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| Community Tasting Notes (average 95.4 pts. and median of 95 pts. in 45 notes) - hiding notes with no text | | | Tasted by Yack Man on 1/21/2024 & rated 94 points: A good bottle wine, but not as good as previous bottles. Showing more acidity and not as expressive, lacking useful energy at this stage. Off bottle, perhaps? Starting to fade? I have a few more bottles in the cellar, so we’ll see. 94/ 94+ Points. (858 views) | | | Tasted by LiteItOnFire on 1/2/2024: At 350 main Park Cityas hedonistic as it comes- and even with 8/9 years of age- still very enjoyable but more as a dessert wine than the main event. Crazy how palates change over time.
For those that love the big bold in your face Napa Cabs, this is stellar. Was stellar upon release and is now but in a different form. Old me- this is still a killer wine even with the reduction in primary fruit and oak. New me, still fun but more dessert centric than intellectual. All dark fruits (black hole fruits a thing?), milk chocolate, sweet cream coffee, loads of vanilla, sweet earth, and candy profile. More milkshake than Austin Hope or Caymus 40th 1L bottle concoction.
Regardless super fun, simple and delicious - when the mood calls for a double milk chocolate Frappuccino- hold the coffee bitterness. (1042 views) | | | Tasted by Yack Man on 9/7/2023 & rated 95 points: A fabulous Cab that may have lost a tad of its luster, but just a tad. Dark cherry and berry fruit, cassis, plum with some tobacco. Drinking well, perhaps an off bottle or time may be catching up with this vintage. I still have a few in the cellar so we'll see if that's the case with my next experience. 94/95 Points (1186 views) | | | Tasted by LiteItOnFire on 4/1/2023 & rated 89 points: No notes. There is a reason I stopped buying Mike Smith wines as my palate no longer appreciates dessert flabby wines as it once did. These wines are made to be drunk early or they become one dimensional which this is on its way to now with the short bitter oak finish. This was great a few years ago- should have finished them up then. Drink up if you have. (1682 views) | | | Tasted by Yack Man on 8/9/2022 & rated 97 points: An exceptional, palate pleasing Cabernet that scores 96+ points as a pop and pour and probably better?
Day 2 There is notable improvement. The wine is open and fully on display. Full bodied with dark berry fruits, impeccable extraction and rich full flavors. Dark cherry, crème de cassis, plum with some tobacco. A stunning Cab that’s bold with a lingering finish. 97 Points. (1980 views) | | | Tasted by Yack Man on 9/19/2021 & rated 96 points: This is a beautiful Cabernet, 95+/ 96 points with half a bottle remaining for tonight. This vintage has shown better but in all fairness, this was a pop and pour with no decanting. Dark blue black berry fruits, cassis and some oak. Despite no decanting, this wine is excellent.
Day 2: Air has been very agreeable with this wine. The depth and structure are more apparent. On the palate the fruit is glowing with cassis, black currant, dark cherry and black licorice elements. This one is lively, full of energy and there's a nice nuance going one with one. The only drawback could be that it a little sweet, but this is a very good wine in my book. 96-96+ Points. (2900 views) | | | Tasted by csimm on 9/9/2021: BLIND REDS - Bordeaux varietals (mostly Napa and BDX) - Over/Under $100: Ah ha! My gorgeous gothic beauty! Where have you been? I have missed you so. It’s been a hot minute since I last had this wine and yet again, I just can’t help but fall in love with it. Black fruit. Black rock. Black everything. I super dig this profile here, and am quite frankly a little shocked at how deeply pitched and mineral-driven this wine is. Of all the Scarlett Reserves, this is SO my wine. The chiseled focus is so on point, heightened even further by a critical (almost severe) frame that makes you believe it’s going to be just too hardcore. But it perfectly threads the needle between the strict (both in acidic tension and mineral frame) and the savory. Finishes super serious. Distinct and delineated. A wine to have when you feel like embodying David Beckham’s jawline.
