A blend of 63% Cabernet Sauvignon and 37% Syrah from Paso Robles.
This one was recommended to me because I mentioned that I liked the Herman Story wines. In fact, this one reminds me a lot of about wines from Herman Story. Very dark in color, very ripe, but retaining the aromas and flavors of dark fruit. There is less pepper in this one, but over all a very nice effort.
Their website: http://vinesonthemarycrest.com/ has a link to a video which is worth watching if you have a few minutes.
The posted notes for Satin Doll mention herbs and oak which I can’t seem to find, but the finish is long and smooth.
I’m going to say that my favorite wines from Paso Robles are from Garretson Wine Company and Linne Calodo but this one is right up there.
June 8th, 2008
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In the order tasted, we had a 2004 and 2005 Robert Young Chardonnay, then a 2003, 2002, and a 2001 Robert Young Scion. The 2002 and 2003 are Cabernet Sauvignon and the 2001 is a blend of 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 11% Cabernet Franc, and 9% Merlot. All of the wines are from Alexander Valley.
We didn’t think to rate the Chardonnays but the 2003 and 2001 Scions were the favorites with the 2003 taking first place by one vote over the 2001 and the 2002 getting only one first-place vote.
Here were some of the comments from tasting notes on the three Scions:
2003 – Appearance: Clear, medium-dark color, nice legs. Aroma: Dark cherry, touch of leather, tomato, pepper. Taste: Nice leather, dark fruit, tomato, salty, dry, earthy, chocolate. Aftertaste: Smooth finish, heat, balanced. Overall impression: Good, okay, nice.
2002 – Appearance: Darker than 2003, “Tina Turner” (nice legs). Aroma: Ripe dark fruit, touch of leather, vegetive, smoke, no aroma. Taste: Ripe dark cherry, leather, slightly sweet, no tannins, less flavorful and dry (than the 2003). Aftertaste: Smokey, short finish. Overall impression: Very nice, smooth.
2001 – Appearance: Starting to show age. Aroma: Dark cherry, dark berries. Taste: Nice dark cherry, leather, touch of cedar, spicy humidor, some vinegar. Aftertaste: Beautiful finish with nice pepper. Overall impression: Most balanced good with chocolate.
March 29th, 2008
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A few friends, some great food and some great Pinots. I’ve been down on Pinots lately. I think that is because I haven’t had any that I cared for. All of these were good and food friendly.
February 10th, 2008
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Very dark color with lots of black cherry and a touch of vanilla aromas. A nice mixture of black cherry and smoky leather. This wine has a very smooth finish.
I wish that I had some more of this one.
February 3rd, 2008
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This showed up at my door the other day. I was quite intrigued as the label gives no information about the wine other than the 14.8% alcohol content.
My first taste told me that I opened this one many years too soon. So I let it sit for a bit and I was well rewarded.
This wine is awesome!
It is very dark in color, and it smells a lot like the grilled steak with freshly ground pepper that I served it with. There is a bit of plum and black cherry in there also.
It the mouth, it is very intense. The flavors include minerals, blueberry and a tinge of cherry-cola.
I really liked this one, but I’m sure that I’ve probably missed any opportunity to acquire more as they only produced 590 bottles…
August 24th, 2007
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I paid about $60 for this one a couple of years ago. I was cooking up a nice steak, home-made mashed potatoes and green beans and was looking for something to drink with the meal. I saw the “S” and thought to myself that it was one of the $23 current vintages so I pulled it out. I saw what it was and almost put it back. Then I said “What the heck. It is time.”
Boy did I get that right, as I don’t think this one could sit any longer. When I pulled the cork, it broke into three major chunks. I figured that the wine was probably toast, but the cork pieces all felt soft and the wine stain did not venture up the side of the cork more than about a quarter-inch.
The color is intense dark red with nice legs and the aromas are of toasted oak, ripe dark fruit - mostly dark cherry and a bit of dark chocolate.
It is very smooth with quite a bit of pepper (which went nice with the freshly ground pepper on my grilled steak…). There is a bit of cedar in amongst the dark fruit but the wine changes as it sits in the glass. At first the cedar flavor is a bit too intense, but after a few minutes, that burns off and the dark fruit takes over, as it should.
The finish builds with a bit of heat but then tapers off quite nicely with a touch of mocha at the end.
I’m glad that I opened this one. I would have been sad if I would have waited any longer.
