This wine comes from hillside fruit from the warmer Sage Canyon region of Napa. While this is a big wine, with substantial alcohol(15.4%) and lower acidity compared to some of the cooler climate syrah I normally drink, I really enjoyed this wine. Despite the ABV, it doesn’t show much more alcohol than most Napa wines, it has an admirable sense of balance and really nice complexity and still has some nice juiciness after a bit air. Lots of dark red and black fruit that is well-balanced by really nice earthy, minty, herbal notes and tannins that I really enjoyed. Balanced and by no means a fruit bomb. I think this would be outstanding with some lamb chops. Overall, for me this beats the heck out of most warmer climate syrah/shiraz I’ve had in recent years including some high-end Jay Miller 94-96 point Aussie Shirazes I’ve had recently and some highly rated California Syrah’s I’ve had recently. I’m really digging some of the herbal notes on the backend. Nice work Gary. (90 pts.+)
The '05 was really good too, I haven’t popped the '06 yet.
I think the 2006 seemed a bit more light on its feet and balanced/complex. I didn’t take detailed notes on the 2005, but thought it was a bit more of a brute, maybe a steak wine. Still very good.