Community Tasting Note

• pmarlo Likes this wine: 96 points

  November 12, 2023 - 11/12/23-Bottle 02538. Cork broke in half but sealed still. Faint bouquet. No fruit and mostly alcohol. Hoping it needs air. Now open about 3 hours and fruit is showing up. The alcohol still there but fruit is balancing it so it is less noticeable. Wine lighter at rim of glass. Now 5+ hours and fruit has swam up to the surface. Not a lot but it's there and nice. Tart and there is acid but dialed down. Was expecting other flavors to be present from aging but its at the moment a onenote wine. Maybe a 92 for me.
  Day two. Fruit has stepped forward big time. Taste is sort of cherry, a flavor I usually get from pinot. This is not a pinot. The fruit, which was close to nonexistent yesterday, is front and center today. So nice. Also some other flavors of soil and something earth and organic soil or moss. The greatness of this wine showed up. Revising to 95.
  On the third day it rose. The purity of the fruit now is astounding. This wine was not a repeat of my last bottle in 2019. Among the best cabs I have ever had. And I was ready to write it off on day one. There is fruit in abundance but another flavor profile that I can't define. Is it soil or the unique site signature? Either way, compelling wine on the third day. I have no idea how much longer this will last. CT users indicate 2025 end date. My two times having this felt like I had two different wines show up. Further aging depends on which of these two show up. I know nothing about the pedigree of this site, or even if there is a Backus vineyard. A great wine, a great experience. If I recall, I originally bought this to have companions to the 2002 Insignia, which at that time was the wine of the year, a lucky find for me. Pricing will prevent me from ever having another. But glad I had it in the first place.

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