Proprietor: Leviathan Wines

Vintage: 2007

Appellation: 100% California

Varietals: 47% Cabernet Franc, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon, 16% Syrah, 14% Merlot

Tasting: Beautiful dark black/red in the glass. concentrated flavors of baked Cherry, blackberry, raspberry, scorched forrest floor, toasted oak, black pepper, roasted beef, coffee, and chocolate. On the palate the wine is intensely flavored, full bodied, round, with soft tannins, bright lively acidity and great balance, with a beautiful long velvety finish.

It is really hard to find a more pleasant red wine from California in the mid $40.00 range than this one. Get it and enjoy!

Rating: 93+

Sometimes the stars align and the week’s events fade like an old photograph and the red juice speaks your name… Such is the case with today and Ovid.

Dark currant and cassis, licorice and blackberry along with a supple smoky blue texture. Well balanced with round silky tannins this wine breathes a fragrant bouque of evolving textures. Lovely and alluring. The finish goes on for days with fruit coming out more and more with dark cherry notes.

My friends shall damn me for not saving this one… But it called my name! Get here quickly if anyone wants a sip.

93 Paul, 93 Carol

Proprietor: Torbreck Cellars

Vintage: 2005

Appellation: Barossa Valley, Australia

Varietal: 100% Mataro or what some of you know as Mourvèdre from a single vineyard

Note: Two years in new French barriques. Unfiltered and unfined.

Tasting: Dark purple in the color. Beautiful notes of cassis, plum, followed by tobacco, tar, dark olives, leather, eucalyptus, scorched earth, roasted meat and a beautiful mineral component. The wine shows great balance even though it is not blended with another varietal such as Grenache. The Pict can be immensely enjoyed now but has the structure to age and improve with cellaring.

Rating: 94 JH, 94 PC

Proprietor: Torbreck Cellars

Vintage: 2006

Appelation: Barossa Valley, Australia

Varietal: 92% Shiraz, 8% Viognier

Tasting: Beautiful black purple  color in the stem. This wine has a massive bouquet of dark fruit, roasted beef, eucalyptus, sasparilla, dark truffles, bottle caps (the candy), caramel, black cassis, cola, minerals, and toasted oak. The palate is silky smooth, with a full round mouthfeel. The wine coats your entire mouth and lingers for an elegantly long and generous finish.

This wine can be greatly enjoyed now with some decanting, but will improve with some rest in the cellar. I will continue Part 2 of this post tomorrow.

Review: PC 94, JH 95

Rasberry notes with dark fruit very interesting nose with some rose and licorice. The dark fruity nature of this wine comes out as it opens. The finish goes on for some time giving a great taste of tannic fruit in your mouth.

The lost art of finding great wine and then finding it’s little brother and then having them together is hard to do these days but that is just what we did.

Arcanium II was right next to the Arcanium I… So we had it as well.

92 Paul, 93 Carol

Up front burgunday cherry, cassis, and awesome tannins for
2004. Good spice and and dark fruit with spice. Black cherry and a nice spin of spice and fruit.
The mid pallet is full of cedar spice and dark fruit with a long complex finish of corriander and dark berry goodness.

This wine has an ability to last 5 to 10 years. You should open a bottle of current wine one hour or more before drinking.

Release in 2007, this wine brings “the thunder” to quote Gary V… Licorice on the finish speaks of this wine’s power to bring it.

PC 94, Carol 95, Don 94, Micheal 94

Carol and I are out on a date night… And of course we are thinking, drinking, and writing about wine. We are at Brix Wine Cellars in Houston. Nita brought us some Henriot champagne to start the night off and Carol has finally Found a rose that she loves. And btw, the truffle fries are addicting.

We were very pleased to find that Don and Nita had brought in the 2006 Royal City syrah from winemaker Charles Smith. This wine was very nice and deservedly so, wine enthusiast rated it a 100 points. Generated from Walla Walla Washington fruit100% Stoneridge Vineyard located northeast of the Wahluke Slope AVA, across the Saddle Mountains, near Royal City, each glass is continuing to open and show this wine’s fantastically complex structure.
Notes of blackberry, plum, tobacco, and a short burst of floral goodness. Very nice long finish, a little tanic on the finish and now some tobacco but this wine has only been open about thirty minutes.
We ate some sliders which where fantastic, like all the food here (check out the new menu). The wine went great with the food. And we are hopeful this wine will age well for 6-10 years. Stacked with fruit goodness, but not so much that it blows the structure away, we love this wine. I will be buying for locker and cellar. Get some!

Paul 94 Carol 94

Vintage: 2005

Proprietor: Bounty Hunter

Varietal: 100% Cabernet Sauvignon sourced exclusively from the Beckstoffer Dr. Cane Vineyard

Appellation: St. Helena, CA  AVA

Note: Aged 22 months in French Oak of which 70% is new. Only 257 cases produced.

Tasting: Black cherries, black currant, violets, cigar humidor, graphite, black pepper, and Hatch chile pepper’s. The wine

shows nice balance and and a generous pleasant finish.

Rating: PC 92, JH 93

Carol and I are on our 21st anniversary and we decided this wine was great enough to take five minutes and blog. If you can find it (although not hard to find) get it and drink some every year for the next 5 years or more… Let’s see I need to buy 3 per year for 7 years – I need 21 bottles… And a second job.
Anyway, beautiful blueberry and cassis with licorice. Very smooth and yes it is exceptional. The Margaux nature is hard to miss and maybe that is the 5% Cab Franc or maybe it is the wine making skill of Beth Novak, Rosemary Cakebread, or Jenifer Williams – have we ever said how much we love women winemakers… They have the nose and tastebuds for wine making.
Ok – i’m done – Carol rates it 97 and I am rating it 96.

Btw- if you are looking for a wine bar in Fort Worth look no farther than Zambrano’s Wine Cellar – who although had a sold out wine tasting made room for me and my lovely wife – Cef is the best.

Proprietor: John Duval Wines

Vintage: 2006

Region: Barossa Valley

Varietals: Shiraz 52%, Grenache 30%, Mourvedre 18%

Shiraz was sourced from vineyards in the Stockwell, Light Pass, Krondorf and Marananga regions.
Grenache from old bush vines 50-60 years old from Stockwell, Light Pass and Krondorf regions.
Mourvedre from old bush vines, the oldest over 100 years old, from the Light Pass and Krondorf regions.

Note: Fermentation with submerged cap in both traditional old open top tanks and small stainless steel fermenters. 100% barrel matured for 16 months. Some Shiraz finished fermentation in new oak. 10% new fine grain French oak hogsheads (300 litres), balance; 3 years and older mostly French oak.

Tasting: Beautiful dark purple-red in the stem. Raspberry, red cherry, black cherry, blueberry, followed by Spanish cedar, tobacco, spice box, smoked game, black pepper, and nice floral notes. Excellent full-bodied structure and impeccable balance with rich ripe fruit and finely grained tannins. The finish is generous and pleasant. This wine will improve with bottle rest and will drink for around 10 years or more, but can be enjoyed now with some decanting.

Rating: 94 JH