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Wine Type Vintage Name Variety Locale Date Posted Score Helpful Comments More...
Red

2016 VHR Cabernet Sauvignon Vine Hill Ranch

 Oakville more
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10/7/2019 - GQG Likes this wine: 100 points

Maybe the wine of the '16 vintage right here for me, right up there at the top with the Carter O.G. and the Vice Versa Magnificent Seven. Amazing juice, and a revelation of sorts as this is my initial foray into the wines of VHR.

A lifted, floral nose worth contemplating is so fine that one is compelled to proceed. Purity of red fruit is the initial sensation but almost instantly, waves of dark, earthy, savory fruit combine with a wonderful jolt of acidity to fully energize the attack. No sleepwalking into the mid-palate! With all senses focused and on full alert, the core fruit somehow continues to expand beyond even heightened expectations! Velvety tannins add grip, directing the by now cascading waves of refined and pure fruit across the top, mid, lower, and nether regions of the palate. All of this complexity of red and dark fruit is pushed through and sustained on the lengthy finish by the energetic acidity and notable minerality. This is a special wine; perfectly balanced, intense, silky, flavorful, complex, energetic, and alive.

Needs about an hour in the decanter to really jump out of the glass. Trying one now is no crime; it's a revelation.

9 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comments (34)
Red

2015 Sterling Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Iridium

 Napa Valley more
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6/30/2021 - GQG Likes this wine: 93 points

A lifted, floral nose is followed by red fruit with mocha and notes of oak and graphite that expand over 2 hours of decanting, and there's a nice push across the palate from the acidity. Very round and dusty tannins are well balanced by the red fruit that turns a bit darker over time in the glass. I sorta get why some other reviews mentioned a green element but it's not bell pepper, herbal, mulchy, or anything objectionable for me. Instead it comes across as a part of the "Rutherford dust" kind of, sort of... in a non-descript way... and may be from a fraction of whole cluster grape stems used in the fermentation. The floral nose and the freshness both support my whole stem guess. Anyway, the green element is not strong and will diminish further over time in the bottle.

First bottle for me, sub $100 price, and it's drinking well after a 1 hour decant.

2 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comments (16)
Red

2016 Memento Mori Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer Dr. Crane Vineyard

 St. Helena more
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4/23/2019 - GQG Likes this wine: 98 points

While drinking this, I thought to myself, "Why don't all wines taste this amazing?" Well, yeah, I was drinking. Yet right there, that's the point: this wine is so special. Last October I sampled the '15-'16 MM lineup with Genevieve and this 2016 Dr. Crane was my favorite. With a 2 hour decant, it's now showing even better than it did at the tasting.

Lifted and focused blue and dark fruit coupled with layer upon layer of complexity that quickly engulfs the palate. Silky tannins control the fruit through the mineral-laced and ripe fruit finish. Bad-assery, indeed (credit to CSIMM!) with some more cellar time, but it's already so good!

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Red

2016 Myriad Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Steltzner Vineyard

 Stags Leap District more
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1/14/2020 - GQG Likes this wine: 95 points

Got me some of the regular and Elysian 2018 Myriad Dr. Cranes today and realized that I hadn't tried this 2016 Steltzner yet.

There's big-time vanilla on the nose with a sense of sweetness/candy. The encouragingly dark tears and acidity level energizing the attack start things off nicely. The mid-palate gets rolling with deep dark fruit and smooth tannins and then, "whaaat?", all of a sudden it's all about the very lengthy finish. There's plenty of concentration riding the mid-palate high and quick which loops back in multiple waves on the long finish. I think the sweetness is currently masking some of the structure on the mid-palate which makes it seem a bit short.

Decanting for an hour blows off most of the vanilla note and the air time tempers a bit of the sweetness. A few more years are needed to expand the mid-palate sensation. That seems very likely given the adequate structure in there under the sweetness.

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Red

2013 Bacio Divino

 Napa Valley SuperTuscan Blend more
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7/18/2021 - GQG Likes this wine: 94 points

Pure dark cherry and cassis flavors with a nice, sweet smoothness coats the palate with fullness from top to bottom. Decanting for a couple of hours delivers the smoothness. There's plenty of freshness and drive across the palate and on through the lengthy finish.

It seems to have filled out well since Badmonkey's 2017 review and is in a great drinking window right now.

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Red

2014 Trespass Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon

 Napa Valley more
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3/5/2020 - GQG Likes this wine: 95 points

"I'm thirsty for you. If I could start a tab, I would. I'd order only you."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YF0Wx62OpbU

...or the 2015, and especially the 2016 Trespass Cabernet. Wow!

