7/3/2017 - D. Mitchell Likes this wine:

Classic Bordeaux, this was the most beautiful Montrose I have had. The color was dark garnet, with very slight light edge, clear, with just a touch of sediment at the end. The smell was a complex blend of eucalyptus, forest floor, licorice, red fruit, a touch of prune. On the palate the wine was very focused and elegant with red and black currant, earthy, a bit of smoke towards the back. Medium finish that really closed out this wine beautifully. WOTN 95 Points...

7/1/2017 - D. Mitchell Likes this wine:

Wow, this is just getting better and better! This is a very elegant and smooth, I bought 18 of these, and this was lucky 13. Dark ruby colored, with a slight light edge, clear, on the nose was sweet dark fruits, cedar, and a bit of charcoal. On the palate it was dark fruit, with a touch of sweetness (that could be Napa taste if blind), leather, and mushrooms, well integrated quality oak that led into a medium finish. No need to rush to drink these, as I think they will hold on for at least a few more years. 92+ Points Beautiful..

6/30/2017 - D. Mitchell Likes this wine:

"The Little Engine that Could" is the story I thought about while consuming this wine. Dark Ruby colored, clear, slight light edge, nose is unmistakably Bordeaux, with a bit of funk covering the earthiness, & cedar. On the palate this is very smooth, balanced, and offering some nice red fruit, with a bit of tobacco, and black licorice. Nice complexity for this price point... No complaints here, its an easy 92+ points!

5/21/2017 - D. Mitchell Likes this wine:

Nice mature CA merlot, decanted 2 hours, a bit cloudy, on the nose dark fruit and tobacco, on the palate was mature plum, tobacco, medium body, and a medium finish, although the finish became more acidic as the wine had more time in the air and warmed up.

Great wine with Tomahawk ribeyes on the patio... 92+

5/20/2017 - D. Mitchell Likes this wine:

Tasted Blind, this wine is a bad boy, Inky purple, stains your glass and teeth On the nose there is a lot of dark fruit, licorice, on the palate it had a nice spicy character, dark fruits, blackberry, loads of anise, big smooth structure, and a long finish. I remember trying this wine on release and not liking it much, 2 years has really helped it to integrate, and open up.

My WOTN, Group 5/8 WOTN 93+, this one could improve more in the next few years.

5/15/2017 - D. Mitchell Likes this wine:

Wow, this wine blew away our expectations, and reset our barometer of the quality that can be found in a $20 bottle. On the nose, there was beautiful ripe fruit, a slight herbaceous character (in a good way) This wine has a smooth structure, and a nice finish, its all there! This is the best wine I have had for 2017 when it comes to QPR, I am scoring this 91, but might be 92 if i had paid more for it... :)~

5/19/2017 - D. Mitchell Likes this wine:

Tasted Blind, WOTN... This is a wine that has a lot going on on the nose, dark fruits, anise, mocha, I agree with others here who felt it was not quite as developed on the palate, although perfectly balanced, big structure, and a long finish, this wine is going to go for a long time, and just get better and better in the future. Patience is the key on this wine... 94, I feel certain this will score higher in 5 to 10 years.

5/19/2017 - D. Mitchell Likes this wine:

Served Blind this was my first GL, and it did not disappoint. This wine was purple color, and just slightly cloudy (not in a bad way) On the nose it was earthy barnyard, dark fruit, and leather, with nice balance and acidity, a fair amount of grip in a very balanced way, great finish. We felt this wine still has a ways to go to reach maturity, at the same time is delicious now. Wish I had more... 93, but possibly 95 is 5 to 10 years...

5/19/2017 - D. Mitchell Likes this wine:

Surprise of the night. This wine is in a great drinking window now, and for the price represents a strong QPR effort. The Thorevilos fruit is apparent, tasted blind, one of our guests thought this was an older Abreu wine. The wine was very clear, purple in color, a beautiful nose of cassis, plum, led into a smooth palate of plum, black currant, mocha, the finish was not powerful, but the flavors did remain for around 20 to 30 seconds. This is a smooth, very pleasurable wine to sip on its own, and does not have any rough edges. WS 81 points? I agree with "MAITREDGREG2" WS missed on this one. 92+

5/13/2017 - D. Mitchell Likes this wine:

PnP Drunk over 2 hours, and this wine dramatically improved with more exposure to air. I would suggest 1-2hr decant. Lots of sediment! Big Dark fruit on the nose, although a bit tart on the palate. This is a good wine, but not sure I would call it a QPR effort.

