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| Community Tasting History |
| Community Tasting Notes (average 97.2 pts. and median of 97 pts. in 19 notes) - hiding notes with no text | | | Tasted by Bakerbd on 3/6/2024 & rated 95 points: Decanted for 5 hrs. Violets, cassis, cigar box, very fine tannin, powerful, long (2112 views) | | | Tasted by RMundell on 1/23/2024 & rated 98 points: 6 hr decant. Drinking very good. (2586 views) | | | Tasted by rrasmuss on 11/23/2023 & rated 99 points: Mint, cassis and blue fruit.
Opened for 5 hours prior to drinking. As good as Napa gets. Aside from Harlan and Macdonald not sure there is better in Napa. (2427 views) | | | Tasted by MJP Hou TX on 11/4/2023 & rated 98 points: Our groups last night at Blackberry Farms was capped off by two wines in which I had been thinking about for awhile.
19 Kinsman wines I've been told are approachable early so this bottle made the trip to Tennessee. So well in advance of dinner, Rhadamanthus was prepared by the sommeliers with a double splash decant and held at cellar temp along side the 2nd largest private collection in the country.
Rhadamanthus was presented along side another selection, this time off the restaurants list. 2001 Martha's Vineyard.
I got to say I have a love hate relationship with Napa. I love to taste them now but only like to drink them with significant age. I'm fortunate enough to have these in the cellar but "god willing" I'll drink these in a window with secondary and tertiary flavors. Nigel's wines have some of the most compelling fruit from the best terroirs in the Valley. The balance, structure and energy are all there to reward those with the cellar space to store these for the long haul.
As a side note, even the 2001 Martha's was young. In fact AG's recent 2022 review marks the drinking window as 2021-2041 and I totally agree.
98+
19 Bedrock Cuvee Karatas
19 Kinsman Eades Rhadamanthus
01 Heitz Martha’s Vineyard
21 Sadie Family Kokerboom (3665 views) | | | Tasted by tyfabes on 10/21/2023 & rated 99 points: Decanted for about 4 hours before pouring back in the bottle to serve.
Long story short, Napa simply doesn't get any better than this. Rhad is my 'last meal' wine and is everything I look for in a red wine. I normally hate the word hedonistic when describing wine, but there's simply no better way to characterize this bottle. I savored every sip and it continued to get better in the glass over the 2 hours we drank this. Tons of blue fruit, graphite, plush tannins, and a wonderful dance between structure, depth, acid, and fruit. Nobody manages tannins better than Nigel, and it's what puts this bottle completely over the top.
I hesitated opening this, as it's bordering on infanticide, but with sufficient air, this was singing and I don't regret it one bit! I managed to come across a few additional bottles, so couldn't resist checking in on this, but will tuck my remaining stash far back into the cellar and out of arms reach for the next few years. (3025 views) | | | Tasted by MAXIMUM SATISFACTION on 5/22/2023 & rated 98 points: Drank over the course of two nights. Very dark and dense. Bordeaux on the nose with almost a green note but the body is unmistakably Napa. Dark fruit (plums, blueberry), graphite, anise, and mint. Fine/soft tannins and perfect balance.
Outside of Harlan, MacDonald and Abreu this is as good as Napa gets. I’ll hold my other two for five years. (4178 views) | | | Tasted by #1Winelover on 4/7/2023 & rated 99 points: The prep was worth the time and wait! Popped the cork at 10am. Decanted for 1 hour at 12noon. Back in the bottle it went with the cork in place. Took the cork out at 4pm. Back in the decanter for another hour, back in the bottle with the cork. Did not try the wine during the experiment. I modified Shae's instructions slightly. The anticipation (aka foreplay) was great.
Tried my 1st sip at 6:30 and it was very good but it needed a decant. Once it was decanted, it was beautiful. And delicious. Very dark purple, blue and black coloring. Like prior vintages, it is concentrated and full-bodied. It has energy. It has verve. And it has depth. Cassis, licorice, earth, iron and crushed rocks. Very long finish. It is a special wine from a special place with an excellent wine maker. It's interesting and memorable.
We also had 2019 Tusk and 2019 Memento Mori Dr. Crane. Tusk was silky smooth and rich, but lacked backbone and structure. Yes, it was a little primary. No, it did not get better as the night went on.
Memento Mori was very good. It had Sam's signature structure but it kind of got lost in this mix. In the end, these two seemed very typical Napa Cabs and not worth the price of admission. Kinsman kicked the s*it out of those wines.