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Red

2015 Trespass Vineyard Rendezvous

 St. Helena Red Bordeaux Blend more
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12/21/2018 - GQG Likes this wine: 95 points

This 50/50 blend of Cab Franc and Cab Sav is put together very well by Kirk Venge. The nose is great... a bit of herbs in the background with violets and mint up front. Dark fruit with concentration that pleases the palate from top to bottom and on though the medium length finish. OK, certainly a lot going on here in the best of ways from sip to swallow. A fresh, pure, lifted wine. Glad to have met Donny, the proprietor, at the Venge winery on short notice on my visit to Napa last month.

1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comments (10)
Red

2018 Quivet Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer Las Piedras Vineyard

 Napa Valley more
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10/24/2020 - GQG wrote: NR

Note: after receiving it (a 7 day in transit cross-country ground shipment) and then putting it in the cellar overnight, I opened it which is typically not recommended due to bottle shock.

A mostly alcohol and menthol nose with muted fruit and a bit of earthy funk that 5 hours of decanting didn't blow off. Pure dark cassis and blackberry fruit and lots of char/embers pushes the meter decisively to the dark side which is a good thing in my book and in character for Mike Smith/LPV. Where it falls just a touch short for me are the lower levels of acidity and depth of flavor. There's a lot of ripeness here (though short of jammy) and I miss the energy, drive, fullness, and oak/mocha frame of the 2016. I haven't had the 2017 so I can't compare it. The finish, surprisingly for LPV, has little sense of minerality (and, as mentioned, acidity) which shortens it.

In its current state I wouldn't call it either intellectual or sexy. It's just a baby and I'm hoping it'll fill out in the years to come. 93+ for now.

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Red

2018 Carter Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Carter

 Napa Valley more
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6/20/2021 - GQG Likes this wine: 96 points

Following Bad's and #1's 4 hour decant recommendation, I'm joining with them in confirming that it's kicking a** right now as Carters so often do in the early years. Not that it's a powerful behemoth that needs to be tamed by decanting, though, it actually stays in its lane from PnP sip to swallow. That would be the fast lane as it's no slouch! Right from PnP I found it delicious and accessible. Big, but not heavy, and its dark fruit, earth, minerals, and smooth texture grabs on in the attack, expands mid-palate with plenty of energy, and then eventually lets go after a lengthy finish. I'm impressed at this early stage.

I believe it's smoother than the 2016 Carter^2 yet just as full-bodied at the same point in time. If the 2019's are anywhere close to this 2018 Carter^2, I'm fully onboard.

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Red

2016 Quivet Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Kenefick Ranch

 Napa Valley more
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7/4/2020 - GQG Likes this wine: 93 points

Headline reads, "Acidity saves the day."

A spike of energy and freshness on the attack is augmented by dark fruit and spice mid-palate. The high register carries through on the finish, undulating back with mouthwatering acidity. There is some development over a couple of hours. My first bottle since purchase from the winery.

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Red

2018 Château Ducru-Beaucaillou

 St. Julien Red Bordeaux Blend more
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11/18/2021 - GQG Likes this wine: 97 points

2018 Classified Bordeaux Tasting -- 39 Wines (Old Woodward Cellar Event, Michigan): Full-bodied mouthcoating flavor bursts out of the glass at the attack, fills the palate from top to bottom, doesn't ever let go, and finishes long and strong. It does so with a purity of sweet (but not too sweet) dark fruit, structured yet smooth tannins, and buoyant freshness that all seems very ebullient and alive. It's powerful and accessible which makes it a blast to drink young.

Of 39 vintage 2018 Bordeaux wines sampled, this was clearly the wine of the night. Click on the link above to see the 39 wine tasting story.

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Red

2016 Memento Mori Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer Dr. Crane Vineyard

 St. Helena more
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10/1/2019 - GQG Likes this wine: 98 points

Git on the horse and ride! Giddyup! Don't look back, keep on keeping on.

Not much of a tasting note, granted, but it's just a feeling! Amazing!

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Red

2016 Bevan Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Wildfoote Vineyard, Vixen Block

 Stags Leap District more
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5/17/2019 - GQG Likes this wine: 97 points

A sommelier friend once showed me a wine aroma kit that contained 60 different vials including Lactic acid, Lovage, and Horse sweat. Was it useful? I don't know 'bout that. Was it complete? Hell no! Not to worry, though -- get yourself a bottle of this Bevan Wildfoote and you'll enjoy aromas and tastes like Double Bali Mocha, Scorched Quarter Sawn Oak, Iowa Black Dirt, Route 66 Road Tar, and Equatorial Cloud Forest. It's a premium aroma kit all by itself! Plus, you get to drink all that beautifully intense dark fruit, too! Am I right?

Decant for a couple of hours.

