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| Drinking Windows and Values |
| Community Tasting History |
| Community Tasting Notes (average 93.2 pts. and median of 93 pts. in 77 notes) - hiding notes with no text | | | Tasted by Windacre in the Slope on 11/6/2023 & rated 92 points: Spicy eucalyptus nose, nice full body, a bit on the sweet side for me. (360 views) | | | Tasted by dsimmons on 2/9/2022 & rated 94 points: Excellent wine drunk with beef tenderloin, Dark fruit, good complexity. drink or hold. (1404 views) | | | Tasted by drrobvino on 11/20/2021 & rated 93 points: Last of 4 bottles. Most recently tasted 4 yrs ago.
This is lovely, gorgeous, a regal Napa Valley Bordeaux blend.
Showing some sweetness on the black and blue fruits, alongside anise, coffee grounds, and sage.
This is beautifully Napa, drink now through 2025+. (1167 views) | | | Tasted by expres1038 on 5/26/2021 & rated 94 points: Opened an 90 min early. Drank great! (1373 views) | | | Tasted by eags25fla on 5/8/2021 & rated 95 points: Wow - restores my confidence in Napa wines. Beautifully balanced, well integrated silky tennis and soft seductive fruit. Nose of expresso, chocolate, black fruit, cherry and eucalyptus and spice. Harmonius from start to the long finish.Lush fruit all in balance to start leading to more hedonistic tones and finishes on point w. sweet tooth tennis to bring it all together (1377 views) | | | Tasted by stet on 11/14/2020 & rated 91 points: Color: dark ruby with a hint of brick
Nose: pure and clean right off the bat. Red fruit, ripe. dry apricot and raisin hints. Cedar. Macadamia nuts. Green bellpepper
Palate: slightly sweet, tannins are present and integrated, medium. Medium acidity. Mature. Palate has cedar and red fruit
Finish: medium
Mature bordeaux blend from Napa, left bank style this time. More fruit, sweet, and general pomp vs france, less mineral. I guess this is on the downslope, after 1h it went mute. Still, very lovely wine (1540 views) | | | Tasted by sdahar on 5/30/2020 & rated 93 points: First off this wine is ready to drink now. As others have noted the cork crumbled during removal. Opened 60 minutes before serving. There was a bit of a split decision on this wine. I felt that while the tannins were perfectly integrated it was drinking a bit hot because of the muted fruit - 92 pt. My son raved about the balance and said that this is exactly what you want in a California cab and gave it 94 pt. (1147 views) | | | Tasted by kennyd on 5/23/2020 & rated 97 points: Same review as in 2017. Quite lovely. Showing none of the typical signs of falling off, but also no reason to wait on drinking last bottle in our cellar. (1073 views) | | | Tasted by Roentgen Ray on 12/22/2019 & rated 92 points: The cork split and crumbled despite looking good without any sign of leaks around the cork.
No obvious corked aroma.
Ripe, not overripe, blue and black fruit like plum, blackberry, blueberry.
With aeration, black licorice candy fills out the sphere of flavors and aromas.
Slightly dusty tannins. (1231 views) | | | Tasted by kennyd on 9/14/2019 & rated 93 points: Pretty consistent with 2017 post, but I am beginning to ask how much longer to wait before enjoying the last two bottles in our cellar. Well done, Larkmead. (1258 views) | | | Tasted by dsimmons on 1/31/2019 & rated 94 points: Drank this at my birthday dinner at Kincaid Grill. Hat the filet. PnP and drank over an hour. Probably would have been best to open a few hours before drinking. Dark fruit, earth, chocolate, licorice. Excellent balance. Enough tannin to go 5 more years. Drink or hold. (1593 views) | | | Tasted by Winedude10 on 11/18/2018 & rated 95 points: Beautiful wine, decanted about 45-60 minutes. Dark red, eucalyptus nose. Great fruit and balance, long finish. Wish I had more. Outstanding (1382 views) | | | Tasted by bonedoc on 6/13/2018 & rated 95 points: Ditto last note - great wine (1669 views) | | | Tasted by BigBoy_Sonoma on 5/25/2018 & rated 93 points: Black fruit, blue fruit, charcoal, pepper, hints of eucalyptus, herbal notes. A-/A (1591 views) | | | Tasted by kennyd on 11/22/2017 & rated 93 points: Lovely Cali bordeaux blend, in the reserve version from Larkmead. A touch tight on opening, but very quickly opened up, just by pouring through a venturi. Such a nice sense of place from both the bouquet and the taste. I get the valley floor outside St. Helena. Tannins quite in check, blue fruits out front, and plenty of savory spices lingering around. In a word: elegant. BTW no reason to rush on our the remaining bottles in our cellar (Larkmead really builds them for aging). (1649 views) | | | Tasted by drrobvino on 11/20/2017 & rated 93 points: Drank over 3 days, no formal TN, but this wine was gorgeous and drinking well now through 2024+. (1361 views) | | | Tasted