3/18/2024 - PourMeSomeMore Likes this wine:

From the cellar...compared to earlier bottles that were more approachable, I found this bottle to be completely shut down now needing 5+ hours of swirling decanting to begin to deliver. Time to either let this one rest for now or plan for many hours of air.

3/4/2024 - PourMeSomeMore Likes this wine:

Still very young and quite tight. But after about 6 hours in the decanter it began to open up and was delicious with a prime NY strip steak.

12/24/2023 - PourMeSomeMore Likes this wine:

Decanted and needed an hour to open up with some swirling in the decanter and then was beautiful! Fantastic with prime rib. Lots of life left in this beauty.

12/25/2023 - PourMeSomeMore Likes this wine:

Has been in the 58 degree cellar since purchase at release from the winery. Deep purply cordovan color with phenomenal nose even when decanting. We let it breathe for an hour and was simply fabulous...smooth, rich & complex with a long finish. Paired perfectly with duck cassoulet. Enjoy!!
Btw, while the cork seal had held with no seepage, it completely disintegrated when attempting to open with a regular corkscrew.

11/24/2023 - PourMeSomeMore Likes this wine:

From a magnum stored forever in a friends parents veggie crisper in a fridge not opened for 6 months each year. We had no idea what to expect.
Super tight straight cork that still had a bit of bounce to it. Light golden color, fresh and bright with a fantastic subtle richness & complexity. Incredible 5 inches of fine mousse in the first flute so had to pour the others very slowly followed by lots of long-lasting super fine bubbles. An absolute joy to drink with friends at Thanksgiving! This bottle was still a youngster at 33 years!

3/29/2023 - PourMeSomeMore Likes this wine:

Recently received by delivery and in the cellar for a couple weeks. Was surprisingly open with significant complexity for being so young. Delicious.

2/20/2023 - PourMeSomeMore Likes this wine:

Pop and pour from the cellar since release. A small amount of very fine sediment. Smooth and delicious and perfect for a Sunday night pizza dinner. Way more life ahead, but excellent now.

1/15/2023 - PourMeSomeMore Likes this wine:

Decanted a magnum for a prime rib dinner with friends on this rainy night. Loved by all. Delish and balanced. Lots of time left on this.

1/8/2023 - PourMeSomeMore Likes this wine:

Gorgeous wine and approachable now. 18 needs time.

12/26/2022 - PourMeSomeMore Likes this wine:

Needed 3 hours in a wide decanter with a fair amount of swirling to open up to be smooth and delicious with an elegant richness with primary and secondary characteristics. Great with a grilled prime ribeye. Give it time after opening.....for sure not a pnp bottle at this point. A fair amount of sediment so understand that and best decanted for a dinner at home.

8/1/2022 - PourMeSomeMore Likes this wine:

Wonderful wine that is still retaining its rich primary fruit but with increased tannin softness. Would pair best with a nice grilled ribeye! Enjoy as we did!!

7/31/2022 - PourMeSomeMore Likes this wine:

Such an elegant balanced wine with juicy rich secondary fruit and smooth tannins. Fantastic with the superb cassoulet prepared for us tonight. Thank you Jean for such a wonderful wine!
As a side note, cellared well but the cork was brittle, so a two pronged cork puller would have been best, but the bottom of the cork did come out intact so just took a little bit longer to open this beauty!

7/12/2022 - PourMeSomeMore Likes this wine:

Not sure what to say about the other reviews, but we popped and decanted from the wine list at a local restaurant that gets it direct from the winery, and it was smooth, juicy, rich & well balanced. Very much enjoyed!

7/10/2022 - PourMeSomeMore Likes this wine:

Review for Hewitt lovers. Absolutely delicious now and has more time to go with proper cellaring. Color seemed to be the same as my first bottle so many years ago. Opened up beautifully with an hour of decanting. Paired perfectly with prime rib. Don't hesitate to pop open now or hold for a few more years.

1/1/2022 - PourMeSomeMore Likes this wine:

Bottle disgorged 4/2019
So very different from the prior multiple bottles.
Needed considerable time to open and improved as I never placed back on ice.

Imho this needs much more cellar time and not sure it wiil approach what I enjoyed so much on original release. But here's hoping.

