Couldn't wait to pop one of these. Deep, solid purple core. The nose is all plum, smoke, and spicy lavender. The palate is even broader, with black tar, plum, brush fire. Nice bite of acid that promises to do well with food and help this wine age well. Probably a bit of travel shock, but the wine is just a little hot on the finish. Even so, there's a hell of a lot of wine in this bottle for 12 bucks. I'll be ordering more. 91 points
Deep garnet color with above-average concentrations. This wine approaches, but doesn't match, CH's Grand Cru Sonoma Mountain Syrah Lot #12. Lot #27 is more perfumed and similar to the expression of Syrah from the upper Rhone Valley of France. For drinking, I prefer Lot #24 for its complexity and the lack of these floral notes. Of course, my male palette is prejudice in this direction. I believe California Syrah produced from Paso Robles to the Russian River would likely trump many of the best French Syrahs in a blind tasting. 92 points
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