5/6/2017 - D. Mitchell wrote:

Tasted Blind this was a bit of a disappointment tonight, our bottle could have been slightly damaged as the cork showed saturation, and there was evidence of past leakage in the capsule. On the nose the fruit seemed very ripe, and showed some earthy mushroom, cedar notes. In the mouth, this wine had dark fruit, plum. (some in the blind tasting thought this was a wine from Napa) The structure and finish seemed light for a wine of this pedigree. We had tasted 1990 Lafite right before this wine, and it openly revealed the structural differences between the 2 on re-visit. I hope to taste this wine again soon, and from a bottle that has seen better storage to figure out if our bottle was representative of this wine. 91 to 93 points, My 3/4 Group 3/4

5/6/2017 - D. Mitchell Likes this wine:

Tasted blind, on the nose was a little tight in the beginning but opened up in the glass to reveal earthy mushroom notes, with a bit of cassis, graphite, and gun powder. I could sit and smell this wine all night and be happy... In the mouth this is a wine with massive structure and very long finish. There was a dominant herbaceous (slightly green) character on the attack, that leads to red fruits, floral, truffle, there was so much to like about this wine, and with the huge structure I feel this wine has many years to go, and may justify a higher score in the future.
My 2/4 Group 2/4

5/6/2017 - D. Mitchell Likes this wine:

This is my favorite wine to enter in a Bordeaux / Napa blind tasting, and tonight was no different. 5 of 6 tasters had this on the wrong continent. On the nose it has a slight herbaceous note, and a fair amount of old leather. In the mouth this had some very dark fruit notes, beautifully structured with tobacco, earthy truffle, a bit of plum, and a long finish.

Tasted 3 times throughout the evening, it was my WOTN, Group WOTN I score this bottle 95 points, but other bottles I have had in the last year were more like 96-98

5/6/2017 - D. Mitchell wrote:

Served blind with steak dinner, unmistakably Napa from a very ripe vintage. On the nose there were dusty plum notes, with a slight smokey wood in the background. The dustiness continued in the mouth where the wine had a nice balance of acid, smooth tannins, and a medium finish. I would say this wine is nearing the finish line.

Upon revisit later in the evening (after a couple 1990 first growths, and the brilliant 1991 Dominus), this had become quite raisiny, and seemed to have lost some of its structure. 90 to 92 points on the first tasting, 87- points later in the evening. My 4/4 Group 4/4

4/23/2017 - D. Mitchell Likes this wine:

This tasting note is from day 2 as the wine was fairly tight on day 1 and not showing itself, even after 5 hours.
On the nose it was fairly restrained, slightly underripe to ripe fruit, a nice structure structure, that is much smoother then yesterday, still a touch of green on the finish. Oak is nicely integrated and the tannins are more resolved on day 2. I think in another 5 years, and this will be really singing, as it has some interesting quirks. 90 to 91 pts,

4/21/2017 - D. Mitchell Likes this wine:

This wine is drinking much better this year.
On the nose, it starts with a bit of burnt oak, blackberry, black currant , On the palette it has dark fruit, black currant, prune and toasty oak. This is a medium body wine, that has a bit of a leathery texture, and a medium finish. As a Gorman FOG member I think I paid around $16 to $20, on the annual discount sale, great QPR Annie and I both though this is an 89 to 90 point wine.

4/17/2017 - D. Mitchell Likes this wine:

After reading the past few reviews i was afraid to open this bottle tonight, so I had a backup out of the cellar and ready to go just in case. Wow, I am wondering if the other folks here had damaged bottles, as ours tonight had a very ripe nose with, caramel, oak, and some alcohol. On the palette the fruit was ripe, with vanilla, a bit of secondary menthol, and alcohol a bit higher then I am used to from Delille 15.2%. The wine had nice structure, with a medium finish. I felt it is making its transition into the secondary notes. Thankfully I did not need the backup! 90+ This wine might need more time in the cellar to further integrate the barrel notes, and let the high alcohol settle down.

