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| Drinking Windows and Values |
| Drinking window: Drink between 2015 and 2021 (based on 17 user opinions) |
| Community Tasting History |
| Community Tasting Notes (average 91.9 pts. and median of 92 pts. in 43 notes) - hiding notes with no text | | | Tasted by rocknroller on 3/31/2024 & rated 93 points: Very dark red color. PNP, drank 2 glasses over 4 hours. This is in great shape still, and always fun to have as my dad loves this. Leather, funk, earthy, graphite, gravel minerality, purple fruit, smoke, woodsy spices, full bodied with a satin texture. Excellent. (249 views) | | | Tasted by 3daywinereview.com on 1/27/2024 & rated 94 points: Day 1: Solid bottling but suspect this is not showing as well as it has been a wine shop shelf vertical for too long. Cork came out clean so that was good. Leather, red currants, mild spice, tobacco, gravel and blueberries. On the pop and pour I think this will improve over a few days. 91 points. Day 1.5: better. Beautiful wine with menthol, red currants, gravel, tobacco, spice, blueberries, earth and minerals. Super concentrated wine and long finish. Outstanding. 94 points.
Day 2: Bell pepper, tobacco, red currants, blueberries, spices and menthol. Still showing well on day 2. 93 points (321 views) | | | Tasted by rocknroller on 5/30/2023 & rated 93 points: Very dark red/purple color. PNP, drank 2 glasses over 3 hours, and again next evening. This was showing very well - maybe at peak now - certainly not fading. Gorgeous Bordeaux nose, earth, pencil, leather, a touch of funk, cassis, high toned wood spice, hints of purple flowers and fruits. The palate is full bodied, lots of pencil and minerality along with the earth, wood, leather, and the dark fruit of cassis and plum. The tannins have a gravelly, somewhat grainy character. Really good stuff - incredibly overlooked too. (753 views) | | | Tasted by pdadams66 on 10/17/2021 & rated 91 points: From a magnum.
Deep dark red center, red rim with modest signs of age.
Excellent Bordeaux-style nose - cassis, pyrazines, coffee, ripe blackcurrants and plums, black olives.
Smooth and a touch of sweetness, blackcurrants and black raspberries, nicely integrated oak, polished leather, okay acidity, modest tannins, nice long finish of mature fruit and coffee.
Excellent Bordeaux blend, drinking as such, good now from magnum, probably another ~5 years left. (1537 views) | | | Tasted by rocknroller on 10/15/2021 & rated 93 points: Very dark red/purple color. PNP, drank a couple glasses over 3 hours. 51CS, 26M, 18CF, 3PV, 2Mal. This is more earthy and perfumed from the start, great woodsy character, pencil, cassis, purple flowers. Nice Bordeaux blend nose. The palate is a bit more coarse, cassis, earthy, wood, gravel and mineral, medium grained tannins. 92+ to 93pts. (1657 views) | | | Tasted by rocknroller on 8/30/2020 & rated 93 points: Lost my notes on this so no details. This was in a beautiful spot for drinking. Nice m8x of earth, fruit, and oak. One of the go wines for classical Bordeaux blends in California. Great QPR. Love it. Should have used this for the "Out Kicking Your Coverage' theme recently. (2425 views) | | | Tasted by Chefofthewoods on 5/3/2020 & rated 91 points: fruit a touch faded, aromatics intact. Pleasing and balanced. (2126 views) | | | Tasted by billyabbott on 2/15/2020: Less leathery than the 2009. Lots of green notes with spiced berries. (1951 views) | | | Tasted by agsdlswine on 12/31/2019 & rated 92 points: Excellent well balanced wine still w/plenty of fruit. Cyrus is a very good wine to establish a lengthy vertical. (1495 views) | | | Tasted by Baron Slick on 9/28/2019 & rated 93 points: A blend of of the five noble grapes, this was compact, vibrant, and structured, and needed about two hours to shed some of its youthful restraint. The result was a wine that exuded a succulent tension between candied dark fruit and earthy minerality. Absolutely delicious. (1468 views) | | | Tasted by Chefofthewoods on 7/13/2018 & rated 91 points: Still great - lovely aromatic nose. Best decanted or allowed to breathe 1-2 hours. (2444 views) | | | Tasted by karaseke on 5/19/2018 & rated 90 points: Depth of tannins, decanted before filet dinner, still evident days later (1828 views) | | | Tasted by Nfmds on 4/21/2018 & rated 93 points: Needs 2-3 hrs in decanter. Dark fruits: blackberry, black cherry. Cinnamon, cloves. High alcohol. Rounded tannins (1728 views) | | | Tasted by Dan & Patti on 12/19/2017 & rated 93 points: Cigarbox, dark fruit, wonderful nose with medium finish (2125 views) | | | Tasted by pc2006mg on 4/26/2017 & rated 92 points: Needs air.... (3668 views) | | | Tasted by stags22 on 3/11/2017 & rated 85 points: Fairly hard pass. Nose was amazing but taste was just meh. Not bad, but smooth and unremarkable. Wanted to love but extremely bad QPR. (2215 views) | | | Tasted by DavidWong168 on 6/10/2016 & rated 92 points: An opaque purple in the glass. The nose is pronounced with cassis, blueberry and pencil lead. Quite high acidity on the attack, and it's the edgy kind, the malic dominating the lactic. Unlike other cellar trackers I didn't find the wine tannic or have much oak influence. Lively, dense black fruits with good precision, concentration