 | A perennial Best Buy, Winner’s Tank’s 2008 Shiraz is a glass-coating opaque purple. It exhibits an excellent nose of violets, incense, blueberry, and blackberry. Layered on the palate with succulent flavors, this smooth-textured, lengthy effort will offer pleasure over the next 4-5 years.
Wine Advocate Rating: 90
[Issue: #186 / Dec 09]
$14.00 |
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 | Glass-staining ruby. Ripe aromas of black raspberry, licorice and a touch of vanilla. Generous and open, with a spicy quality to the sweet flavors of raspberry, cherry and candied violet. This delivers a lot of mid-palate sweetness and very good finishing clarity and spiciness.
Int'l Wine Cellar Rating: 90
[Issue: July/Aug 09]
$17.00 |
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 | The 2008 Trumps Shiraz was aged in predominantly new American oak for 17 months. A glass-coating purple color, it displays a smoky, toasty, spicy nose leading to a fruit-filled, succulent Shiraz with a bit of underlying structure. This lengthy effort will evolve for 1-2 years but can be enjoyed now and over the next 6-8 years.
Wine Advocate Rating: 91
[Issue: 186 / Dec 09]
$18.00 |
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 | The purple-colored 2007 Trumps Grenache (55%)-Shiraz (45%) was sourced from vines ranging in age from 55-80 years and was aged for 15 months in 2 year old French barrels. It offers up an alluring bouquet of cedar, scorched earth, black cherry, and blueberry. Supple, ripe, and easy-going on the palate, this forward, friendly effort can be enjoyed over the next 6 years.
Wine Advocate Rating: 90
[Issue: #186 / Dec 09]
$19.00 |
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 | Last year I was shown four De Lisio wines, this year only the entry level 2007 Quarterback, a sign of the times in a microcosm. The wine is a blend of 30% Cabernet Sauvignon, 27% Merlot, 26% Shiraz, and 17% Grenache aged for 15 months in seasoned French oak. Dark ruby in color, it delivers an enticing bouquet of floral notes, spice box, black cherry, and blueberry. Full-bodied, ripe, and sweetly-fruited on the palate, it manages to retain a sense of elegance. This lengthy blend has enough structure to evolve for 1-2 years but there is no reason to delay your gratification. It is also an excellent value.
Wine Advocate Rating: 90
[Issue: #186 / Dec 09]
$19.00 |
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 | The 2006 The Rascal Shiraz is deep crimson-colored with an attractive bouquet of smoked meat, blueberry, and blackberry. Layered on the palate, it has excellent depth and grip and enough structure to evolve for several years. Drink it from 2010 to 2018.
Wine Advocate Rating: 90
[Issue: #181 / Feb 09]
$19.00 |
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 | The purple-colored 2008 Woodcutter’s Shiraz offers up a fragrant bouquet of violets, Asian spices, plum, and blueberry. Round, smooth-textured, and forward, this flavorful, easy-going effort can be enjoyed over the next 4-5 years.
Wine Advocate Rating: 90
[Issue: #186 / Dec 09]
$21.00 |
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 | The 2008 Cuvee Juveniles, a blend of 60% Grenache, 20% Shiraz, and 20% Mataro raised in tank. Dark ruby-colored, it presents an alluring aromatic array of spice box, incense, and black cherry compote. Ripe, sweet, pure, and easy to understand, this forward, friendly effort can be enjoyed now and over the next 3 years.
Wine Advocate Rating: 90
[Issue: #186 / Dec 09]
$21.00 |
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 | The 2007 Wallace is a blend of 75% Shiraz and 25% Grenache aged for 12 months in seasoned French and American oak. Deep crimson-colored, it reveals a fragrant bouquet of cedar, scorched earth, pencil lead, black cherry, and blueberry. On the palate it has an elegant personality with racy, slightly tart, fruit flavors, good concentration, and a silky finish. Drink this excellent value through 2017.
Star winemaker Ben Glaetzer sources all of his fruit for this label from the Ebenezer district in northern Barossa Valley. Many knowledgeable experts consider this the finest sub-region of Barossa.
