also the additional years of bottle age. I think the Castelli is the best of the class for the vintage, based on the past notes I have on the wines.
I agree with this, and have had several of the '05 Alder Springs bottlings in the past year that I thought were great. Haven’t had a Christine in years. As of now my only remaining '05 is a Keltie, but I’ll backfill on '05 Griffin’s Lair any opportunity I get.
I agree on the Griffin’s Lair. One of my favorites. I think I have a few left. Maybe it’s a good thing to open with grilled meat this weekend.
In 2005 my vote goes to Obsidian. With these cool nights expected to last close to the weekend we may have one more Syrah bottle to uncork before summer!
Frank, I’m out of 05 Castelli. I have but two bottles of Pax left: an 06 Alder Springs and an 05 Kobler Family.
And just a heads’ up— the 2004 Christine opened Monday night was just beautiful both Monday and Tuesday nights, and tonight I hope for the same result. My impressions echo all of the recent CT notes. Wish there were more among my remaining 31 bottles of Pax.