Not blind. (4713 views) | | | Tasted by GQG on 5/5/2021 & rated 96 points: Badmonkey nails the current state of this wine... currants, black cherry, blackberry delivered with purity and spice with a rich, round, charming, sweet singular mid-palate. It's a bit more sweet than the 2016 Carter Three Kings I had last night but still under control. For me the sweetness complements the overall roundness of the wine and doesn't drift anywhere close to the jammy label. 96 score and down to my last bottle of this old friend. (2527 views) | | | Tasted by Badmonkey on 4/3/2021 & rated 94 points: Dark red and black fruit - dark cherry, blackberry, and currants. Really smooth with a beautiful purity and nice depth/concentration. Nice rich flavors of dark berries and some spice/licorice. Fairly long finish. Popped/poured but drank out of a decanter for a couple hours. Not much improvement with time but at a nice drinking point. Drank next to the 2014 Scarlett Rutherford cab and I would give a slight edge to the 2015 Reserve which was a little smoother/purer and showed a little more depth/concentration but was also richer/sweeter. Once again, the 2015 Reserve is borderline over the top for me in regards to richness/sweetness but a really well made wine nonetheless - I can more than understand how others might rate it higher. In my opinion, right in the middle of the 93 to 95 rating from WA/Parker. 100% cab. (3596 views) | | | Tasted by LiteItOnFire on 12/22/2020 & rated 94 points: Decanted for 2 hours and Bam (can I type that or is that a trademark)? This is drinking back to its sweet spot. Yummy deliciousness, no other words needed. Boom! (3029 views) | | | Tasted by LiteItOnFire on 10/15/2020 & rated 93 points: Beautiful wine but not delivering the same goods as it did a year plus ago. Not sure if it’s becoming disjointed or if this is a drink early wine. Hmmm will have to revisit. Regardless still very enjoyable. (2915 views) | | | Tasted by greekwineaux on 5/16/2020 & rated 88 points: All I keep thinking about is how much toilet paper I could have purchased with $125 bucks-what a sweet mess. Love the label, especially on this reserve, but that's about it. (2409 views) | | | Tasted by dclaggett on 4/8/2020 & rated 93 points: Still exhibits more sweetness on finish that I’m very conflicted about, but the wine itself goes on and on in mouth for minutes. Juicy, dusty, red and black berry fruit, some licorice, clove and confection that keeps it unique to other Cali cabs. This has revved up since last bottle - I gave it 4 hr slow ox and consumed over 2 days. Very good wine. (2232 views) | | | Tasted by Yack Man on 1/27/2020 & rated 96 points: Much like the last bottle and perhaps its backed off just a tad (see previous notes), non the less an excellent bottle of wine. (3239 views) | | | Tasted by csimm on 1/26/2020 flawed bottle: Eeeeeeesh... What happened to my precious prefect Scarlett?!?!?!
Super saaa-weeeeeeeeeeeet blackberry pie muddled in a pile of chocolate Caymus-meets-See's brown sugar buttercream and pureed with a fistful of purple Gobstoppers and the suntan oil of a sweaty southern Iberian pool-boy with a thyroid issue. Plush the way that mud in the Everglades is plush. Like nothing I've ever had from the Scarlett Reserve lineup before. I'm gonna go out on an easy limb here and call this flawed..... as in, A LOT flawed...... (5305 views) | | | Tasted by ledocq on 1/1/2020: Hubbah hubbah. Has all the good qualities of the regular cuvée plus this jagged kind of spine that suggests its finer qualities will come out in 10 or 20 years. It's amazing now, went very well with ribeyes, but it's going to be ridiculous later. High acids after it was open 3 hours, but it could stand up to the marinade accordingly. (2463 views) | | | Tasted by GQG on 12/6/2019 & rated 97 points: Checked in on this old friend and can confirm that, for me, its personality and charm are undiminished. It always seems to take this wine a half hour or more in the glass to really get going, but it's still getting down and finishing long!