98-100 points (4691 views) | | | Tasted by LiteItOnFire on 1/13/2023 & rated 96 points: No notes simply impressions. A horizontal tasting of all three KE - all three very different than it’s siblings yet all with a central theme. Double Decanted 24 hours beforehand and these wines are still big bad and delicious. Rhad, no surprise was the biggest of them all however if you would have asked me to guess vintage, I would have assumed 2018 not the super sexy 2019 vintgae. Hold min of 5 years. (4702 views) | | | Tasted by jviz on 8/20/2022 & rated 96 points: Tasted at wheeler farms with Isabel, the assistant winemaker. Double decanted a day prior.
The 19 Rhadamanthus was a bit dark and brooding today. A blend of CS, CF, PV and Malbec, it felt like a long slumber will be needed. Some violets, iron ore, blackberry compote and bitter chocolate with, great supporting acidity. I’m not a fan of measuring finishes, but this was super long.
A serious wine with great potential, but shame on you if you pop this wine before 2025 (4405 views) | | | Tasted by csimm on 5/26/2022 & rated 98 points: Kinsman 2019 & 2021: You know when you were in school back in the day and there was always that one real serious kid that you just couldn’t figure out. I’m not talking about the one kid who always wore the same stained Darth Vader shirt for 4 days (wait, that might have been me), but rather the more stoic kid that you didn’t dare talk to because you didn’t know if he would instantly just punch you in the face for looking at him squirrelly. We aren’t talking about the Judd Nelson goth-rebel, but more the maybe-cool mystery kid who looked like he was 10 years older than everyone else in the class, had unusually large shoulders, and you just assumed he probably lived alone in his own slick apartment in “the big city,” or maybe had an orphan backstory that made him seem so much more “adult” than anyone else, even though he was 12 years old. This kid would later grow up and move to Zurich where he becomes the CEO of the Union Bank of Switzerland and owns three castles in North Tyrol.
So ya…the Rhad. It’s that kid…
Too cool for school. Chiseled, exacting, persistent – in a serious way – like an athlete focusing on one thing: being the very best, but knowing it’s not at its best self…just yet, but it will be, and everyone in the room knows it too (So, get the hell out the way!). ‘Must train more. Must focus more. Must not let others distract me.’ It’s the kind of execution that simply says, “I’m Rhad and you’re not.” (nice double entendre there, eh? Rhad/Rad…get it?…anyway…). Distinctive iron notes switchblade their ways through the black and red fruit, in fact, particularly more red-fruited than its other siblings. Finishes with a dusty resolve that really revs-up the back end. Depth comes to the stage, but there is a meticulous linearity that is currently more omnipresent. Never astringent, never overly tannic, the Rhad shows its scaffolding and energy in the form of insistent grip and precision. This is gonna be an ager for sure. It is a singular wine. It is an awesome wine. It will be an awesome-er wine in time.
For those with the means, this is one to grab a Maggie of and store it in your grandma’s basement for the next 20+ years. Of course, I’m gonna pretend I store anything for more than a few years before cracking the cranium on my bottles. Such the impetuous Yankee I am.
97-98+ points for the no-joking-around Russell Crow-in-Gladiator Rhad. This wine is on a mission…a mission with an extended forecast for turning into a trailblazer. Give it time. Hold bottles until Marvel finally kills the Spiderman franchise, Bing actually happens, or Arizona gets a coastline.
Note: This bottle had been open around 24 hours before service. (5798 views) | | | Tasted by Cristal2000 on 5/18/2022 & rated 98 points: This was open for over 24 hours with a decant, and it was still extremely grippy. Not surprising for those of us familiar with Nigel's style. It'll be a wine to age for sure.
Having this right after the Voleuse gave an excellent contrast to the wines. Where the Voleuse is super suave and sexy, this is a more structured, higher toned wine that requires some patience. It's a blend, which I believe is 80% cab, so it's also got some other BDX elements in there (15% Franc and 5% PV if I remember), which also changes the profile somewhat. Nose of cherries, iron ore, wet stone, underbrush and hints of tobacco. Medium to full bodied with excellent acidity, this is built like a brick house. The tannins are firm but super refined, with massive layers yet to unfurl. This wine shows the most mineral driven notes of the three for my palate, which it what you'd expect from Diamond Mtn. Fresh, pure, hyper focused and bringing a massive tannic finish, this is going to be fabulous but needs many, many years. (4351 views) | | | Tasted by sean7711 on 5/3/2022 & rated 97 points: Napa 2022; 5/2/2022-5/5/2022 (Napa Valley, CA): No formal notes over tasting at Cook St Helena with Shae. However, this was a great wine, delicately balance with the healthy dollop of CF (~15%) in the mix. A perennial favorite year in and year out. Lookout for this to continue to evolve for the next 8-10 years. (3313 views) | | | Tasted by JustBreathe680 on 3/9/2022 & rated 97 points: The Great Escape; 3/8/2022-3/9/2022 (Napa): Great Escape to Napa: 2 day getaway with my dad (3/8/22-3/9/22)
The second tasting of the day was lunch which Shae Kinsman at Farmstead in St. Helena. The 3 Kinsman wines were paired with a Lamb Burger.