by Laguna Red on 5/11/2017 & rated 88 points: Definitely over the hill. If you have some, drink up. (2281 views) | | | Tasted by msuwine on 2/4/2017 & rated 93 points: A rich and soft Cabernet blend that should be drunk now. Red brick in color, medium in body, nose of prune and baking spices. Tastes of plum, blueberry, coffee, milk chocolate, and graphite, with a sweet finish that conceals dusty tannins. This seems a bit past its prime, so I would drink now. 14.8% alcohol. Blend of 62% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Cabernet Franc, 11% Merlot, 11% Malbec, and 2% Petit Verdot. Maybe this was an off-bottle, but this was the lowest scoring LMV I've tasted in the past year or two. This was silky, to be sure, but it wasn't as complex or graceful as others I've had over the last year or two (including the 2004, 2005, 2008, and 2012, each of which was close to profound). (2492 views) | | | Tasted by Vinomarcus on 1/18/2017 & rated 94 points: January Wine Group Dinner (Campagna at the Bedford Post Inn): The wine looks ruby colored. The legs are medium. There is light sediment in the bottle. Black currant (cassis), raspberry, dust, coffee and cedar on the nose and they transfer to the palate as it tastes like black currant (cassis), raspberry, dust, coffee, cedar and black pepper. The body is full. The wine has a very polished texture and finishes long. The wine has medium-low acidity. (2658 views) | | | Tasted by EMTAME on 12/18/2016 & rated 93 points: Opened to celebrate an early Christmas with my parents. Lots of dark red fruits and notes of coffee. Continued to open and improve over the course of a two-hour meal. This has years of good drinking ahead. (1995 views) | | | Tasted by Coachron13 on 5/23/2016 & rated 93 points: Very similar notes to before. Drinking great now, several years left. Very smooth, everything in balance. (2584 views) | | | Tasted by cabber on 3/31/2016 & rated 93 points: Cabernet Tasting 2001 - 2007 (Manhattan Beach, CA): Very good, smooth, full bodied, soft tannins, thick (2742 views) | | | Tasted by Napacablover on 11/15/2015 & rated 96 points: Outstanding nose of dark black cherries and so smooth (2235 views) | | | Tasted by Amerique on 10/23/2015 & rated 93 points: Previous tasting notes apply despite having drunk wine up to 3 years later (2070 views) | | | Tasted by Wineshington on 5/22/2015 & rated 93 points: Decanted for four hours, still needs a bit of time. (2343 views) | | | Only displaying the 25 most recent notes - click to see all notes for this wine... |
| By Stephen Tanzer
Vinous, Larkmead’s Solari Cabernet and LMV Salon: 2001-2015 (Aug 2019) (8/1/2019)
(Larkmead Vineyards Lmv Salon Napa Valley Red) Subscribe to see review text. | By Stephen Tanzer
Vinous, May/June 2009, IWC Issue #144
(Larkmead LMV Salon Proprietary Red Wine Napa Valley) Subscribe to see review text. |
NOTE: Scores and reviews are the property of Vinous. (manage subscription channels) |
| Larkmead Vineyards Producer website2006 Larkmead Vineyards LMV SalonWinemaker Notes:
Alcohol 14.5%
100% Estate grown fruit at Larkmead Vineyards
62% Cabernet Sauvignon, 14% Cab Franc, 11% Merlot, 11% Malbec, 2% Petit Verdot
Aged for 20 months in 70% new French oak barrels
from Tonnelleries Demptos, Ermitage & Sylvain
795 cases produced
"Deep ruby red/purple color. Intensely perfumed nose of vibrant red fruits, fresh flowers and tobacco deepen to dark cherry, licorice and gravel/slate notes. The palate is unmistakably Larkmead with deep penetrating black fruits, cocoa powder and dried herbs. There is great texture and flesh to the wine yet it remains supple and lively without any plummy over ripeness or excess weight. It finishes long, broad and round with an inner mouth aromatic character that is both complex and vibrant and hugely satisfying.
One of the finest wines we have yet bottled, the 2006 LMV Salon sets a new standard for this blend. The individual components of the wine are so perfectly integrated that the wine shows a 'completeness' and harmony that is hard to achieve but which is our continual goal. Drinking this wine I don't think of Cabernet, Franc or Merlot, etc, but of Larkmead itself as the vineyard's signature is so strong it dominates the aromas, flavors and structure. I particularly like the intense purity of the wine and the way its inherent power does not overwhelm the more subtle components but merges with them to produce something that is exciting and gains nuance as the bottle mysteriously empties itself. The wine should evolve positively in bottle for 10 to 15 years given its overall balance and intensity."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 Napa Valley Napa Valley Wineries and Wine (Napa Valley Vintners)Napa ValleySt. Helena |
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