What Would Mikey Drink

Dark purple. Boysenberry, plum and vanilla/ oak nose. Very intense raw, young fruit on the palate. Sexy and sleek. All wound up tight. Long, long finish. Not showing a lot of special character other than the lovely fruit. That may improve over time.  Grade: A-.  A gift from my friend Steve.  Thanks Steve!  

This is a perfectly stored bottle of a not very good wine. Nice ruby color. Rusted somewhat maderized aromas. Something like rotten tomatoes and tin on the palate. barely drinkable. This was an experimental purchase from Zachys for $25. They’ve owned it since release. Dumping out. Grade D-

Teeth staining viscus purple. More savage and tannic than the 01 I drank recently. This is hard like granite. Interesting dripping roasted plum jam aromas. Then a block of dense and firm flavors and a long finish. This isn’t drinking great now, but has some potential. Not especially complex. Grade: B

Revisiting this after many years. Its delicious now. Deep dark ruby. Incredibly interesting aromas of roasted suckling pig, graphite, and blackberry jam. Now melded together on the hearty palate, with some bacon meshed stewed fruits, roasted goose, and fois gras. Teeth staining. I can feel it clinging to every cell in my mouth. Long finish. [...]

A failed experiment. This was in the $25 bargin bin at Zachys a few months ago. The cork crumbled and I wasn’t expecting much, and didn’t get much. Shows the unpleasant wet cardboard flavors from when Oregon pinot doesn’t work. Possibly a cork issue, but not drinkable. No Grade.

Killer Gevrey earth funk aromas. Mushrooms. Then a dense and funky palate with gamy roasted meat flavors, dried leaves and forrest. Very complex and suave. Slightly choppy but long finish. Drinking quite primary for a 7 year old wine. This reminds me how much I love the 2005 vintage. They all seem to have a [...]

Pale golden. Musty white botrytized raisin aromas, with some grapefruit. Long, dense and perfectly balanced palate of peaches, pineapple, hay, straw, honeysuckle, litchi, and simple syrup. Nice balancing acids. I really like the power and elegance. This is on the young side. but is absolutely delicious. I paid $22 for my half bottle and it [...]

Great sappy intensity.   The 08s I’ve tried so far have a dark lush color and a lot of acids.     Intense, earthy iron aromas.    Strong masculine cherry juice and strawberry rhubarb.    Long finish.  Not the most complexity but an excellent mouth full of burgundy for $30.   Grade: A-