Roar, Gary's Vineyard Pinot Noir, Santa Lucia Highlands

This is SINGING

2016 vintage

Given its lofty ratings and price point, this bottle was underwhelming. It is powerful, with good tensity between brightness and balance, and nice enough notes of black cherries, Hawaiian Punch, and warm spices, but it doesn't deliver depth, complexity, or personality.

2016 vintage

A rich and intense wine.

2011 vintage

Absolutely sublime. No decanting necessary. Beautiful red fruit, mild oak vanilla. Yum. That’s all. Yum.

2016 vintage

One of Roar's best year over year.

2016 vintage

Smooth dry cherry. Delicious.

2011 vintage

Verrry good

2016 vintage

Would buy again. Very nice

2016 vintage

very nice bottle; nose of cranberry and other red fruit, palate of cherry with cola almost cocoa notes, very enjoyable, look forward to seeing how this develops over the next 5-10 years

2016 vintage

Decanted for 90 minutes. This may be my first negative experience with this producer, and I am assuming it was just an aberration. There was no verve, no zing, just a sluggish and unenthusiastic crawl across the palate like it was mailing in the performance. It felt overweight and the finish tasted heavily of over-steeped pekoe. Not at all typical.

2016 vintage

This is a stellar effort from Roar, rivaling their Pisoni as a favorite of mine. Delectable red fruit with a soft mouthfeel and luscious flavors of strawberry, high-toned cherry and red raspberry. A touch a bramble underlying the great fruit purity. A winner that I kept coming back for sip after sip until the bottle was exhausted. After having a sub-par Sierra Mar PN from them the other night, this wine restores total confidence in ROAR and their collective talents.

2016 vintage

Good Pinot maybe still a bit young

2016 vintage

Dusty red and rhubarb in color. Nice red fruit with some underlying herbal notes. A bit of alcohol on first taste that dissipated with time in the glass and air. Lovely weight with not being fruit forward. Nice complexity and structure. Red berry and cherry notes. Great effort.

2016 vintage

Outstanding effort from Roar. Beautiful fruit and mouthfeel. A bit hot on the nose but savory red cherry wafts from the glass. Silky on the palate and with structure that holds an edge throughout. Clear rim with evident tears in the glass. Gorgeous color and this wine exudes elegance, finesse and pedigree. While I am usually a Pisoni Roar enthusiast, this wine is certainly in the running for one of their very best.

2016 vintage

My wife said this was outstanding. I was drinking craft beer this evening. Damn!

2016 vintage

The decision to drink this was somewhere between "let's have something a little above the ordinary Friday bottle" and "let's clear this out because I don't really like the style as much anymore." Last year's note (unread when I pulled this off the rack) says it all when it comes to my relationship to this winery. So here we are again, 14 months later. This was a little big, ripe, sweet, but after it was open for a while, it …

2011 vintage

Delicious, fruit-forward, perfect acidity, mellow tannin.

2016 vintage

Bright ruby red. Fruit forward with ripe raspberries, cherries and blackberries. Medium finish.

2011 vintage

Winebar [4 Whts & 8 Reds] from 05/25/18 (Vintage Wines Ltd., San Diego, CA) : Aged 11 mos in 100% FR oak, 60% new Francois Freres, Remond, Ermitage, & Latour; 14.9% ABV, 0.58g/100ml T.A., & 3.8 pH; Unfined & unfiltered; 727 cs (sold out @ the winery). N: Attractive melange of smoke & ripe berries, rest tough to parse; Intensity lurking? P: MF, poss Med, body; RNDISH entry with ALMOST swtish frt nicely counterbalanced by an astringency which, IF anything, …

2016 vintage

Drinking beautifully here. Enjoy.

2011 vintage

Over the last few years, I've drifted away from the Roar portfolio, save the Rosella's bottling. Too big, too sweet, too fruity, too obvious. Maybe the cold year, with many wines not reaching ripeness actually helped this time. It's not shy or reticent, but I didn't feel I was being beat over the head with some weird mix of cab pretension and grenache fruitiness for a change. Smoky, earthy, while still carrying those heady aromas and a nice mix of …

2011 vintage

Gary's Francioni's Vineyard produced a pretty serious Pinot in 2011. Cherry nose leads into cherry flavors, with additional dark fruits and an unusual amount of thick texture to make a very impressive bottle of wine.

2011 vintage

No decant.

2011 vintage

Unbelievable...great aha moment for a pinot

2011 vintage

I think this is really good. As simple as that. But yet this wine is very complex. Black cherry, raspberry, currant, mineral and earth. Texture of silk taffeta. A medium long finish

2011 vintage

No decant.

