Purple in color, opaque and bright.  The nose is very nice with black raspberries, baking spice, black pepper and a bit of roasted meats.  On the palate, this is more black cherry than darker fruit.  Its ripe with firm tannins.  Drinking youthfully, this will benefit from air or further cellaring.  It has good acidity and a nice depth to it.  It will need bigger foods or drink it on its own.  In our group tasting the got four first place votes out of ten and was the groups WOTN.  

Tensley makes some of the best AND best value Syrahs anywhere.  This wine is outstanding.  Purple in color, ruby at the rim.  The nose is dusty with spice, black raspberries, slight black pepper and bit of coffee.  There is some volatile acidity on this wine.  Whether that is an issue depends on your tolerance.  On the palate, this is sweet and slightly cloying.  Ripe vs. Residual Sugar?  I think a bit of RS but not crazy.  Lots of black raspberry fruit.  Slightly cloying.  This is a tough fruit match but a tasty wine that drinks well on its own and will work with spicy foods.  

Ah, Daniel Boone.  RIP.  Sometimes Fess Parker wines get dissed by the cognoscenti.  That's too bad as they make really good wines at affordable prices.  This was purchased for $25 and was an excellent Syrah.  It kept getting better with air.  It probably needs a nice decant or a few more years in a cellar but it was very enjoyable right now.  Purple in color, ruby at the rim.  The nose is dusty with spice and black raspberries.  On the palate, this drinks delicious.  Juice acidity.  Black raspberry fruit with a softer texture.  Black olives.  It is sweet with what sees to be slight residua

I am not sure how proper a bottle this was.  Certainly, not as good as prior bottles I have had in the past.  Purple in color, clear and bright.  The nose is different.  Some black raspberry fruit but also cloves and a slight minty quality.  Very nice texture although there are still tannins.  Black raspberry fruit that starts out a bit bitter but then finishes a bit sweet.  This was a vintage that had rains at the end and perhaps at least some of these grapes may have been picked after the harvest as it is lighter than most vintages of this wine.  All that said, it is still a very good win

This is a reasonably priced Chardonnay.  It does have a fair amount of oak on it, but is still on the crisper style.  Golden in color.  The nose has lemon vanilla cream with some raw cut lumber.  It has a nice oily texture.  Plenty of fresh oak on the palate as well but also some lemon and orange peel.  Slightly bitter on the finish.  For the price (around $16), this is a nice Chardonnay for drinking over the first few years.  

What a spectacular bottle of wine.  This will certainly be in the running for WOTY.  Pop and pour, it took around thirty minutes to really open.  Luckily, this was being share with just a couple of friends.  This wine is no longer the port-like monster of its youth.  It is still a big wine for Chave, but it is starting to have a certain control to it.  Purple/ruby in color.  The nose is amazing with black raspberries, violets, slight white pepper, minerals and earth.  On the palate, this has tight layers that unwind in the glass.  Black raspberries, white pepper and crushed rocks.  Long fin

My favorite Chardonnay producer (not my favorite vineyard) but the house style is unmistakable.  Light golden in color.  The nose has a lovely lemon vanilla creme quality to it with nice minerality.  This vineyard also seems to have a slight pine quality which while good is a bit harder to match with food.  Nice balance.  Good acidity.  The palate has the same flavors with the vanilla less in the foreground and the minerals more prominent.  This bottle was paired with Japanese foods and it worked very well.  

This is drinking well right now if young.  It was brought to a Japanese restaurant and worked wonderfully with all of the foods.  It is sweet, so if you are not fond of sweet wines, then you may want to pass.  Light yellow gold in color.  Beautiful nose of minerals/wet stones, grapefruit and a bit of pineapple.  Slightly viscous but with good cut to it.  Lots of depth as well as width on the palate.  The grapefruit dominates here but there is a nice underlying minerality.  Good finish.  It is delicious but with the right food is where it really shines.  This will probably continue to evolve

Opened to watch the NCAA Championship Basketball game.  While still young, this is drinking nicely and provided a lot of enjoyment today.  Still, its best days are ahead and this should continue to improve.  Purple in color with ruby swirls.  On the nose, this has black raspberries, black pepper, slight bacon fat and slighter violets.  On the palate, this has firm tannins.  Juicy black raspberry fruit.  Showing layers of black raspberries, charcoal and earth.  Delicious.  Needs bigger foods.  This should easily last another decade and probably two.  

This is an outstanding Napa Cab.  It is, however, also quite expensive and while that doesn't figure into the tasting note, it does enter into buying decisions.  Purple in color, to the rim.  Opaque and bright.  The nose has cassis, cedar, dust and slight salinity.  On the palate, the flavors all carry thru.  This is a bigger wine but not a monster.  It is deep and will need another five to ten years to unwind.  Quite delicious now however.  It went great with homemade Vegetable soup and homemade bread but will easily stand up to bigger foods.  I have a lone bottle left and will try to reme