AmByth Estate Maiestas

Gave as a gift

This wine has a gorgeous, floral nose! The very first thing that leaps out of the glass is a bouquet of flowers (hence the name), along with suggestions of red fruit, earth, spices, and oak. Upfront disclosure: we visited Ambyth’s tasting room/home and it was EASILY the best wine tasting experience of our lives! We bought tickets to Paso Robles’ “Pinot and Paella Festival” and decided to take my parents with us and to do a little wine tasting before …

Starts surprisingly dark and tannic for an Ambyth wine, but then mellows out noticeably with a half hour of air. Dark fruit and black pepper dominate the palate. Some tar and a little vanilla cedar oak influence come through on the midpalate with perhaps a bit of smoked meat hiding under the fruit as well. Seems bigger than one would expect from the 12.5% alcohol in this wine. Nicely done. - 88pts Very nice on day 2. Wonderful balance and …

California Rhone Blends (The Wine Country, Signal Hill, CA) : Needs some air. Very nice elegant red with great structure. Drinking well now, but I'd bet this would be great with some time on it.