It's a singular wine in many ways, especially the smooth, round, dark, expanding mid-palate that delivers some really unique and layered flavors. (2440 views) | | | Tasted by LiteItOnFire on 8/16/2019 & rated 95 points: Wife dragged me to Diana Ross at the Wynn- admittedly a great show. Damn at 75 she still has it. Ate at Mizumi- probably the best spicy tuna roll I have ever had. Gorgeous views of the waterfall. This wine is like soft cashmere velvet caressing your insides. Was that a wine-gasim? Might have been. This is not the most complex intellectual wine but it puts out like a sophisticated hooker at a Harvard party- juxtaposition, fluxtaposition who the hell knows but this was amazing juice. I may do the walk of shame in the morning but enjoyed every minute. All cassis and velvet. Not sure about the longevity as it has a subtle acid and tannins component but who cares- drink it and love it. It wants to be held now!
And to be clear this is NOT caymus, Rumbauer Zin or Austin Hope or other wines made for Joe Public (don’t get me wrong love to pop those as my gateway wines for unexpecting friends) which may be sluty as well but those are one dimensional sugar sweet fruit bombs- this is not that it all. Perfect for the night! This would be what Frank the Tank would drink. (3174 views) | | | Tasted by Yack Man on 8/11/2019 & rated 97 points: Beautiful wine but this time it didn't deliver as nicely as my last experience. Dark fruit, extracted black and blueberry fruit, cream de cassis, black licorice and some oak. This is a big fruit monster with energy, nice firm tannins and really delicious, but this time slightly off and less impactful. 96.5 points.
P.S. I'm not afraid of monsters. (2666 views) | | | Tasted by Cristal2000 on 3/21/2019 & rated 97 points: "Forced" into opening this bottle with my buddy CSIMM lavishing praise all over it. Would have really enjoyed having it at like a 92, just for the sake of messing with him, but this is definitely showing extremely well. Quality wise, it reminds me of the 2016 Myriad GIII from Mike Smith. Just extremely well constructed and a bargain at $125 on release. Too bad from what I hear the 2016 edition is not following in its footsteps.
Cassis, black currant, dark cherry, spice box and spring flowers emanating from the glass on PnP. First sip and I am really happy, because this has lost some of the jammy and sweet characteristics it showed a bit earlier in its life. Still, this is super full bodied and wonderfully integrated, cascading waves of dark chocolate and blackberry fruit over the pallet in wonderful layers. The fruit is pure, the structure is quite impressive and it is showing more complexity than I would ever rightly expect from this wine. What was mainly a wonderful fruit bomb has become a bit more cerebral. The mid pallet is full and plush, and it transitions quickly to a very, very long and satisfying finish that even manages a lot of mineral like qualities. Not a hard edge to be found. Not quite a perfect wine for my pallet, but definitely a real treat. (4658 views) | | | Tasted by csimm on 3/17/2019 & rated 100 points: One of my Napa Cabs of the vintage, and a consistent standout every time I pop the cork. This wine simply lays waste to a whole mess of wines when in comparative tastings or as a stand-alone. The complexity here is absurd, with a dark mineral-inflected core that actually speaks less to Rutherford and more toward LPV or Steltzner/Stags Leap sites (so I guess I should ding it down 0.427 points for not accurately representing its proper terroir - So, 99.573 rounded-up is 100 last I checked).
Frame, speed, grip, precise flavor expansion on the mid-palate, viscosity, depth, texture/mouthfeel ... You can go ahead and check all of your little sommelier boxes on this phenomenal specimen. What really draws me in here is how focused this biooootch is. I’m not sure how it achieves such a well-honed and complex delivery of flavors while still kicking down crazy awesome on the savory front. It has personality and a sharpened intensity I love.
The flavors themselves are, as before, a trifecta of black berry, black rock, and bad assery. This was a PnP, and it performed great right from the pull. Air helped to broaden the blackberry and obsidian notes in a way that was perfectly governed both in weight and in speed. I’m not sure what the finish was like really because it went on forever and I was already taking another sip before it actually ended... whenever that was exactly... the next day perhaps.
My only issue with this wine is that I didn’t buy 5 cases of it. And of course... I don’t see it on Wine-Searcher anywhere, even in some random place like Hong Kong, or London..... or Azerbaijan.