Wine Advocate Rating: 90
[Issue: #181 / Feb 09]
$22.00 |
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 | The Shiraz offerings begin with the 2007 Valley Floor Shiraz which spent 12 months in American oak, 20% new. Made in a forward style, it offers up aromas of black cherry, blueberry, and cedar. Medium-bodied, it has enough ripe tannin to evolve for 1-2 years and should drink well through 2017.
Wine Advocate Rating: 90
[Issue: #181 / Feb 09]
$22.00 |
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 | Full ruby. Blackberry, violet, licorice and bitter chocolate on the nose, with hints of fresh herbs. Sweet, suave and more pliant than the maiden 2007 offering, but with plenty of energy to the dark fruit and peppery spice flavors. Very good vinosity here-and a lot of syrah for the price.
Int'l Wine Cellar Rating: 90
[Issue: Jan/Feb 2010]
$24.00 |
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 | Saturated ruby. Extremely primary nose displays dark berry and cherry skin scents, along with cracked pepper and black olive. Deep and sweet on the palate, with chewy dark fruit compote flavors, youthfully firm tannins and a late note of candied violet. Gains energy with air and finishes with impressive lift and cut.
Int'l Wine Cellar Rating: 91
[Issue: May/June 09]
$29.00 |
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 | A long-term proposition is the inky/purple-hued, elegant, medium to full-bodied 2005 Shiraz. Not as fruit-forward as its less expensive sibling, it reveals attractive notes of black fruits interwoven with spicy oak, flowers, and earth. Cellar this moderately tannic Shiraz for 1-2 years, and drink it over the following 10-12.
Wine Advocate Rating: 90+
[Issue: #167 / Oct 06]
$29.00 |
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 | Vivid red color. Fresh cherry and anise on the nose, with building spiciness and an exotic incense quality. Lush dark fruit flavors show liqueur-like power and depth, with nervy acidity adding spine. Candied violet and rose notes hang tenaciously on the long, sappy finish. This is extremely alluring.
Int'l Wine Cellar Rating: 91
[Issue: July/Aug 08]
Regular price: $56.00 Sale price: $32.00 |
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 | The 2006 The Steading is the same cepage as the Juveniles but aged for two years in neutral hogsheads (300-liter barrels) and is David Powell’s spot-on take on Chateauneuf-du-Pape. Dark ruby/purple in color, it offers an alluring perfume of garrigue, damp earth, clove, kirsch, and black raspberry. Slightly austere now, it will profit from 2-3 years of additional cellaring and drink well through 2018.
Wine Advocate Rating: 91
[Issue: #181 / Feb 09]
$34.00 |
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 | Deep, bright ruby. Highly expressive bouquet of blackcurrant and boysenberry, with sexy floral and spice notes adding vivacity. Lively red and dark fruit flavors gain an exotic floral quality with air and become spicier on the back end. Impressively vibrant syrah, with excellent finishing clarity and sweet persistence.
Int'l Wine Cellar Rating: 94
[Issue: May/June 09]
Regular price: $60.00 Sale price: $35.00 |
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 | Inky violet. Highly perfumed boysenberry and blueberry aromas are enlivened by exotic floral pastille, vanilla and incense notes, plus a subtle hint of graphite. Suave and silky in texture, showing impressively pure dark berry and fresh cherry flavors on a midweight frame. Whatever tannins might be here are buried under an avalanche of pure, sweet fruit. Downright sexy shiraz, finishing sweet and long, with a persistent candied violet note.
Int'l Wine Cellar Rating: 93
[Issue: July/Aug 07]
Regular price: $56.00 Sale price: $35.00 |
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 | The 2007 Syrah Phoenix Ranch offers Northern Rhone-like characteristics of bacon fat, roasted meat, bouquet garni, and sweet blackberry and currant fruit. It is full-bodied with sweet tannin, good acidity, and a notion of tapenade. This super-complex, French-styled Syrah can be drunk now and over the next 7-8 years.