August 6th, 2007
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This is an awesome blend of Zinfandel, Syrah and Mourvedre.
I must say upfront that I think that I opened it much too early. This is a huge wine with a lot of alcohol, but I think it sit another year or two. It is very fruity, but has a great mouth-feel, the taste curve is well-balanced and it matched up with my Trader Joe’s Goat Cheese pizza quite nicely.
Color is dark purple and the wine has nice legs.
Aromas include blackberry, leather, a touch of blueberry, some cedar, and a touch of vanilla. I would like to say it smells like a late harvest Zinfandel, but that doesn’t quite explain the rich and ripe aroma.
In the mouth, it has a great balance. Flavors include blackberry, blueberry, and a horse saddle. (Ok, there’s a bit of leather in there.)
The finish is hot with tons of dark fruit and perhaps a touch of eucalyptus on the very end.
I like it a lot!
May 18th, 2007
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I figured that I probably waited too long to open this one, but I think I caught it right at the peak. It is much more intense than I remember.
The color is intensely deep, dark purple in color. The aromas include very ripe blackberry and blueberry, with a just a touch of vanilla. The flavors include a lot of very ripe dark fruit. And the finish is very hot. There is a lot of alcohol in this one.
This one scores 20 out of 20 points for me!
May 16th, 2007
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This wine has a lot – a lot of dark purple color, a lot of dark fruit aromas and flavors and a lot of pepper on the finish. There is also a little chocolate and vanilla which rounds it out nicely.
I have to say that this is one of my favorite wines that I’ve tasted this year!
http://www.hermanstorywines.com/
April 11th, 2007
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This is the best Coteaux du Languedoc wine that I’ve ever tasted - period!
I’m not totally over my cold, but I can smell well enough to drink wine for the first time in over a week!
If I had this one blind, I would never guess that it was an old world wine.
It has a bright appearance with a black-cherry color with nice legs.
The aroma almost says “Paso Robles.” (The color is not dark enough though.) I say “almost” as I think I smell some roses or other flowers…I don’t smell any wood what-so-ever. (Which is why I wouldn’t think it is a French wine.)
Flavors are well-blended, there is nothing overbearing. There is a little cherry-cola, a touch of licorice, a touch of chocolate, a touch of grilled steak,
A nice long finish it falls off very slowly. Every time you exhale, it comes back to remind you what was just there. Finally a touch of cedar at the back of the mouth… Very nice indeed.
February 1st, 2007
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According to their web site, a blend of 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot, 9% Cabernet Franc, and 6% Petite Verdot. This is a beautiful dark ruby red wine. I smell dark cherries, blackberries and chocolate liquor. The flavors are dark cherry, blackberry, dark chocolate, and just a hint of smoke. The finish is huge, it builds a little heat then turns sweet and has a long gentle finish.
I believe this wine will compliment a standing rib roast quite nicely.
Merry Christmas!
December 25th, 2006
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This is an awesome $25 wine. Unfortunately, they are charging $40 for the thing. I blame the big wine magazine for rating last year’s vintage so high. Talk about ruining a good thing.
Don’t get me wrong, I love Kent Rosunblum’s wine. I just hate paying more than they are worth.
This wine has an awesome deep purple color.
The aromas are dark cherry, black pepper, mocha and a little vanilla.
Tastes include dark chocolate, dark cherry, blackberry, vanilla, charcoal. Lots of fruit and leather on the finish.
This is a great zinfandel but you are going to pay…go ahead and get one bottle, you’ll not be disappointed…
October 15th, 2006
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I think that I bought this one last Christmas time in Wyoming of all places. It was wrapped in a very attractive tissue paper thus assuring that I wouldn’t feel bad paying for it.
Appearance - very dark purple, I figure that there is no way that a wine that looks like this can be anything but outstanding.
Nose - intensely sweet blackberry, a ton of smoke and a little black pepper.
In the mouth - a lot of oak, probably American oak, but not as intense as most wines stored in American oak. This wine probably needs another 5 to 10 years on the shelf, but looking at the cork, I’m not sure it would last that long. The stains on the cork were between 1/3 and 1/2 the length. It might make it another 5 years. I’m not sure that I want to push it that long though.
Anyway, the flavors include tobacco, blackberry, cigar box, dark chocolate and a little black pepper.
The finish is nice and smooth but not as powerful as I had hoped. Don’t get me wrong on that last comment; it does not wimp out on the finish.
