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| Drinking Windows and Values |
| Community Tasting History |
| Community Tasting Notes (average 91.6 pts. and median of 92 pts. in 154 notes) - hiding notes with no text | | | Tasted by capacious on 5/9/2022 & rated 94 points: How sweet when you wait, and wait, and it worked! Not sure this can get any better, but it’s drinking very well now, with a bit of Napa sweet chocolate, leather and black and dark fruits. Great viscous feel, lengthy finish. Evolved beautifully. Clearly my prior predictions were short sighted, or I was lucky here. Anyhow, now, for sure, drinking great now and who knows what’s to come (1028 views) | | | Tasted by sdwineguru on 5/2/2021 & rated 92 points: Evolving Napa Cabernet 2002 Larkmead ($40 in 2006). Mid-brick, amber edges, viscous (14.7 alc.); big berry nose, ripe grapes, tobacco, cedar; mid-big body; softening tannins; emerging Cabernet fruit; long layered finish. w/flat iron steak. 17 UC Davis scale, 92 other scales. (1468 views) | | | Tasted by bobh22314 on 11/6/2019 & rated 97 points: Purple in the center to a bricking rim. Black fruits and minerals. Tons of fruit still left. Smooth with little tannins left and a long long finish
Drink now or over the next year (2064 views) | | | Tasted by JJ58 on 7/14/2019: A real wow...no bricking,beautiful fruit...amazing ! (2180 views) | | | Tasted by Badfish on 4/25/2019: Quite amazing considering the $30 price point circa 2005, this wine is from a long lost era when Larkmead was stunningly undervalued. An intricate bouquet of plum brandy, creme de cassis, pencil shavings, pure cacao, and lavender oil. The palate is so well balanced with a still firmly structured style including rich dark fruit, sturdy yet approachable tannins, and vine ripened acidity. Remarkably youthful, this seems to have a human like aging curve as it is just entering into adulthood, give this another ten years to reach a prime drinking window. (2316 views) | | | Tasted by sunalsorises on 1/1/2019 & rated 94 points: Last of 3 bottles. Good depth and balance. Drinking beautifully. 1st bottle in 2014 seemed a bit thin. 2nd bottle in 2016 showed much better depth. The last bottle was the best with fully mature fruit. Wish I had a couple more bottles to taste to see how the wine evolves. (1552 views) | | | Tasted by glou.sf on 11/22/2018 & rated 90 points: Ripe fruit, plums, tobacco, leather, and dark cassis notes on the nose. Quite sweet and rich on the palate with flavors of sweet plum, dark berries and lots of fruit. Medium tannins. Medium finish. Not bad, but disappointing, especially considering the price we paid at the winery. Too bad I have another bottle. Wife: 90 (1503 views) | | | Tasted by mac-eye on 8/16/2018 & rated 91 points: Rich, ripe fruit with adequate sweetness. Tannins have softened considerably, and not much acid. Surprisingly pleasant and fruity at 16 years. Well liked by the tasting group. Definitely not out of its drinking window yet. (1107 views) | | | Tasted by mac-eye on 5/22/2018 & rated 90 points: Somewhat sharp tasting, slightly disappointing. Still within its drinking window. Tannins still there albeit softened. Reasonable fruit, not intense.
