1. D'arenberg Ironstone Pressings 2004, Score=3+
This was brought in by Winepath who tasted it last night and was very impressed. Being generous and sharing, he brought this in for us to taste. Color is nicely dark. Nose has cedar and sandal wood notes. Palate explodes with fruit, mostly black fruit including plum. Some felt the fruit was a bit sweet. Almost viscous silky mouth feel. Tannin is good and firm but not too much with rather long finish. For a Grenache based wine, this is much more heavy duty than one would expect. d'Arenberg makes some good ones. We were not as blown away as Winepath was but thought this was still a quite impressive wine. Their Dead-arm Shiraz has been our favorite. "The flagship blend of Grenache, Shiraz, and Mourvedre, the 2004 The Ironstone Pressings, is stunning. A full-bodied, powerful red, it displays notes of kirsch, tapenade , blackberries, dusty loamy earth, pepper, and spice. Rich, structured, intense flavors cascade over the palate with fabulous fruit purity and density. This stunner should drink well for 12-15 years."
From the winery
"In its youth, d’Arenberg’s Ironstone Pressings has a deep, dark plum purple colour matched by just as intense black cherry, raspberry, spice, cedar, dark chocolate, liquorice, tobacco, mixed spice and brooding ripe blackberry aromas. Mulberry, ripe plum and fresh pepper spice dominate the rich full bodied palate before a long, intense, rolling, dark gritty cherry tannin finish. After quite some time in bottle the intense colour fruit aromas and dusty gripping tannins tone down, the colour moving towards brown ruby red. Eventually the Grenache and Shiraz blossom as rich, sweet, violet like scents, with spicy, cedary and tobacco based aromas before malty sweet dark chocolate flavours and crunchy, chewy textured black olive, spicy ginger and long fleshy textures. Serve at room temperature 16 – 24 ?C. now or in the next 3- 25 years with rich, full-flavoured foods like lamb shanks, pork fillets, goulashes, Russian cabbage dishes and game, even with warm chicken soups and cous cous, classic roast lamb and rump steaks. Also good with veal shanks and oxtail. Serve after decanting as an older wine."
2. Two Hands Wines Charlie's Patch Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2006, Score=3+~4
Color is dark with purple tinge. Nose is very pleasent with chocolate and coffee. Palate is impressive with black fruit such as black berries and blueberries mixed with black cherries laced with vanilla, caramel and dark chocolate leading to big assertive tannin. It has a good structure and long lasting finish. Most of us felt that this was the best of the tasting. California cab with Petit Verdot or Merlot component was suggested. Some thought this is one of Bond. This is Cab from Two hands Napa. We have tasted their second label Cab from Two hands Napa before which was 2006 "Some days are Diamond" and gave 2+~3. This one "Charlies Patch" is defnitely more upscale and refined. Very complex wine.92 Points Stephen Tanzer International Wine Cellar, May/Jun 09
"Good deep medium ruby. Smoky, ripe aromas of black fruits, licorice and spicy oak. Juicy and concentrated, with its sweet black fruit flavors given clarity and lift by lovely harmonious acidity. Here the firm tannins seem a bit more sweet and suave, and the wine's spine is nicely balanced by mid-palate ripeness of black fruits. Structured to reward aging. Made mostly from Spring Mountain fruit, but also includes a bit from Oakville and Howell Mountain."
90+ points Robert Parker Wine Advocate # 180 (Dec 2008)
"The exceptional 2006 Cabernet Sauvignon Charlie’s Patch (from hillside vineyards) boasts a deep ruby/purple color followed by notes of black currants, licorice, and spicy oak, full-bodied power, and plenty of structure in the back end. The tannins are still elevated, but this is unquestionably a candidate for long-term aging. Anticipated maturity: 2011-2020+. Two Hands, which is well-known for their exceptional portfolio of wines from southern Australia, has branched out into Napa Valley, with the irrepressible Michael Twelftree and his partner, Richard Mintz, making serious Cabernet Sauvignon. There are about 600 cases of his luxury priced Charlie’s Patch, and 400 cases of the second wine, Some Days Are Diamonds. Both cuvees are made at the Outpost Winery on Howell Mountain, with winemaker Thomas Brown overseeing the production. www.twohandswines.com"
3. Salvestrin Estate Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2005, Score=3
Color is dark garnet. Nose has some smoky note with perfume and citrus (Piroca sensed some funk but the rest of us did not). Palate is a bit muted but well-controlled black fruit coming through with well-integrated tannin. We felt acidity was a bit much. Argentinian Malbec and Cali Cab were suggested. Indeed this is Califronia Cab.92 points Wine Enthusiast (12/31/2008)
"A beautiful young Cab that continues Salvestrin’s unbroken track record of the last several years. Dry and rich in tannins, it shows enormously concentrated fruit flavors of currants, blackberries, black cherries, mocha and spice. Gorgeous now, and should improve over the next decade."