11/3/2021 - PourMeSomeMore Likes this wine:

Brought from my cellar and decanted at a favorite prime rib restaurant. Yes there was sediment as it's unfined and unfiltered and to be expected. Wow, fantastic SLD wine with an ethereal rich nose and secondary umami characteristics, but with an ample amount of velvety smooth black & blue fruit. Really fantastic now with just a short decant.

1/10/2021 - PourMeSomeMore Likes this wine:

Very dark cork with a fair bit of sediment adhering to the bottle. 3 hour decant. Beautiful aromatics and smooth juiciness with long finish & residual considerable soft tannic grip with no heat considering the abv. Meadow flowers, ripe blue, red & black fruit with gilled meat & herbal lift. Still a long life for sure, so no hurry here, but for primary big fruit lovers, it is beginning to become more elegant.

1/10/2021 - PourMeSomeMore Likes this wine:

Young but coming along nicely. No sediment. Took about 5 hours in the decanter with periodic aggressive swirling to finally deliver the balanced complexity we know. Delicious and when it finally opened, could not keep my nose out of the glass which is the basis for my rating. No hurry here and if you don't have the time to let it open up, wait. For those that don't know, this older vineyard is at about 1000 ft elevation on the western slope of what is known as Mt. Veeder on the eastern side in Napa.

1/8/2021 - PourMeSomeMore wrote:

Corked. Bummer

12/17/2020 - PourMeSomeMore Likes this wine:

After my initial wonderful tasting upon picking up from the winery, the wine did shut down in the cellar and so I left them alone for the last 2 years. Decided to pop one open and it's finally decided to open up and begin to grace us with its wonderful GDL complex savory deliciousness. Some fine sediment thrown with a very dark cork. A long life ahead, but approachable now again. Enjoy!

9/8/2020 - PourMeSomeMore Likes this wine:

Popped open and splash decanted for a bit. It's been at 57f since delivery. Fabulous from the get go and opened more over the evening. Elegantly rich with ripe red fruit, herbs including tarragon, meadow flowers and a delightful savory, smooth, long finish. Just love this clone 6 and with this vintage drinking like this, not sure how many will age in the cellar.

8/27/2020 - PourMeSomeMore Likes this wine:

Really needs another couple years. Was pretty tight initially and it did open up enough over several hours of decanting so that we enjoyed it, but the best enjoyment is yet to come and would likely rate higher then. I'm finding this to be the case with most of the '15 vintage now.

7/23/2020 - PourMeSomeMore Likes this wine:

Opened another from the cellar as I thought it was becoming approachable. Nope, it was not as open as the last bottle only 3 months ago. It is throwing fine sediment that adheres to the bottle, but not at all giving what it can even after 4 hours of decanting. Wait a couple more years at least.

6/11/2020 - PourMeSomeMore Likes this wine:

Swirl decanted for 15 minutes and then we all enjoyed the cab without food. Was surprised how accessible and nice the wine was this early for a Diamond Mountain.

6/6/2020 - PourMeSomeMore wrote:

Have loved this wine for many years (many cases) and can't really remember the last time I had a corked bottle, but 2 bottles in a row out of the current vintage case were corked.

4/13/2020 - PourMeSomeMore Likes this wine:

Wine is garnet color and has thrown quite a bit of sediment, but it is still a youngster. It took quite a bit of decanter coaxing over several hours to get it to open up somewhat. Will wait for a couple more years for the next.

4/13/2020 - PourMeSomeMore wrote:

Bummer...corked magnum.

4/4/2020 - PourMeSomeMore Likes this wine:

Beautiful nose when opened, but was tight on the palate. After 2 hours in the decanter, it started opening up and was delicious. No hurry on opening this one, but if you do, give it some decant/swirling time or you will miss the beauty of this wine.

3/29/2020 - PourMeSomeMore Likes this wine:

Fabulous nose, but still tight on the palette as it's a youngster. Give it a few more years to start showing it's best.

3/22/2020 - PourMeSomeMore Likes this wine:

Delish!! Needed something familiar and satisfying tonight with my dry aged ribeye so dug into the cellar for this wine. It's thrown quite a bit of sediment so removed it in the bottle around the cork and decanted carefully. Very tight when first opened, but after some swirling (3 hours) in the wide decanter, it started to give exactly what we expect, fabulous rich but lip smacking juicy cab. Flowers, herbs, ripe red fruit, anise. Still a youngster. Thank you Celia!!