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Red

2016 B Cellars Cabernet Franc Beckstoffer Dr. Crane Vineyard

 St. Helena more
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7/29/2019 - GQG Likes this wine: 98 points

Having experienced what I thought was some of the best Cab Franc ever yesterday as the primary varietal in the Bordeaux blend 2013 Tenuta di Biserno Biserno, I turned to a Napa Cab Franc today to check myself. And hey, this 2016 B Cellars Cab Franc is really rocking!

The Biserno has some old world sensibilities blended with the new world whereas this Kirk Venge single-varietal creation is a full-on new world black raspberry masterpiece. It's not limited to just that single fruit note, though, with vanilla, cacao, minerals, and licorice driving the stunningly deep, ripe, and concentrated core through a lengthy if a bit tart and hot finish.

This wine, along with the Biserno, delivers Cab Franc tastes at the highest level. I slightly preferred the Biserno blend with the way its old world restraint played out on the finish. With the B Cellars being much younger, it's quite likely to match the Biserno in the coming years. 98+

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Red

2016 Purlieu Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard

 Oakville more
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1/26/2020 - GQG Likes this wine: 97 points

A To-Kalon "royal straight flush" of dark cherry, black raspberry, cassis, mocha, and earth wins the hand! This big, focused, smooth-tannin wine's minerality on the nice finish was an ace up the sleeve.

Decanted 1 hour.

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Red

2016 Booker Vineyard Syrah Fracture

 Paso Robles more
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8/29/2018 - GQG Likes this wine: 97 points

This wine is the purest expression of Syrah I've consumed in a long time. Velvety smooth and elegant, with nary a rough edge to be found. Rather than a gate-sprinter, this thoroughbred is a stayer, pacing its stride from the start delivering pure, delicious black raspberries, tobacco, herbs, and pepper spice across the board, and finishes in the money. I love me some Shiraz, but this Syrah is the winner of the feature race.

PnP at room temperature, and left in the bottle. A bit more enveloping mouthfeel developed over 3 hours, which boosted the rating another point to 97. The somewhat light lower mid-palate weight kept the score from nosing up towards perfection, though I'll wager this yearling is in the running over the next few years. Drinking now is an even money bet, no need to go to the wire.

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Red

2018 Abigail Adams Cabernet Sauvignon Onesan

 Napa Valley more
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8/21/2020 - GQG Likes this wine: 93 points

Ya, sketchy nose, but this wine grabs your palate at the attack and doesn't let go. Fruit intensity, ya, with a structure to match. Dark fruit, mocha, cigar, and acidity ride high on the palate along with plenty of smooth lower register tannic goodness and spice that will improve with age. A serious improvement after 2 hours in the decanter means Winemaker Fayard has this wine dialed in for ageing. But for now, after cutting firewood logs all day, kick back and soothe your pains and bruises with this big Cab. I did just that. Legit high QPR at 29.99, 93+

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Red

2017 Bevan Cellars Ontogeny

 Napa Valley Red Bordeaux Blend more
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6/5/2020 - GQG wrote: 91 points

Well, the 2017's from Napa... and from Bevan no less... the good, or the bad... good first... the attack is solid, hits you with dark fruit... blueberries, cassis, tobacco, and energy from the acidity... no goo... and then...

Then, well... there's no middle... only a finish, which stretches out on the top of the palate with acidity and some fruit. It lacks the depth of the 2016, and about complexity, let us not speak of such things. A definite notch down from 2016. Sediment noted, decanted for 3 hours.

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Red

2016 Château Montrose

 St. Estèphe Red Bordeaux Blend more
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3/18/2020 - GQG Likes this wine: 95 points

Young and approachable... so should you pop the cork now?

As of this post, 2% of CellarTracker wine holders, myself included, have sacrificed a bottle in the name of science. OK, it's a soft science, and since this wine has an arc that'll transcend my remaining lifetime, I wanted to experience this wine's state right now. A previous post noted the pencil fillings and ashy tobacco smoke nose, to which I agree, and reads rather better than what I might have offered in turn as band-aid and cassis. There's plenty to like about the fresh and tight delivery of elegant, powerful red cassis fruit and spice right now, blended masterfully, and projecting out over the years to come. The structure is firm, generous, and smooth, with some nice expansion during 3 hours of decanting. My Napa brethren with shortened drinking time frames might peg it around 93, and they wouldn't be wrong. It's that soft science thing. For me, this wine's trajectory bodes well for the patient 98%. 95+

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Red

2016 Quivet Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer Las Piedras Vineyard

 Napa Valley more
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9/10/2020 - GQG Likes this wine: 96 points

The hunt for the sweet spot drinking window... drink now? Wait?