I think I paid $40 for this one. If you can get it for $35 or less, it is a bargain. If it costs $45 or more, skip it.
October 11th, 2006
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So I haven’t had a GSM in a while. This one is 50% Grenache, 30% Shiraz and 20% Mourvedre.
It is quite interesting as it has the typical earthy/musty finish of a French Rhone blend, but it also has that HUGE fruit-spice bomb of a Barossa Valley Shiraz.
First off, it is very dark purple – a good sign in my book!
The aroma is very hot with dark berries with a subtle hint of cedar.
In the mouth, it is powerful. There is a lot of dark fruit and a nice bit of spice.
The finish keeps building and building long after you swallow it. There is a little leather and a bit of cigar box to wake you up and say “what was that?”
August 9th, 2006
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This Shiraz is worthy (for the price)!
I paid about $16 for it. It was recommended by the wine shop clerk, who shares my likes and dislikes in wine. When I come in, he will greet me with news of any new arrivals that I might like. He was correct with this one.
I believe this is the second brand of wine that I’ve tried which used the “Zork” closure. I love corks and I hate screw-tops, but I think that for young wines meant to be consumed in a short time period from bottling – the Zork is great. They have a nice web site to explain it at http://www.zork.com.au/
It is a nice dark purple, the aroma is hot with a bit of licorice and cigar box behind blackberries. It has a nice taste curve, fruity at the beginning, peppery in the middle and finish. There is a lot of blackberry with a bit of tar.
This could just be my new pizza wine.
August 5th, 2006
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This is a great wine from Austria in the $18 to $20 price range.
In my tasting notes, I wrote “Get some!”
This is very good. It is huge for a white wine. There is a nice spiciness, which I love in white wine. I’m not sure of the fruit that I tasted, perhaps a touch of pear or honeydew melon. It has a crisp, spicy finish.
My thoughts while tasting this is that it would be great with oysters on the half-shell. I didn’t have any handy, but if I get the opportunity to ever try it I will do so.
August 5th, 2006
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This wine has a beautiful dark purple color. It is bright and very young in appearance. The aromas are leather, intense blackberry and ripe dark fruit. The flavors are intense and peppery with lots of dark fruit. The taste curve is nicely balanced and finishes up with a nice hint of leather.
If I was stuck somewhere with only this wine to drink, I wouldn’t complain. I have to figure out where I can acquire some more…
August 5th, 2006
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This is a blend of 55% Shiraz and 45% Cabernet Sauvignon from Australia. It claims that the alcohol content is 14.5%. I’m not quite buying that as I drank the whole bottle and barely felt it. But this is a decent wine, although I thought it would go well with a nice broiled steak, I say don’t bother, as the wine and steak didn’t complement each other as well as I thought they would. Now if I could just find some chocolate, I think that would do okay.
This has a decent appearance, though not as dark as some American blends. The Aroma has a nice dark cherry aroma but after that, not much else. Some suggest raspberry – okay if you insist, although I think it is closer to dark cherry.
The flavor is nice dark fruit, a bit of peppery spice, perhaps a touch of clove and blueberry. This is very nice, as I said; I drank the whole bottle in one setting. Reason enough in my mind to give it a second chance. I think rather than beef, that I might want to try it with barbequed chicken or perhaps even a spicy dish such as tacos or enchiladas.
If you can find it, pick up a couple of bottles. You’ll not regret it.
July 30th, 2006
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This was a special wine tasting event because the line-up included a few wines with list prices over $100.
The idea was to compare some nice Cabernet Sauvignons and blends from Oakville/Rutherford AVA, Stags Leap AVA and Mount Veeder AVA.
June 18th, 2006
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The color is a very nice dark purple, with nice legs indicating a high alcohol content. It says 16.2% on the label.
At first whiff, I smell only yeast. I think that comes from the screw top, as I’ve noticed that in the last few screw top wines that I’ve tasted right after opening them up.
I let it sit in the glass for a few minutes, and then I smelled intense and ripe dark fruit.
The flavor is a tart but also ripe. I taste blackberry, blueberry and a little strawberry. The taste curve is nicely balanced, especially the finish. There is a nice spiciness from the alcohol, which I also like. I think that the tartness indicates that I opened this one a couple of years before it was intended. That’s okay with me, because this is quite nice as it is.
May 28th, 2006
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