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| Drinking Windows and Values |
| Community Tasting History |
| Community Tasting Notes (average 93.3 pts. and median of 93 pts. in 88 notes) - hiding notes with no text | | | Tasted by lesz on 1/17/2024 & rated 93 points: sorry its my last bottle. very delicious. (390 views) | | | Tasted by jsmorris707 on 1/13/2024 & rated 96 points: Double decanted for an hour, deep ruby, black cherries with a touch of mocha, med. tannins, long finish; outstanding & ready to drink (382 views) | | | Tasted by Mark1npt on 11/9/2023 & rated 97 points: Again, limited experience with this maker. I last had a '93 back in '15 that was a passable 91 pts at that time. Oddly, both Joel and I pulled one of these for tonight's event. He a '12 and me this '02.
This vintage was 90% Cab and 10% Cab Franc. Still mostly dark purple in the glass. One hour slow ox, then the stopper pulled at the table and we started drinking about 15 minutes in. Nose of graphite, and sweet dark red fruit with florals that grew over the first hour it was open. Powerfully elegant, comes to mind. Palate of sweet, powerful dark red/black fruit, excellent weight and mouthfeel, it's silky but not weighty like with glycerin. It's near fully integrated with great balance and precision. Beautiful acidity to balance against all the other elements. Amazing how strong this fruit still is at 21 years of age. 96 for the palate with a +1 for the nose so 97 for me tonight. This bottle very much shows what Joel's '12 we had alongside it can become with 10 more years of bottle age. Beautiful. (1452 views) | | | Tasted by warrenpeace on 10/27/2023 & rated 95 points: Drinking beautifully. At peak but can stay there for 3+ years (533 views) | | | Tasted by tomlee on 5/31/2022 & rated 97 points: Dark crimson in color. 13.5% ABV. Prior to smelling the wine it is hard not to notice the fantastic aromas wafting from the decanter and filling the room. Sublime nose of dark fruits, Whitman Sampler box, leather and graphite. Full bodied and perfectly balanced. Power and concentration in spades. Black currants, cassis liqueur, tobacco and smoke on the palate. The finish is long and the tannins are silky. 2002 has always been a great vintage for Dalla Valle and this wine is showing beautifully at 20 years of age. I'll open my last bottle in 2027. (1767 views) | | | Tasted by VinhoVerde on 9/11/2021 & rated 95 points: Ripe blueberry, cassis, and graphite aromatics. Very fragrant. Mature. Concentrated. Beautiful drinking now, with its fresh fruit flavors and grip, the tannins are resolved. Medium length. I don’t see how this could get better with additional age. (1922 views) | | | Tasted by zimmy07 on 8/14/2021 & rated 90 points: This is still very young but too pruney and raisiny for me. It has a good backbone but not all right on midpalate. I love Dalla Valle ad had many vintages, and this was juts a bottle not on the top of its game. The 2001 I had a while ago was on point, this was not hitting on all cylinders but it was the bottle as 2002 Dalla Vale is pretty damn good., (1897 views) | | | Tasted by wa2ofd on 2/18/2021: Great drinking window right now... (2110 views) | | | Tasted by Beatsmith8 on 1/24/2021 & rated 95 points: Special wine, love the cab franc in there (2097 views) | | | Tasted by MLR on 9/27/2020 & rated 94 points: Our last bottle. Decanted over 2 hours for dinner. Should have decanted 2 hours before dinner. Continued to open and reveal spice and dark fruit on the nose. Maybe some Chinese 5 spice, blueberries, vanilla. All carry over to the mouth feel and flavors on the palate. Some violets too. A hint of tannins in there somewhere. Awesome wine. (1854 views) | | | Tasted by shaferguy91 on 8/25/2020 & rated 97 points: Best Cab I have had this year. Terrific ! (1680 views) | | | Tasted by tomlee on 3/14/2020 & rated 100 points: Crimson in color. 13.5% ABV. Sublime nose of black and blue fruits, violets, cedar and leather. Full bodied and well balanced. Immense and concentrated. Blackberry, blueberry, cassis liqueur and licorice on the palate. The finish is breathtaking. It blows my mind how well this bottle is showing at 18 years of age. What an absolute stunner. Without question the best bottle of Dalla Valle I have ever opened. My last two bottles will be enjoyed over the next 6-8 years. (2271 views) | | | Tasted by California Cape on 11/30/2019: Thanksgiving. Solid but not worth the wait. (1972 views) | | | Tasted by soneill104 on 12/25/2018 & rated 95 points: Great ruby color and still drinking like a beautifully. Favorite wine of the night by far! Wish I had more. (2558 views) | | | Tasted by DMET on 12/1/2018 & rated 98 points: outstanding! decanters 2.5 hours. floral and fruit bouquet. chewy and deep, nice legs. had with gnocchi and pork shank. (2358 views) | | | Tasted by stockshooter on 12/10/2016 & rated 95 points: Decanted and drank over 3 hrs+ .. started to open up about 2 hrs into the decant.