There's an undeniable purity of fruit here, so the question is reduced to when will the structure balance out the fruit. Obviously there are many sub-categories to the equation, but that's the general thrust. One rule of thumb is 1 hour in the decanter = 1 year of ageing, 2 hrs. = 2 years, and so on. This is an easy rule to remember/apply but very approximate because wine, as an organic substance, evolves by chemical kinetics (rate of reaction) that, once in the bottle, are driven almost exclusively by time at temperature. One hour at room temperature really doesn't equal one year at 55°F because each of the many organic substances in wine converts at its own rate of reaction based on temperature (and oxygen exposure.) To get the "right" flavors over time, it seems by experience that at 55°F in a bottle (more or less) all of the rates of reaction of all of those organic substances come together appropriately over time. Too warm means some of the organic kinetic reactions happen too quickly, spoiling the final taste. Too cool, the opposite happens, the tastes don't develop. Expecting one hour of decanting to equal one year of proper storage is like trying to have a baby in one month by using nine women.

But decanting is useful for predicting what the effects of time may eventually deliver. Three hours of decanting really resolves a lot of the initial tartness here without reducing the fruit to complete and desolate darkness, shutters slapping in the wind, tumbleweeds rolling by, etc.. No, this wine holds up, smooths out, and by becoming more balanced offers hope that in a few years all those organic molecules will convert properly and play even more nicely together. That said, it was a pretty enjoyable quaff today (after a 2 or 3 hour decant.) Expect some tartness on PnP.

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Red

2016 Vice Versa Cabernet Sauvignon

 Napa Valley more
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10/19/2018 - GQG wrote: 95 points

Whereas the 2015 NV delivers a beautifully pure and focused profile, this 2016 NV is loaded to the gunwales with captivating richness and density. Awash with dark fruit and buoyed up by the oak, yet elegantly squared away, it's all fair winds and following seas on the finish. Any purser worth their salt would serve this flagship wine in their stateroom. Skipper out.

Decanted and also left in the bottle for 2 hours at room temperature; preferred the taste from the bottle.

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Red

2015 Scarlett Wines Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve

 Rutherford more
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12/6/2019 - GQG Likes this wine: 97 points

Checked in on this old friend and can confirm that, for me, its personality and charm are undiminished. It always seems to take this wine a half hour or more in the glass to really get going, but it's still getting down and finishing long!

It's a singular wine in many ways, especially the smooth, round, dark, expanding mid-palate that delivers some really unique and layered flavors.

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Red

2012 Durant and Booth Reserve

 Napa Valley Red Bordeaux Blend more
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5/13/2020 - GQG Likes this wine: 94 points

Wonderful wine and an improvement since my last note a year ago. It sports a core of black and deep red fruits layered with cassis, anise, spice, peppercorns, earthy elements, moderate acidity, and smooth tannins. The lengthy finish adds notes of vanilla. Very drinkable and delicious after an hour decant (substantial sediment noted.)

A $29 wine that drinks like $100+, what's not to like? Oh yeah, it was a close-out special; congrats if you have some, and good luck finding any more. If you do, jump on it (or any of the Reserve vintages 2012-2015.) Thanks Mr. Rudd, entrepreneur, RIP.

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Red

2015 Château Pontet-Canet

 Pauillac Red Bordeaux Blend more
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8/14/2019 - GQG Likes this wine: 95 points

Decant for at least 4 hours and be rewarded with early access to delicious and elegant black currants, tobacco, fine tannins, and a lifted, lengthy finish. Power, fruit, structure, and velvety mouth-feel all come together after 6 hours, though your early access pass doesn't get you the complexity that'll be coming in the years ahead. If you have several bottles, it's no crime to pop one open now and check it out.

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Red

2016 Carter Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon La Verdad Beckstoffer Las Piedras Vineyard

 Napa Valley more
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9/5/2020 - GQG Likes this wine: 98 points

'Bout time I opened the wooden box and hefted this heavy bottle outta the case, seeing as some here are sayin' its best days are behind. Well, I don't know 'bout that, it's my 1st bottle. Time flies, don't it?

OK, we got the cassis, we got the blueberry, we got the dark cherry, all wrapped up in a mouth-filling glide that brings a smile. Nose is a bit hot, so's the finish, but in between there's energy and fruit that'll git all y'alls attention. I'ma tellin' it to ya straight y'all, ya done heard me say 'bout the energy and dark fruit that knocked me back on my hind end. Minerality and tar, sure 'nuff, ya don't need nobody to tell ya nothin' cuz ya already know ever'thang. I'ma only tellin' ya the half of it. I reckon if'n I told all of it, they'd be a post so long the Interweb would'n even hold it all. On account'a that, if ya's fixin' to drink now, that ain't a bad thang, or go 'head and hold so's ya might have the good life later on!

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  • Tasting notes: 244 notes on 184 wines

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