Wine Advocate Rating: 91
[Issue: #180 / Dec 08]
$45.00 |
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 | The 2006 El Corazon de Jonata (called Todos) (39% Syrah, 35% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Sangiovese, and the rest Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc, and Viognier) is a 1,000-case cuvee that will be bottled in a few months. Profound, sexy aromas of smoked duck, soy, blackberries, pepper, and a hint of spring flowers are followed by an exotic, full-bodied, voluptuously textured wine bursting with complexity and richness. A subtle smoky, meaty component is present in the deep, dark blackberry flavors. Long, rich, and pure, this stunning 2006 should drink beautifully for 10-15+ years.
Wine Advocate Rating: (95-97)
[Issue: #177 / June 08]
$45.00 |
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 | Moving up in price as well as quality, the 2005 Shiraz Old Vine (45- to 105-years old) is an ageworthy, full-bodied, powerful, muscular Shiraz boasting plenty of tannin as well as structure, and a sweet perfume of creme de cassis, toasty oak, white flowers, and licorice. While accessible, this powerful red should keep for 10-15 years.
Wine Advocate Rating: 94
[Issue: #167 / Oct 06]
Regular price: $60.00 Sale price: $49.00 |
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 | Inky ruby. Explosive, highly perfumed aromas of black raspberry, blueberry, smoky minerals and incense, with a strong undercurrent of black pepper. Impressively pure and spicy, offering sweet red and dark berry flavors, velvety texture and a slow-building floral pastille quality. Gains freshness on the finish, which strongly echoes the spice and mineral notes. This is one to put away, but there'd be no crime in drinking a bottle now.
Int'l Wine Cellar Rating: 94
[Issue: May/June 09]
$55.00 |
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 | The 2006 Shiraz (75%) Cabernet Sauvignon (25%) Anaperenna is the wine formerly known as Godolphin, the change resulting from a trademark dispute. It was aged for 15 months in new French and American oak. Opaque purple, it offers a sensational bouquet of pain grille, scorched earth, meat, game, blueberry, and black currants. This is followed by a surprisingly elegant yet powerful, structured wine with gobs of spicy fruit, ripe tannins, and a plush texture. The long, 60-second finish is succulent and sweet. Give this classy wine 4-6 years in the cellar and enjoy it through 2030.
Wine Advocate Rating: (94-97)
[Issue: #173 / Oct 07]
$55.00 |
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 | (55% syrah and 45% merlot) Wild aromas of mocha, graphite and game, with a complicating note of roasted nuts. Sweet, plush and seamless, but with excellent energy to the layered black fruit flavors. This comes across as remarkably vibrant for a wine with a pH of 3.9. Finishes with building but very fine tannins and excellent length.
Int'l Wine Cellar Rating: 94
[Issue: May/June 08]
Regular price: $100.00 Sale price: $69.00 |
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 | Offers a savory mix of spice, fresh earth, dried currant, berry and light cedary oak, delivered in a full-bodied yet elegant style. Ends with supple tannins. Drink now through 2013. 175 cases made.
Wine Spectator Rating: 91
[Issue: Dec 31/08]
$75.00 |
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 | The saturated purple 2007 Syrah Cailloux Vineyard contains 4% Viognier in the blend. It displays a Cote-Rotie-like nose of smoked meat, olives, herbs, game, and bacon. Layered, plush, and super-rich, this full-bodied, pleasure-bent effort has exceptional length. Difficult to resist now, it can be enjoyed over the next 10-12 years.
Wine Advocate Rating: 97
[Issue: #190 / Aug 10]
$165.00 |
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 | The 2006 Syrah Armada Vineyard was aged in barrel for 30 months in 20% new Rostaing barrels. Aromatically, it is the most brooding of these Syrahs with notes of smoke, meat, game, garrigue, and blueberry. The most tightly wound of the Syrahs, it is the one that will most profit from several years of cellaring. It should offer prime drinking from 2012 to 2021.
