2015 Napa Trip - Day 4

We checked out of the hotel and hit one last tasting on our way back towards San Francisco to catch our flight. Odette is just East of Silverado Trail, in the foothills of Stag's Leap. Newest property of the Plumpjack group. 2014 was first vintage where everything was made in the new facility. Very new and modern. And a cool tasting room. Two huge new concrete tanks. Massive cave built into the hill. They make about 10,00 cases per year (Odette and Adaptation) here.

We booked the "reserve" tasting, which was more expensive but totally worth it. Had our own private room with the wines. The Adaptation wines were pop and pour. The Odette and Plumpjack were double decanted about an hour prior to our arrival. The CADE was decanted overnight.

Very cool, quiet private tasting room with ample marketing materials and note taking devices.

• 2012 Adaptation Chardonnay 91 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  Very clean chardonnay. 90% stainless; 10% oak. This is not cougar juice - while crisp, still full bodied and layered. Served at about 45 degrees, which I think was just right. Enjoyed while we walked through the vineyard tour.

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• 2013 Cade Sauvignon Blanc 92 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  I am totally into this. Very clean and crisp. Dry. Some neutral oak, but mostly stainless steel. And a bit of concrete. Green apple, green melon. I am a buyer.

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• 2013 Odette Chardonnay Reserve 90 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley, Stags Leap District

  This has a little more oak than the Adaptation. Bananas and lemon meringue. Not bad, but not generally my style. Little too creamy.

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• 2012 Adaptation Cabernet Sauvignon 91 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  Red fruits. Some lift. Merlot type open on the nose. More grip than expected. not as light on the palate as I expected, but also not as much ripe fruit as the nose indicated. Some raspberry. Plenty of grip on finish. More acid; this can slice through pizza or tapas quite well. But altogether, didn't think this warranted the price. But that may have just been that we had been in Napa for 4 days at this point and wallet was light ;)

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• 2012 Odette Cabernet Sauvignon Estate 95 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley, Stags Leap District

  Gorgeous wine. What a great way to end the trip. Fun to compare directly with the Plumpjack and Cade. This was the clear winner. Less oak than the Plumpjack. Lovely graphite nose. Red fruit. Best nose of the lineup. Similarly grip to the Plumpjack, but a notably better finish. Longer, and more enticing. Yum.

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• 2012 Plumpjack Cabernet Sauvignon Estate 92 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley, Oakville

  This is good wine, it was just third of the three big wines we had at this tasting. more oak and leather. New leather. Bit of pepper/spice. Purple fruit. Quite tannnic; would want to lay this down. But not as heavy on the palate as expected. Finish is a little blunt force.

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• 2012 Cade Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve Howell Mountain 95 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley, Howell Mountain

  This is a monster. Black fruit. A brooding wine. Tinder box. Just a little closed right now. Palate is very gripping, and finish is massive. Truly epic 60 second finish. All that said, was not convinced that this was worth almost 2x the Odette. If I had bottles, would absolutely cellar for a few years.

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As with the whole trip, another gorgeous Napa day. There are new vines here that aren't producing yet. Will be interesting to see where it goes. But damn, the 2012 was a hell of a vintage to start with!