From the Vineyard
"Varietal Composition: 97% Cabernet Sauvignon 3% Merlot, Appellation: St. Helena, Harvest Date: 9/25/2005, Aging: 23 months, Alcohol %: 14.80%
It all began when Italian immigrants John and Emma Salvestrin fell in love with St. Helena while visiting friends in the early 1920’s. In 1932 they purchased a portion of the historic Crane Ranch, including the Victorian home of Dr. Crane. With the repeal of prohibition in 1933, they started selling grapes and the industry began to grow again. Ed Salvestrin, who grew up on the family vineyard, continued to grow quality grapes through the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s preserving the family legacy for future generations. He still lives on site and frequently tends to his fruit trees (apples, pomegranates, grapefruit, persimmon) when he’s not helping out in the vineyard. In 1987, Rich Salvestrin completed his degree in viticulture from Fresno State University. He returned to the family vineyard to help farm and also to expand the families grape growing business to include winemaking. 1994 was the inaugural vintage of Salvestrin Cabernet Sauvignon and in 2001 the estate winery was constructed amongst the family vines. Today, three generations live on the 26 acre property and look forward to the time that Rich and Shannon’s three young daughters will become 4th generation owners and winemakers."
4. Reddust Shiraz 2007, score=2~2+
Color is a bit light and transparent especially in comparison with the first three wines. We sensed melting candle wax in the nose with jammy fruit. Palate has plenty of sweet fruit but mid-palate is a bit hollow and felt flat. Medium tannin finishes the wine. California Zimfandel was suggested. This was thrown in by Uncle-N. We tasted this first in November last year. We were all impressed at that time and thought this wine was quite good and has a very high PQR ($10). The second time we tasted it (I was not there), our tasteres did not like it. So this was meant to be a tie breaker to see how we reacted to this wine. Especially coming after the previous 3 wines, we still thought it was a drinkable wine but we were not as impressed as we were the first time we tasted it. Everything is relative.
From the Winery web pages.
"Distinctive Australian terroir produces distinctive Australian wines! As you’ve just learned, it’s taken the Australians a few decades, but little by little they’re zeroing in on the regions with the best terroirs. They didn’t have to look very far to come up with the name of this wine! This type of red earth is found only in some regions of Australia.
The striking image below gives you a pretty clear idea of just what the soil looks like. The color comes from iron oxides and it’s claimed to produce wines that are more refined and elegant.
A taste of Red Dust Shiraz will prove that fact to you. While the grapes benefit from the same warm, sunny climate of the Adelaide Hills that allows them to achieve perfect ripeness, they don’t get the overripe, jammy flavors that characterize Shiraz from some other regions in Australia.
The other secret to producing a wine with more elegance is the judicious use of oak. In the early days of New World winemaking, a lot of people were, shall we say, overenthusiastic in their use of oak on both red and white wines. The result was out-of-balance, heavy, tannic wines. Thankfully most have become less heavy-handed and have learned how to use oak to complement the natural fruit flavors without overwhelming them. In Red Dust, the oak is apparent but it makes up just one component in the whole. The personality of the Shiraz shines through with the sweet, spicy character of the oak playing an important yet secondary supporting role. Discover a stylish and well-balanced wine, you won’t regret it! This wine has the potential to age for another year or two, but enjoy it when the fruit is still youthful. Any red meat would flatter this Shiraz or serve it with an herbed pilaf of wild rice and lentils."5. Casa Lapostolle Clos Apalta 2001, Score=2+~3
Color is dark garnet. Nose has some funk with sulfa which dissipated after some aeration. A hint of chocolate was detected as well. Palate has nice sweet fruit leading to big tannin. Relatively long finish. When we came back to this wine for the second time, it tasted better. Although the funky nose suggested old world the fruit-laden palate does not go with that assumption. We ended up with "may be syrah from California or Oregon" which was totally off the mark. This is one of the best 100 wines by Wine Spectator from Casa Lapostolle, Chile.90 points Wine Advocate Issue 159
"The Clos Apalta luxury cuvee, primarily based on an old vine, non-irrigated Carmenere parcel, remains one of Chile's standard-bearers. The medium to full-bodied 2001 Clos Apalta explodes from the glass with powerful scents of black raspberries, cassis liqueur, and hints of mocha. An elegant yet immensely ripe wine, it offers spicy black cherry flavors in its bright, high-toned, and tannin-laced character."