4/16/2017 - D. Mitchell Does not like this wine:

This seems to be a very polarizing wine, some liked it and some did not in our group. I felt like it had a very hot nose, but if you get through the alcohol, there was some beautifully perfumed florals, and scorched earth, on the palette the alcohol was back out in force and I found it difficult to get clear notes. This is a massively big wine with a lot of alcohol present and strong oak treatment.

In our group 3/8 felt this was WOTN, while several others had it 3rd out of 4 wines. I am not sure if this one could use more time to develop, or if it is falling apart in the bottle. I have had other vintages of this wine that were much more enjoyable. No score as I just did not get it with this wine.

4/16/2017 - D. Mitchell Does not like this wine:

It is interesting to read the other tasting notes on this wine, as our experience was much different. Opened and decanted for 2 hours, this one was a bit of a hot mess. I could not get a good feel on whether this was a damaged bottle (cork was perfect), over the hill, or needed time to develop. Did not score, as it was not pleasant to drink.

4/16/2017 - D. Mitchell Likes this wine:

Let me start off by saying my score represents where this wine is today, I expect it will improve with time. Decanted 2 hours, and consumed over the next 2 hours. Beautiful nose of cocoa, black cherry, and some wet rocks, this followed onto the palette although greatly muted. The wine had a nice structure and a long finish, but the beautiful flavors from the nose seemed to be hiding on the palette. I will wait several more years in the cellar before opening the next one. 89-90 Points today

4/16/2017 - D. Mitchell Likes this wine:

A great effort by Chris Upchurch and the staff at Delille, year after year this wine just keeps on singing its song. On the nose beautifully ripe fruit, lighter spices, cinnamon, which continue on the palette. Medium bodied, and medium finish with a bit of menthol, and light oak notes, overall nice complexity and balance.

Served Double Blind this was the least expensive, and lowest scoring on CT of our 4 wines last night. My WOTN, and Group 5/8 WOTN Most of the group thought this wine was much younger then its actual age.

3/19/2017 - D. Mitchell Likes this wine:

Dinner at El Gaucho with Jim & Yeni. Opened and decanted for 1.5Hrs before taken to the restaurant and poured back into a decanter. The wine was very tight on opening and was still a bit tight by the time it got to our glasses. On the nose is had a slightly overripe dusty plum smell, that was overriding the beautiful florals in the background. In the mouth this was obviously a concentrated, mouth filling, very well made wine, still very primary in my opinion. Over the 2 hours we were drinking this it did continue to open and show us more complexity however it was overshadowed at the dinner by a 2005 Araujo which just had more to show last night. I have high hopes for my remaining 4 bottles, but think I will wait a few years to try it again hoping the fruit can settle back a bit and let more of the beauty come forward. 95+ Hoping this can gain in the future.

2/29/2016 - D. Mitchell Likes this wine:

After reading some of the recent reviews I was worried this would be closed down, and upon opening it was. Left in a cabernet decanter for 6 hours and served behind a 1991 Chateau Montelena with a dinner of steak, and lamb for 8 guests. Undisputed WOTN, with dark fruit, rich, full bodied, and a nice finish. Later in the evening when we moved on to Scotch and Cigars our guests were still talking about the Caymus... Impressive!

7/31/2015 - D. Mitchell Likes this wine:

Drink to celebrate the birthday of Chris Upchurch... With a 3+ hour decant was alcohol and dark cherry on the nose. Classic Harrison Hill and long long finish! Had some nice subtleties on the mid-palate, but the finish was what we are talking about afterwards. We really enjoyed this wine, but would not open another one for at least five years! Thanks Chris, and happy birthday!

10/8/2012 - D. Mitchell Likes this wine:

Big surprise, tasted behind 01 Quilceda Creek Cab, and 02 Caymus Special Selection. This bottle stood up surprisingly well behind those two, completely exceeding all of our expectations. Removed from the cellar, 30 minute decant plus a further 15 minutes in the glass talking about it amongst the guests. The nose was beautiful mocha, pepper, dark fruit, and vanilla, the taste seemed to back up the nose quite well and was a little cooler on alcohol then the previous two we had tasted. The finish was average. We all agreed this was the value leader of the evening, although most preferred the Caymus, although by a slim margain. Great vintage, and amazing Value at $38!