Alas, the trials and tribulations of first-world disappointments: “...If only I could find and kidnap my favorite wine so as to tuck it away in my precious cellar like Gollum’s ring or some Silence of the Lambs Buffalo Bill wackamo.”
99.573-100 points. (6400 views) | | | Tasted by LiteItOnFire on 1/2/2019 & rated 95 points: No notes. Shared with SC in Atlanta at Capital Grill. Proper decant- this bottle was much more in line with other ratings/experience. Previous bottle might have been an off-bottle.
Dark fruit, great attack, middle and long finish. Great wine and very good QPR considering almost comparable to 1.5-2x. (3968 views) | | | Tasted by LiteItOnFire on 12/28/2018 & rated 93 points: Hour decant. No notes. Maybe needed more time? Surprised I am rating this much lower then the rest of the group. Well made yummy wine but feels like there is something missing/sour note for my profile. Not sure what it is but have a bunch left to figure it out. Could also be a phase. Will dog in and get to the bottom of it. 93/94 (3536 views) | | | Tasted by RockyII on 11/18/2018 & rated 94 points: Decanted 2 hours and drank over the next 2 hours with great friends with steak and sushi. Big nose and taste of fresh red and black berries, including raspberries and blackberries, with cedar, chocolate and syrup. Great balance of tannins and acidity. Medium plus body. Really nice. About 94. (3229 views) | | | Tasted by melsdad on 11/7/2018 & rated 99 points: My first Scarlett Reserve. Decanted for 3 hrs and drank from decanter over the next 4 hours. This wine is a mouthful. Red and black fruit fills the mouth with a touch of sweetness. Very smooth. An gorgeous Mike Smith creation. If this was the only wine I had to drink for the rest of my life, I'd be ok with that. Thanks to Csimm1161 for the recommendation. (3656 views) | | | Only displaying the 25 most recent notes - click to see all notes for this wine... |
| Scarlett Wines Producer websiteCabernet SauvignonCabernet Sauvignon is probably the most famous red wine grape variety on Earth. It is rivaled in this regard only by its Bordeaux stablemate Merlot, and its opposite number in Burgundy, Pinot Noir. From its origins in Bordeaux, Cabernet has successfully spread to almost every winegrowing country in the world. It is now the key grape variety in many first-rate New World wine regions, most notably Napa Valley, Coonawarra and Maipo Valley. Wherever they come from, Cabernet Sauvignon wines always seem to demonstrate a handful of common character traits: deep color, good tannin structure, moderate acidity and aromas of blackcurrant, tomato leaf, dark spices and cedarwood.
Used as frequently in blends as in varietal wines, Cabernet Sauvignon has a large number of common blending partners. Apart from the obvious Merlot and Cabernet Franc, the most prevalent of these are Malbec, Petit Verdot and Carmenere (the ingredients of a classic Bordeaux Blend), Shiraz (in Australia's favorite blend) and in Spain and South America, a Cabernet – Tempranillo blend is now commonplace. Even the bold Tannat-based wines of Madiran are now generally softened with Cabernet SauvignonReserve The Wine News | Wine Country This Week | Wine Lover's PageUSAAmerican wine has been produced since the 1500s, with the first widespread production beginning in New Mexico in 1628. Today, wine production is undertaken in all fifty states, with California producing 84% of all U.S. wine. The continent of North America is home to several native species of grape, including Vitis labrusca, Vitis riparia, Vitis rotundifolia, and Vitis vulpina, but the wine-making industry is based almost entirely on the cultivation of the European Vitis vinifera, which was introduced by European settlers. With more than 1,100,000 acres (4,500 km2) under vine, the United States is the fourth-largest wine producing country in the world, after Italy, Spain, and France.California2021 vintage: "Unlike almost all other areas of the state, the Russian River Valley had higher than normal crops in 2021, which has made for a wine of greater generosity and fruit forwardness than some of its stablemates." - Morgan Twain-Peterson Napa Valley Napa Valley Wineries and Wine (Napa Valley Vintners)Rutherford Rutherford,
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