Wine Advocate Rating: 98
[Issue: #185 / Oct 09]
$165.00 |
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 | Torbrecks flagship is the 2005 Run Rig, a 97% Shiraz cuvee sourced from 120- to 160-year-old vines with 3% finished Viognier added before bottling. It spent 30 months in 60% new French oak. Opaque purple/black in color, it has a kinky, exotic bouquet of fresh road tar, smoke, lavender, black pepper, game, blueberry, and black raspberry. Full-bodied and opulent on the palate, the wine is dense, packed, and unevolved. It will continue to open up over the next 10-12 years and drink well through 2040 in the style of a Chapoutier Hermitage. If it develops as I think it will, it will be a candidate for perfection down the road.
Wine Advocate Rating: 98+
[Issue: #181 / Feb 09]
$183.00 |
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 | The 2007 Labels Syrah will be a blend of 89% Syrah, 7% Grenache, and 4% Viognier from four separate vineyards (the estate vineyards – 11 Confessions and Cumulus, and the two vineyards where Krankl purchases fruit – Whitehawk and Bien Nacido), this dense purple-hued offering displays a beautiful bouquet of graphite, spring flowers, blueberries, blackberries, and wood spice. It possesses fabulous fruit, layers of silky tannin, and good acidity – all seamlessly melded into the wine’s structure. Already delicious, it should put on weight and add additional nuances after bottling. Passing through what looks like a junkyard (or the first or second level of hell) to get to the warehouse of both bodily and spiritual pleasures called Sine Qua Non, is a hoot and a howl, but well worth it if you can somehow wrangle an appointment with the reclusive proprietor, Manfred Krankl. Tasting here is one of the highlights of my year, and all my expectations were satisfied if not eclipsed by what Krankl has made in 2007. Yields in 2007 were exceptionally low, with the Syrah averaging 1.5 to 2 tons of fruit per acre, Grenache 1.3 tons per acre, and the white grapes 1.28 tons of fruit per acre. Put another way, Krankl’s highest yields averaged a meager 1.05 to 1.55 pounds of fruit per vine. That in large part explains the compelling aromatics, texture, richness, and intensity of these wines. Add to that the compulsive viticultural work and fanatical attention to detail in the winery, and it’s no wonder Sine Qua Non remains one of California’s most remarkable reference points of world-class wines. The good news is that the first wine from the new home vineyard in Ventura County, the Cumulus Vineyard, has been produced. Moreover, the continued brilliance of the other estate vineyard in the Santa Rita Hills, 11 Confessions, is confirmed. Over the last few years I have not been able to taste through the Sine Qua Non wines without coming across one that merits a three-digit score.
Wine Advocate Rating: (95-98)
[Issue: #184 / Aug 09]
$250.00 |
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 | The 2007 Bionic Frog Syrah surrenders a splendid aromatic array of forest floor, herbs, olives, bacon, underbrush, blueberry, and black cherry. This is followed by a voluptuous wine with gobs of succulent fruit, impeccable balance, enough fine-grained tannin to evolve for 5-7 years, and a lengthy, seductive finish. Give it 5-7 years of additional cellaring and drink it from 2015 to 2027.
Wine Advocate Rating: 99
[Issue: #190 / Aug 10]
$325.00 |
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 | The 2004 vintage was outstanding in Barossa, McLaren Vale, and Magill, the regions where the grapes were sourced for the marvelous 2004 Grange. It contains 4% Cabernet Sauvignon and was aged for 16 months in 100% new American oak hogsheads. A glass-coating opaque purple color, it displays a superb nose of wood smoke, Asian spices, incense, game, blueberry, and blackberry liqueur. Medium to full-bodied, satin textured, with deeply layered, succulent blackberry, plum, and chocolate flavors, it has the structure and complexity to merit extended cellaring of a decade and more. The winery estimates a drinking curve of 2016 to 2050; I-d be a bit more conservative on the long end of the range. It will ultimately be seen as one of the great vintages of Grange.
Wine Advocate Rating: 99
[Issue: #186 / Dec 09]
Regular price: $450.00 Sale price: $325.00 |
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