v18. Very nice. Soft white pepper and smashed black cherry nose. Rich black cherry and blackberry fruit. Smooth, tight, cola, mocha , soft leather and ground pepper finish. Lot of words , but well balanced! — 3 years ago
Dark, ripe cherry with integrated soft earthy tannins giving it a very nice finish. Notes of leader, fig and spice. We drank out of a stainless steel thermos with our picknick, baguette, salami, fig spread and various Italian cheeses picknick after a 2.5 mile hike along the abandoned rail road with a roaring Payette river as the back ground. Fun times! — 4 years ago
2005 vintage. Almost tastes like it could have been released last week. Super youthful with dark berry and plum blasts. Decent structure but not oppressive. Catching this one just below the top of the bell curve. Hopefully, you’ve got more than one bottle kicking around on a piece of ground in your hometown. Other-worldly now but methinx it’s about to get even better. Last tasted in mid-June and same score but this bottle was slightly better. Seek this out-now. — 2 years ago
Love this! No decant (imho it doesn’t need it). This is everything you want. Balanced fruit and acid. Served with bbq ribeye (the rub with brown sugar and ground coffee is what brought these together). Second night sautéed chicken with rosemary and a pesto pasta was also perfect. Love this! SS — 4 years ago
Bold notes of plum, ground pepper leathery notes with dusty, mouth drying tannins and a medium to heavy body, this was really a good blend for the smokehouse at the resort. — 3 years ago
Mature colour, brownish at the rim and deep dark red in the core.
Baking spices, ground coffee, figs, earth, tomatoleaf and balsamic notes. Soft and well balanced mouthfeel, very nice and harmonious. Actually better than the 99 at the moment. Perfect for my lasagne bolognese. — 3 years ago
A nice middle ground between oak and steel finish. Not overly fruity but the Chardonnay fruit is there. Smooth finish with a little butter. Great with food. — 4 years ago
Grilling some excellent pork chops on a beautiful warm San Diego evening, and my pairing instincts took me to an aged St-I. This from arguably the best Oregon vintage of the 2000’s, it represents perhaps the most Burgundian effort by Mr Vlossak during his “tenure” working the hallowed Seven Springs vineyard. Savory, smoky, brambly, with moderate acidity and tannins, an undertone of grilled herbs, brilliant restrained red fruit, and a hint of brett to round it out. Wine outshined the chop, but all goodness. — 4 years ago
Devin Brown
The Description: Dense deep red color. Complex and true to House Style and brimming with mocha/coffee ground aromatics, heightened by tar/bitumen "black" notes. Appealing char and creamy, vanillin oak detected ever-so-subtly in the background. Naturally, a flurry of fruits, spice and varietal markers abound. The palate, in a couple of words, voluminous and powerful. A sensory stratification of layers of taste – separated via time-of-detection and unravelling of flavors. At first, Christmas pudding with roasted nuts, then rare lamb and black olives, then sarsaparilla spice. Tannins awashed, oak absorbed, fruit awakened.
The opinion: agree with above, excellent — 10 months ago