100 points Wine Advocate

A Shot in the Dark is composed of 96.5% Syrah and 3.5% Viognier from the 11 Confessions Vineyard in the cool Santa Rita Hills. Performing better from bottle than it did from barrel, this prodigious red exhibits incredibly velvety tannins, a seamless style, and no noticeable oak (which is remarkable given the fact it spent 32 months in barrel). Dense purple to the rim with an extraordinary perfume of blueberry pie, blackberries, soy, Asian spices, and hints of forest floor and charcoal, this is a complex, rich, seamless, well-balanced tour de force in winemaking. A full-bodied, exuberant, unabashedly California Syrah, it will offer stunning drinking over the next 10-15+ years. (RP)  (8/2010)

98 points Wine Spectator

An amazingly detailed wine, deep, rich and layered, musclebound yet graceful. It’s packed with dense, focused, pure mineral, blackberry, toasty oak and roasted coffee flavors that end in a long cascade, veering into chocolate malt ball notes. Awfully tempting now, but sure to reward cellaring. Best from 2012 through 2024. *Collectibles* (JL)  (3/2011)