Wines this past week.

'99 Hartford Highwire Zin - drinking great but do not see this improving from here so I would drink up.

'01 Carlisle Syrah - tried hard to wait a year before opening one. Decanted this for 4 hours before trying and drank over the next few hours. Saved half the bottle overnight in fridge for day 2. The wine did not change much over 24 hours. The nose was a little tight but the palate had layers of dark blackberry and raspberry with a nice spicey finish. The listed abv. is 16.5% but as usual with Mike's wines no hint of it. This wine has plenty of structure to age well for the next 3-5 years and the tannins are very evident at this stage even with tons of air so I would recommend waiting at least another 6 months before opening one.

'99 Havens Bourriqout - My first experience with this and what a beautifully balanced enjoyable wine. Rich fruit with a nice smoothness on the palate from the merlot with a nice spicey finish from the Cab Franc. Very good wine that I will be sure to buy more of in future vintages as well as this one if I can find more.

'01 ROAR Garys' - OH MY!!!! My first bottle and it is drinking beautifully with gobs of rich raspberry and cherry fruit with a long finish. Probably the 2nd best CC pinot I have had, behind the '02 August West Rosella's, in my short love affair with CA pinot.

'01 Sea Smoke Gratis Chard - First off I am not a fan of CA chard but this is a very nice wine and would buy more if I could. The acidity is great and lifts the fruit beautifully while the oak is in check and not overblown like so many of these wines. Let's hope the pinots turn out to be this good.