95 points Wine Spectator
95 points Wine Spectator
Color has brown rim indicating age. Nose is very nice with floral and cherry but slight musty basement smell which became more apparent on the second tasting (15 minutes later). No green pepper or herbal nose was detected. Palate has nice upfront black fruit which is well controlled leading to good smooth well-integrated tannin. Good long lingering finish. Our initial reaction was this is an aged Cali cab. We estimated 1994-1997 (we were right then) but, after the second tasting, we thought this could be a Bordeaux, although it is a very good one with nice fruit. We were persuaded by the nose. This turned out to be the very first vintage of "the Maiden" from Harlan Estate! This is made of 100% Cabernet franc.
Color is dark garnet. Nose has slight funk, minerals with chocolate and coffee. Piroca sensed "gasoline' smell which he said he likes (he must have been sniffing something in his youth). Palate is dark chocolate covered in black cherry (chocolate is very prominent) with caramel ending in very smooth well-integrated tannin and lingering long finish. Very nice wine. Initially, Spanish specifically Priorat was mentioned but everybody settled in for California cab. It was indeed a Cali Cab from Juslyn vineyard.
Color is nice dark purple. Nose has jammy note (grape jam-jelly). Palate has "lilac" (as per Winepath. I nerve tasted lilac-I assume flowers, so I have no idea what kind of taste this is), and berries (black berries and boysenberries) leading to rather mild tannin. This wine definitely has New World and young tastes. Reasonable finish. Malbec blend from Argentina was suggested. 
Color is very dark, almost black. Nose is a bit grapey with floral and chocolate notes. Palate is exploding with fruit, mostly black fruit laced with chocolate, vanilla, and caramel leading to big assertive but pleasant tannin. Very long lasting finish. We all liked this wine the best among all nice wines we tasted this evening. We said a high-end Cali Cab. Harlan estate wines (Maiden?), One of the Bond were suggested. This is Bond Vecina 2002!
Color is extremely dark, almost black. Nose has faint burned sugar note. Palate has good black fruit leading to big tannin. This has very interesting mouth feel; almost effervescent which could be a reflection of crisp acidity. Because of the color, Shiraz was first mentioned, although it lacks black pepper, plum, and Jus du viende. Cali Cab was another possibility mentioned. This is Anaperenna 2006 which we had before. Again I quote firm the previous post, again to see our consistency.
Color is dark with purple-garnet. Nose has mineral and coconut. Palate has tones of upfront fruit with chocolate and caramel leading to big chewy but pleasant tannin. Good lingering finish. Nice wine for sure. It is definitely New World in style. Cai cab will be our first choice. It came in a body builder bottle. Judging from the bottle and wine, the only other choice is Spain. Clio was then mentioned. We all settled on Clio as the final choice. We were right!
Color is nice dark garnet. Nose has lots of ripe fruit, dark chocolate. Palate explodes with lots of fruit especially chocolate covered black cherry. The fruit may taste a bit sweet. Nice balance between well-integrated tannin and acidity providing a good structure. Good lasting finish. Everybody like this clearly New World wine. California Cab is the consensus. This is 2 years in making. Uncle-N signed up 2 years ago and finally the wine arrived. This is a Winelibrary's Gary Vaynachuck community involved project and the wine was made at 
Color is dark with a slight brownish tint. Nose has slight funk, tar and smoke. Palate has lots of sweet fruit leading to mild tannin. Bit oaky but we liked this wine. Some thought this was too oaked. Some thought it has a Garnacha component. Winepath intially believed that this was Bordeaux but later retracted. Consensus was that this was a New World wine. Spain, California, Australia were memtioned. Cab, Cab blends, and Cab Merlot blend were also mentioned and the final opinion was that this is probably Cali Cab.