IIRC this same wine, when tasted a several years ago, was similar - a bit too sharp for the fruit and other elements. (1172 views) | | | Tasted by bobh22314 on 4/5/2018 & rated 97 points: Orange at the rim still some cherry in the middle
Beginning to show its age but big full bodied and smooth lucious with many competing flavors but chocolate being the one that wins out
The best of the year for me so far have one bottle left and will be drinking it this year (1196 views) | | | Tasted by sdwineguru on 1/19/2018 & rated 92 points: Mid-brick, amber edges (color fading with time); Cabernet, mint, cassis and wood nose; mid-body; balanced; good fruit and Cabernet flavor; a little hot (14.7 alc.). w/steak (1127 views) | | | Tasted by OWC on 5/19/2017 & rated 94 points: Tremendous stuff. In a pleasant drinking window now, but still has a way to go. (2039 views) | | | Tasted by aaronfeigin on 8/9/2016 & rated 94 points: This wine is still amazing. Paired perfectly with a NY Strip steak. Soft and supple, smooth tannins that are still prevalent, nice round edges, lots of cigar box, black cherry, and earth. (3470 views) | | | Tasted by sunalsorises on 3/17/2016 & rated 92 points: Much improved from previous bottle. Shows good depth and great nose. (3519 views) | | | Tasted by La Cave d'Argent on 1/2/2016 & rated 95 points: From a bottle purchased upon release and cellared under pristine conditions, this deep garnet wine (100% Cabernet Sauvignon) was decanted and serially tasted over several hours. Packed with black currant and dark cherry fruit, it adds nuances of mocha, pipe tobacco, pickling spice and bittersweet chocolate. Full-bodied, round, seamlessly alcoholic (14.7%) and with plentiful silky tannins, this wine is nothing short of hedonism in a glass! Layered and dense in the middle, it goes on to close with a very long finish. Those holding well-cellared bottles of this gem will be very happy. It has the fruit and structure to provide pleasure for another decade (or more). Drink now-2026. (3982 views) | | | Tasted by TJK on 12/31/2015 & rated 95 points: I wish i had more. This wine has been consistently great over the years. This final bottle was smooth, silky, medium to full bodied with some nice fruit remaining. Just loved this stuff. (3522 views) | | | Tasted by capacious on 11/1/2015 & rated 93 points: Oh the pain of it for a Mets fan....drank this along with a few chunks of dark chocolate while watching the Mets snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Couldn't bring myself to write notes that evening. Anyhow the Larkmead was a real positive surprise. Onto some secondary notes, well integrated, lengthy, clearly Cali cab but Larkmead is one cab that doesn't taste like a lot of others. My experience is this does very well over time, and so if you like fruit bombs drink young, but this holds up very well over time, and evolves to be a very interesting wine. I wouldn't wait long tho. (3199 views) | | | Tasted by Timikeb81 on 9/4/2015 & rated 91 points: Beautiful example of cabernet. Aged very well. Sadly my last one. (2097 views) | | | Tasted by aaronfeigin on 8/22/2015: This wine is at its peak. I don't see any reason to hold on to the rest much more than a year. It is drinking beautifully now and will not get better. Drink up! (1903 views) | | | Tasted by levinml on 4/1/2015 & rated 94 points: One of the best buys I ever made; from Carolina Wine for about $25/btl. before this was well known. Fantastic quality from a great vintage, drinking well. Sorry I don't have any more. All the elements, good flavors, length and structure. Good for a few years yet, so drink when you want (or send to me). (1890 views) | | | Tasted by roybivens on 3/6/2015 & rated 94 points: Simply outstanding. This is lusciousness in a class, amazing fruit and structure remain. This has miles to go yet, but is very enjoyable now. Will definitely go the distance to 2020, and a bit beyond. Score = [50 + 5 + 12 + 18 + 9 ] = 94 (1914 views) | | | Tasted by Frijole on 12/23/2014: dark burgundy black, opaque, cloudy hue
Nose: deep berries, milk chocolate, white pepper, tarragon, licorice, clove, tar, leather, smoke, oak
Pal: deep berries, chocolate, black pepper, tarragon, clove, tar, leather, brown sugar, vanilla, smoke, oak, some complexity
Feel: full, cloying, acidic
Finish: medium/long
T9 (1926 views) | | | Tasted by capacious on 11/7/2014 & rated 92 points: Drinking get nicely. Fully evolved. Fruity in top of good structure and nice palate response. Larkmead always a good Napa CS. (2398 views) | | | Tasted by shutto1992@gmail.com on 8/10/2014 & rated 85 points: Not my style of california cab. This has a strong raspberry and vanilla nose and flavors which I don't like. Slight burn like it has too much alcohol. It's overpowering and trying to grab all the attention. Not a bad wine, just not my style. (2382 views) | | | Tasted by sunalsorises on 7/18/2014 & rated 87 points: Nice but below expectations. Good nose with deep layers of fruit bouquet. Did not have depth of fruit. Certainly enjoyable and quite well balanced. But did not have the depth. (1982 views) | | | Only displaying the 25 most recent notes - click to see all notes for this wine... |
| Larkmead Vineyards 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 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)Napa ValleySt. Helena |
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