2011 vintage

nice fruits, but opening drinking has a strange light fiz type sensation

2011 vintage

Good fruits, well balanced

2011 vintage

Decanted out and back into the bottle four hours prior to tasting. Loam is the first impression which I don't remember from this producer in the past. Slightly stilted upon pouring, but by the final swallows it presented as integrated, soft, and demure. Very nice.

2011 vintage

fruit forward, but balance seems a bit off. Monitor to see if alchol mellows

2011 vintage

Ruby in color slightly cloudy. Nose of red fruits, pepper and spice with some forest floor. Slightly acidic, cherries, plum and vanilla. Medium body and finish. Semi sweet.

2011 vintage

I agree. Brad. Other than Brad, I smell cedar mixed with faint strawberry and saline. On the palate, not much Brad, but bing cherry, cola, and chantrelle. Nice long finish. Not quite in harmony. Maybe another year or two in bottle to coalesce. We'll leave Brad out of it for now.

2011 vintage

Brad

2011 vintage

No decant.

2011 vintage

Slow to show its charms, but with time layers of cherry and cola come to the foreground. After 45 minutes, the mid-palate takes shape, revealing streaks of salinity, sweetness, and earth all playing out amidst a tension between acidity and sappy california fruit. The last sip was the best sip. Would be inclined to give it a longer decant next time around (90+ minutes).

2011 vintage

Right down our alley. An excellent introduction to this producer. It certainly won't be the last!

2011 vintage

2013 Family Winemakers of CA, San Diego Tasting : Nose initially rather closed but after a lot of swirling starting to pick up some nice herbal notes with red fruit. Palate cherry with baking spice. This really grew on me the more time I gave it. Should improve. Very nice 91+

2011 vintage

This 2nd bottling of Garys' from ROAR still showed signs of flavorful white cherry and a good depth of sweet oak. To my surprise, this wine lasted very well (I opened 2 hours before pouring) and was thoroughly enjoyed with a classic Thanksgiving feast.

2002 vintage

This was a beautiful big and friuty pinot. Would love to have more of this wine.

2002 vintage

Like a sweet, fruity, mixed drink. Sweet kirsch nose, earthy Gary's notes. Palate thins out leading into a bitter hot finish. Blech.

2002 vintage

Sweet effusive nose, still with nice lift, tangerine, strawberry and plum, overlying a core of sweet, turned earth. Nose finishes with a little green bramble, and geranium, followed by nice oak spices. Initially with a smooth finish (served at 62 degrees), as the wine warmed, finish became a bit hot and bitter. Overall, though, surprised how well this has held together. Not for everyone, but enjoyable.

2002 vintage

At 5 years of age, this bottle seems to have lost something. While much more lush in its youth, it has seemed to picked up more acidity and more of a sour cherry profile. If you liked it's more fruit-forward profile then this is over the hill.

2002 vintage

Cloudy red/pink. Decanted 1 hour. Huge nose of fresh strawberry, raspberry and cherries, but spices seemed more distant this year; close to captivating even though simple. Very nice fruit and lovely acidity made this quite pleasurable with dinner.

2002 vintage

As good as it's going to be. Drink up.

2002 vintage

Good juice...starts out a little acidic, but rounded out nicely after a while. Good fruit, but probably at it's prime. Drink 'em and enjoy 'em!

2002 vintage

Past its prime - flabby and overly fruity. Prior bottles were much more structured.

2002 vintage

Opened my last one today. Starts out a little pruney, sweet fruited....but "quickly" rams it in gear....intense laser beam red fruits, crisp floral acidity, tobacco/herbs/spice/earth abound. The naysayers might complain of a little heat...still shows a little...but the fruit is so sweet, it's integrated. My only down side would be that the fruit might be too ripe, and this wine should be drunk now. No need to wait. Perfect example why you need to wait on your ROAR's!

2002 vintage

Damn.....how good is this! Explodes with intense wild berry, black raspberry fruit....tingly citrus acidity, sweet herbs/spices. Still has that sourness, ala cranberries...but backed up nicely with the dried tobacco, exotic woods, sweet vanilla cherry cola. Very intense wine here! Acidity, spices, florals just EXPLODE! Should do very well with more age. And yes....even has that "Gary's Referness" Beautiful ROAR!

2002 vintage

Jammy, plum and cherry. A liitle sweet and hot.

2002 vintage

Very well received a Rosh Hashanna dinner of brisket. Nice fruit, smooth tannins, not to hot, and definitely the hit of the evening.

2002 vintage

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Roar, Gary's Vineyard Pinot Noir, Santa Lucia Highlands

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