Color is dark brown indicating some age. Nose has medicinal or somewhat chemical with some funk and herbaceous notes. Very complex nose but we are not sure this is a very good nose. It was too cold initially and palate felt very muted but after it was warmed up some nice black fruit started coming through. Still it is rather muted. Nice well-structured tannin but it has a bit of bitter taste or a finishing bite. We thought this is European such as Italian or even French (Bordeaux). It was surprising to see that this is Stag's leap S.L.V. 1997. For the age of this wine, tannin was still rather assertive and we can imagine that when this was young, tannin must have been rather big. To our taste, fruit was too far gone.
Color is dark brown, again, indicating the age. Nose has a slight medicinal quality but otherwise a bit muted. Palate is again starts with muted fruit, especially at the beginig since it was too cold. Tannin was moderate but had some acidic kick in the finish. This wine felt bit flat in the mid palate. We mumbled "European", "Old World" etc but Winepath decisively said Cali Cab 1992! He was right, this was an old 1993 Pride Cab. Again, it had passed its peak. It lost most of the good fruit and the tannin structures did not allow aging this long.
Color is dark garnet without any brown color. Nose has burned caramel but is nice. Palate is front loaded with good black fruit. Smooth mouth feel with buttery feel. Mid-Palate is a bit thin leading to rather mild tannin. We all felt this is Califronia Cabernet. This happens to be another cab from Stag's leap but a much younger vintage.
Color is nice dark garnet to brown. Nose has tons of vanilla. Palate upfront has lots of fruit, a massive amount of vanilla, some spice box especially cinnamon leading to good firm tannin. Some may feel that there is too much vanilla in this wine. We like it. Our consensus was California Cab.
Color is dark purple and garnet. Nose is very nice ( best in the today's tasting) with coffee, caramel, and dark chocolate. Palate is loaded with dark fruit upfront, nice vanilla, chocolate lingers and leading to good firm tannin. Long finish. There is no doubt this is a high-end California Cab. Knowing Piroca's track record, Caymus special selection was suggested. The only question was which year. This is the newest vintage 2007 which he just received. Some may think this is over the top but most of us really liked this wine.
Color is dark garnet. Nose has lots of berries with very slight earthiness. Palate shows well controlled fruit mostly back fruit, blackberries and blueberries leading to well-integrated but firm tannin. Nice lasting finish. Cali Cab was first mentioned. Other possibilities mentioned were Spanish, Priorat, Garnacha, Temperanilo, Argentinian Cab+Malbec etc. One of the tasters said he tasted a definite Merlot component. In general, everybody liked this wine. This is a Bordeaux blend from Howell mountain. 
This one came in a tell-tale slopped shoulder bottle which is made of rather thick heavy glass. Without even pouring, Piroca proclaimed that this is California Syrah which is actually correct. Color is very dark almost black with slight blue tinge. Nose has dark chocolate and black pepper. Palate shows very nice upfront black fruit with plum, black pepper (not too peppery, though) with dark chocolate and nice smooth tannin. Nice wine.
This was a pleasant surprise. Color is nice dark garnet. Nose has perfume, cherry kirsch and protein (milk whey). Palate initially felt a bit muted but in the second tasting (more air time and warmed up), it is loaded with nice sweet fruit (but not sugarfied) leading to good tannin. It has a good structure with nice long finish. We all felt this is a nice fruity new world style wine. California Cab and Spanish were mentioned. What a pleasant surprise! This is a cab from Maryland. By far the best red we ever tasted among Maryland and Northern Virginia wines (The second best is "Octagon" from Barboursville vineyard in our opinion.) This was submitted by Winepath who had a glass of this wine at Addies restaurant. After finding out what this was, he drove to Sugarloaf Mountain Vineyard and got the bottles. It is definitely worth going there for this wine. What a find!