Lots of tiny sediment mixed in at the end of the decant as well as a good amount of large sediment in the bottle.
At the start, a bit astringent out of the bottle ...
Really started to open up about 2 hrs in, great nose of fresh herbs .. maybe sage? thyme ?
Not a lot of fruit at this point, more so herbal notes .. a lot less astringent though.
About 3 hrs in nose getting back to dark fruits and berries, less herbs ..
Drinking exceptionally well now! Very little tannin left.
Finished about 4 1/2 hrs after opening ... still drinking great!
A fantastic bottle of wine with several different layers over the 4 hr period.
An amazing experience and a pleasure to drink!
Definitely many years left in this one !
Paired with roasted rack of lamb & mashed potatoes.
A easy 95+, but probably will probably score higher over the next few years! (4832 views) | | | Tasted by Arcturus on 12/3/2016 & rated 96 points: 96. 3 hour decant. Fantastic,seductive floral fragrant nose followed by cumin, crushed raspberries and moss. Textured, layered, dense palate with a core of dark sweet fruit and a dusty killer finish. No signs of fading. (4082 views) | | | Tasted by T.E.D. on 2/18/2016 & rated 90 points: More polished than my last experience a couple years ago. Somewhat muted fruits, showing mountain elements of evergreen, pine along with tobacco and cedar. Short finish after a couple hours of air. (4517 views) | | | Tasted by MLR on 12/25/2015 & rated 95 points: Spicy nose with mint, anise and graphite. Tannins still create a chewy wine that lingers in the mouth with tar, old tobacco and dark cocoa. This wine wants to go longer but consensus seems to say only a few more years. I'm torn based on the chewiness of this wine. Either way, it stood up great to a 2002 Bryant that we had alongside. (4013 views) | | | Tasted by jswine15 on 11/28/2015 & rated 94 points: delicious...mature california cab with a great balance of fruit and tannins, drinking wonderfully, a slightly lighter bodied style (4039 views) | | | Tasted by tomlee on 8/23/2015 & rated 96 points: Ruby red in color. 13.5% ABV. Soaring nose of red fruits, mint and graphite. Great concentration and power. Black currants, cassis, cherries and tobacco on the palate. Super silky tannins on an exceptionally long finish. Fantastic Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon from a wonderful vintage. I'll drink my remaining bottles over the next 3-5 years. One of the best Napa Cabs I have had in recent memory. (3060 views) | | | Tasted by Bcw1989 on 7/9/2015 & rated 93 points: Still in great shape for a 2002. Fruit is still very forward with loads of blackberrys, raspberries, and even cherries. Finish was long and this wine has had the tannins soften. Drank with good Italian food. Still feel this vintage has a few more years left, but not sure how much life after five more years. Very enjoyable experience. (2886 views) | | | Tasted by MLR on 6/14/2015 & rated 93 points: Wonderful wine at this point. Not one you want to keep for much longer. On the nose we get dark jammy fruit and cocoa. In the mouth it is smooth and soft with well integrated tannins and and dark chocolate and ripe dark cherries. (2369 views) | | | Tasted by ctjared on 4/16/2015: Very nice (2456 views) | | | Tasted by Knicksfan on 1/18/2015 & rated 95 points: Another stellar bottle and keeps improving over now 13 years. Rich and decadent and plenty left in the tank, (2574 views) | | | Only displaying the 25 most recent notes - click to see all notes for this wine... |
| Dalla Valle Producer website
Cabernet 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 SauvignonUSAAmerican 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)Oakville |
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