1999 Swanson Alexis:
Opened for my wife's birthday. Decanted for 2hrs. Dark cranberry / purple color with fair clarity. Nose of dark fruits and spice. Lots of thin clear legs. Lots of spice, fruit, and complex structure up front. Initial impressions were that this was outstanding, but then only a medium finish. An unexpected damp wood note came out just at the finish, detracting from the overall experiance. Much to my surprise, the wine lost its fruit on day 2 and had little nose with mainly a ceader quality. Overall, a good bottle, but not good QPR for $45.
My rating: 89pts.

2001 Neyers Grenache:
Rich purple / red color with good clarity. Nose of cherry, peppermint, and smokey oak notes. Pepper and spice right up front on the pallet, turning to a glycerin rich thick cherry tone on the mid pallet, perhaps due to 15.7% alcohol. Long finish of shimmering peppermint wrapped around a spice laden fruit core.
My rating: 90pts

1995 Columbia Winery Red Willow Vineyard David Lake Signature Series Cabernet Sauvignon:
Dark cranberry color with a touch of brick on the edge. Good clarity. Nose of dark stewed fruit and smokey oak. Thick with dark fruit and lots of ceadery spice notes on the pallet. Drying tannins and a touch of cherry stand out towards the finish. Medium to long finish with spice and dark fruit, pepper, and smokey oak. Not a fruit bomb by any means, but nice depth and structure.
My rating: 88pts

"Every bottle holds the perfect wine until it's opened"

I am sorry to hear that about the Alexis. I only have one bottle though--so I didn't get burned too badly.

Any chance you had an off-bottle--you mentioned damp wood--any chance it was slightly corked?

I wonder if this wine will improve with a little bit of cellaring.

************
"I've gotta be honest with you, guys. I need more cowbell."

The 99 Alexis was a bit unusual as it promised great things up front - the nose was there, which leads me to belive it wasn't corked and it was realy good on the pallet. The miss, IMHO, is that it quit there and had very little on the mid pallet to finish. The damp wood note seemed out of place, but was definatly there as it was more intense on day 2.

I was surprised by the loss of fruit the next day, perhaps an indicator that this is a 'drink now' wine. Ceadery tones became dominant and it was clearly out of balance.

If it was $25, I would certainly try it again, but at $45, there are too many other choices out there.

I may have had an 'off bottle', not corked, but perhaps some bottle to bottle variation.

Anyone else had this recently for comparison?