Color is nice dark garnet with bluish hue. Nose is very fragrant with black cherry. Good upfront fruit. black cherry, blueberry etc with nice full mid palate with usual compliments of caramel, lots of vanilla and cinnamon leading to nice well crafted tannin with long finish. Everybody felt that this is a good example of well-made California cab. We all liked this wine. So, when this was uncovered showing the label of "Pagodes de Cos 1996", nobody could believe their eyes.
Color is dark. Nose has tar and earthy notes but not quite moldy basement. Palate is rather austere with thin midpalate ending in big chewy tannin. Consensus was that this is an old world or European wine. Italian (Brunello or Super Tuscan), Spanish, and Bordeaux were suggested. This was indeed Brodeaux, Medoc.
This was thrown in at the last moment (not light weight, though). Color is nicely dark with slight blue purple hue. Nose is nice with perfume, fruit, and flowers. Palate has well layered "jammy" fruit, good oak derived flavors of caramel, vanilla and chocolate ending in well integrated but firm tannin with long finish. This was bit too warm when served. We all knew what this was especially knowing the shape and color of the bottle and this one was contributed by Piroca. Excellent example of good California Cab. Shafer Hillside Selct and Caymus Special Selection in one tasting are indeed extravagant (even for us).
This is the formal debut of Winepath's Grand Vin 08 which was just bottled last week. Since it is too young to be evaluated properly, we will postpone scoring his wine. Color is nice dark garnet without turbidity (the best color so far of all Chateau Winepath vintages). Nose, well, nose is a bit of a problem. It has a bit of turpentine or lacquer or solvent-like note. Since this nose was much stronger at the barrel tasting, this may dissipate further (let's hope). Palate is more classic Brodeaux-like with muted black fruit leading to nice moderate tannin and good long finish. Another problem may be that there is an acidic edge which makes this wine tasting a bit unbalanced.
Color is nice dark garnet with bluish tinge. Nose is pleasant with some meat and herbs, particularly sumac (like 
This one came in with a screw top bottle. Color is dark with slight brownish hue. Nose is good and pleasant. Palate is very fruit forward with plum and black fruit leading to nice well-integrated tannin. Finish is a bit short. Everybody liked this wine and the consensus was Cali Cab. This is "the ball buster" from Barossa, a mixture of Shiraz, Cab, and Merlot. We had the 05 vintage before and gave score=3. High PQR.
Color is nicely dark. Nose has slight funk or earthiness but not unpleasant. Palate shows upfront well-controlled or a bit muted black fruit but well layered and ending in nice firm tannin. Good lasting finish. Consensus was California cab either Napa or Sonoma.
Color is dark brown with a pleasant nose. Palate is loaded with fruit, somewhat sugarfied but not bad, ending in mild tannin with rosemary, herb finish. All of us liked this wine. This turned out to be "Reddust" Shiraz from Australia. It has a very high PQR since I can find it from $9-13 on the Internet.
Color is nicely dark garnet with blue tinge. Nose is very pleasant with floral note. Palate is New World style with tons of fruits upfront leading to quite firm tannin. Good long finish. We like this one. The bule hue made some of us think of Malbec but consensus was well made California Cab.
This one came in a body-builder bottle. Color is nicely dark. Nose has some minerals and (nice) sardine smell. This is in New World style with loads of upfront black fruit leading to good firm tannin, may be too tannic. Spanish, Cali cab, Argentinian wines were suggested. This turned out to be Susna Balbo red (predominantly cab) from Argentina.
This one was a bummer. Color is dark garnet without brown color but nose is awful with burned hair and rubber with sewer gas. Palate is much better with well controlled fruit and well-integrated tannin but we could not see how one can enjoy this wine with this pungent unpleasant nose. We thought ths is from South Africa or Argentina or Spain but we just can not belive this one came from North America. RP (eRoberparker) reportedly gave 88 in 2003. Something must have happened in the past 6 years to develop this nose.
We do not think we will give "95" for this wine.
This is one of Lehmann wines. Clancy's blend is composed of Shiraz (49%), Cab Sauv (33%) and Merlot (18%). Reportedly Wine Spectator gave 88 points but I can not confirm it.
From the Winery web page
Nothing much I can find about this particular wine. Here is the information about the winery (Wikipedia).
"Château Croizet Bages is a winery in the Pauillac appellation of the Bordeaux region of France. The wine produced here was classified as one of eighteen Cinquièmes Crus (Fifth Growths) in the Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855."