All wines tasted out of what appeared to be 500ml shiner bottles. They were double decanted but total time is unknown. The wines included:
2019 Bella Oaks (98 points)
2019 Kinsman Eades La Voleuse du Chagrin (98+ points)
2019 Kinsman Eades Anjea Sleeping Lady Vineyard (97 points)
2019 Kinsman Eades Rhadamanthus Diamond Mountain District (97+ points)
As a disclaimer, I have never rated a wine 100 points. Not because I am opposed to it but because I have not found that wine that has truly blown my socks off yet. However, I would not be surprised if any one of these wines made by Nigel reaches the point ever rarefied air for me in the upcoming years. In my opinion for my palate, All 4 wines tasted above have the ability to reach 100 points. Every wine in this lineup was spectacular true highlight of my trip!
Unfortunately, I don’t have tremendously detailed notes on these wines, as the lunch had a more personable feel than intellectual dissecting wine tasting vibe.
The 2019 vintage of Rhad was only bottled a few weeks prior to this tasting. Initially, Shae wasn’t sure we were going to be able to taste any of the Kinsman 2019s but luckily for me, they got Nigel’s stamp of approval the week prior to our visit that they were showing extremely well from the bottle.
The Rhad is a Bordeaux blend. The aromas were of dark fruit, spice, and earth. The palate was more blue and black fruit than the La Vol. There was good minerality, a hint green bell pepper and traces of cocoa. There was good acidity, complexity and concentration with fine grained, well integrated tannins. There was agood mouthfeel. The wine is full bodied and more muscular than La Vol but not as structured and tannic as the Anjea.
This is an exceptionally well made wine. It can be enjoyed in it's infancy with a long double decant but it structured for the long haul.
This was my father's favorite of all 4 wines tasted. (2942 views) | | | Tasted by galewskj on 12/8/2021: Napa trip day 4 (Napa): BARREL SAMPLE. Drank a small glass at the Wheeler Farms tasting facility with Shae Kinsman. Slightly green with underbrush, ripe fruit. Some sweetness, a bit of alcohol, lots of stuffing. As barrel samples go, this was certainly drinkable. Unscored but today it would be in the 90 range. (1688 views) | | | Tasted by I'd Rather Be Drinking Wine on 12/8/2021 & rated 96 points: Epic Napa Trip - Day 4: Tasted at Wheeler Farms with Shae Kinsman - This was my favorite wine of the three we tasted. This wine did not quite show off the structure of the 18s, but did show plenty of structure, and, not surprising, it showed the most acidity of the three wines with bright and delicious fruit. Nose showed lots of black fruit with some pencil shavings, spice and oak. Palate showed layers of black fruit with some blue fruit peeking out periodically, dark chocolate, milk chocolate, graphite and gravel, as well as some vanilla and oak notes. This wine showed the most potential for improving with some additional bottle age. drinking well now (I assume this was the final blend we tasted), but will definitely further improve. 95+ to 96 today, and will improve with bottle age....this wine seems built to age. (3005 views) |
| By Jeb Dunnuck
JebDunnuck.com, Napa Valley’s 2020s and 2021s (2/16/2023)
(Kinsman Eades Cabernet Sauvignon Rhadamanthus) Login and sign up and see review text. | By Antonio Galloni
Vinous, Napa Valley: The Frantic 2020s & Stunning 2021s (Feb 2023) (2/1/2023)
(Kinsman Eades Cabernet Sauvignon Rhadamanthus Diamond Mountain District Napa Red) Subscribe to see review text. | By Jonathan Cristaldi
Decanter, 2019 Napa Cabernet Vintage Report (6/13/2022)
(Kinsman Eades, Rhadamanthus, Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley, Diamond Mountain, California, USA, Red) Subscribe to see review text. | By Antonio Galloni
Vinous, The 2019 Napa Valley Cabernets: A Deep Dive (Jan 2022) (1/1/2022)
(Kinsman Eades Cabernet Sauvignon Rhadamanthus Diamond Mountain District Napa Red) Subscribe to see review text. |
NOTE: Scores and reviews are the property of JebDunnuck.com and Vinous and Decanter. (manage subscription channels) |
| 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)Diamond MountainDiamond Mountain AVA: definition |
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