and persistence that say old world more than new. (3859 views) | | | Tasted by Ryan.Vento on 1/26/2016 & rated 96 points: One of the best California Bordeaux blends to-date, especially for a remarkable ~$50/bottle. Plush, rich, velvety, balanced, complex with notes of tobacco, cherries, cedar, mint, cocoa, wax, and loads of dark fruits. (1013 views) | | | Tasted by Agent67 on 1/8/2016 & rated 92 points: Great Wine. Tannic and big, long finish. Want more (3305 views) | | | Tasted by Mech-E on 12/6/2015 & rated 92 points: Decanted 2 hours. Needed way more time to integrate and chill out those tannins. Very tight but you can see the light here. It has a great amount of depth and certainly is medium + body. Nicely oaked but not overly so. Wish the fruit was a bit more in the forefront but certainly great for the price. (3087 views) | | | Tasted by mflesh on 8/14/2015 & rated 93 points: This wine kind of had some characteristics I wasn't expecting. Really nice and very complex wine. I was expecting a blackberry cab bomb, but I got way more than I bargained for (and not in a bad way!). This wine poured a dark red into the glass. The nose was actually fig, lavender/wildflowers, and was a little sharp. Actually wasn't getting much berry on the nose at all. On the palate was actually a very smooth entry. Fig, licorice, lavender dominated the open. The middle is where this one turned darker, and was showing a delightful mixture of prune, black cherry, baked apple cobbler, pepper. Finished with black pepper, tannic, blackberry, a little green pepper, but the aftertaste was almost equivalent to slightly overripe but gritty red apple that was covered in cinnamon caramel. Absolutely beautiful wine. Lots of old world characteristics to this one. I love Alexander Valley Vineyards for producing this beautiful Meritage every year! Drink from now through 2022, but I have a feeling it will only get more earthy from here. (3009 views) | | | Tasted by Smksmk on 5/21/2015 & rated 91 points: Excellent all around. (3000 views) | | | Tasted by danielbleier on 11/6/2014 & rated 91 points: Sampled at Big Reds and Bubbles in Austin...friendly and fun, with bright plum and cherry flavors...solid acidity keeps it lively. (3429 views) | | | Tasted by Motz on 10/18/2014 & rated 91 points: Smells like it should, Alexander Valley fruit showing herbs and olive grove. Moderate oak treatment, light frame, more charming than powerful. Excellent acid, light tannins. Pleasantly lingering finish. Solid, though nothing to get excited about. 91+. (2478 views) | | | Tasted by nzinkgraf on 7/10/2014: RRV and Napa Visit; 7/7/2014-8/30/2014 (Napa and Sonoma): 51% Cab Sauv, 26% Merlot, 18% Cab Franc, 3% Petit Verdot, 2% Malbec.
Mineral and stone aromas. Palate shows M+ body, Med Tannin and sweet black fruit on the palate. (3817 views) | | | Only displaying the 25 most recent notes - click to see all notes for this wine... |
| Alexander Valley Vineyards Producer website
Alexander Valley Vineyards is owned and operated by the Harry Wetzel family. Founded in 1975, it is located on Cyrus Alexander's old homestead.
The Wetzel Family Estate now grows fourteen grape varieties, on diverse sites stretching from the banks of the Russian River up onto the hillsides. Each grape variety is matched to a specific soil type and exposure. Vineyard Manager Mark Houser and Winemaker Kevin Hall work as a team to maximize fruit flavor in the vineyard and to create balanced wines that capture the grapes’ varietal characteristics. Hank Wetzel oversees the vineyard and winery operations, and his wife Linda continues to oversee administration. Now the third generation of Wetzels has joined the winery. Harry Wetzel, IV is assistant winemaker while younger brother Robert is the National Sales Manager.
Alexander Valley Vineyards produces 100,000 cases annually, 17 varietal wines and proprietary blends. Seventy-five percent of AVV’s production is red wine. Chardonnay, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon constitute roughly half of total production. Other varietals include Pinot Noir, Zinfandel, Gewurztraminer, Syrah, Sangiovese, Viognier, and Cabernet Franc.Red Bordeaux BlendRed Bordeaux is generally made from a blend of grapes. Permitted grapes are Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Malbec and rarely Carménère.Today Carménère is rarely used, with Château Clerc Milon, a fifth growth Bordeaux, being one of the few to still retain Carménère vines. As of July 2019, Bordeaux wineries authorized the use of four new red grapes to combat temperature increases in Bordeaux. These newly approved grapes are Marselan, Touriga Nacional, Castets, and Arinarnoa.
Wineries all over the world aspire to making wines in a Bordeaux style. In 1988, a group of American vintners formed The Meritage Association to identify wines made in this way. Although most Meritage wines come from California, there are members of the Meritage Association in 18 states and five other countries, including Argentina, Australia, Canada, Israel, and Mexico.USAAmerican 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 Sonoma CountyMendocino CountyAlexander Valley Alexander Valley Winegrowers Association | Wikipedia
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