12/31/2019 - PourMeSomeMore Likes this wine:

Was absolutely wonderful with garlic roasted Dungeness crab!

12/27/2019 - PourMeSomeMore Likes this wine:

Really starting to sing. Absolutely delicious with incredible nose! Decanted briefly for a steakhouse dinner. Glad I have one left.

12/10/2019 - PourMeSomeMore Likes this wine:

Absolutely delicious now with a long life ahead.

11/13/2019 - PourMeSomeMore Likes this wine:

Popped another to see how it was coming along. Tiny amount of sediment and cork still looked fresh with no deep color, sediment or crystals. With a couple hours of swish/swirl decanting, it opened up and was quite delicious with no hard edges. For those of you who know Ranch 2, it is starting to shine, but with a long life ahead.

9/29/2019 - PourMeSomeMore wrote:

Corked....first for me in all the cases of all the vintages I've had.

9/20/2019 - PourMeSomeMore Likes this wine:

Elegantly rich with bright acidity....delicious!!

1/20/2019 - PourMeSomeMore Likes this wine:

I've waited and waited, but decided to pop one open. Glad I did! Delicious now from pnp and from the decanter over a couple hours. Rich, juicy & balanced with polished tannins and a very long, but at the end, clean finish. Ethereal on the nose with initial notes of blueberry developing into ripe black cherry and black fruits with tarragon and other herbal & floral notes. I've tried my best to describe, but to sum up, it's really incredible. Fine sediment has started to cling to the bottle so carefully decanted. With all that said, still seems to be a baby as the color looked the same as when first released. If you're lucky enough to have some, enjoy!

1/1/2019 - PourMeSomeMore Likes this wine:

Delicious with everything coming together nicely with a smooth balanced juiciness. Moderate amount of sediment. We really enjoyed it!

1/1/2019 - PourMeSomeMore Likes this wine:

Needs time to come together.

12/31/2018 - PourMeSomeMore Likes this wine:

Delicious! Ripe plum and honey on the nose, really fine bubbles that last and a juicy moderately rich mouthfeel with a touch of smoke on the fabulous finish. It has cut, but not so much that you can't enjoy on it's own without food. Yum. fyi, my style is grand dame, DP 02 & 09, Bollinger grand cuvee & older vintage.

12/29/2018 - PourMeSomeMore Likes this wine:

Really delicious and approachable now...juicy warm blueberry, blackberry & cassis with beautiful floral & herb notes. An elegant, rich wine and not an over-extracted style. Already popped 2 bottles with consistent notes.

12/29/2018 - PourMeSomeMore Likes this wine:

Approachable and delicious now unlike some other vintages.

12/29/2018 - PourMeSomeMore Likes this wine:

I've found the '15 to be very approachable and delicious now unlike other recent vintages that needed time to resolve the tannins. In this, the rich juicy fruit balances out the tannins and it's not overly extracted or oaked as some other '15 wines I've tasted. Paired fabulously with a dry aged ribeye with only a short decant at a restaurant (brought my own bottle). I did just receive these from the winery so not sure if they will start to shut down at some point in the cellar. Tasting like this now, not sure how many will survive to age!

12/29/2018 - PourMeSomeMore Likes this wine:

Popped a couple that I recently received from the winery. Agree with "Meiben", needs quite a bit more time. Cork looks like it was bottled last year with no sediment or crystals whatsoever.

12/13/2018 - PourMeSomeMore Likes this wine:

Decanted gently as it had thrown a lot of sediment, but the cork was a clean medium red. Decanted back and forth about 4 times. Delicious wine and RP notes describe best. No heat on the nose or tasting, but could feel the 15.5 ABV if you know what I mean. Still has quite a life ahead but enjoyable now with decanting out the sediment.

12/9/2018 - PourMeSomeMore wrote:

Opened and the cork had an unusual smell. Not cork taint smell, but a kind of caramel smell. Decanted, swirled, chilled more, swirled more, but the wine still had a strong nose of kahlua and was a bit boozy. Not sure what to say as maybe it needs time? No rating.

12/3/2018 - PourMeSomeMore Likes this wine:

An elegant delicious wine now (ripe red fruit, herbs, flowers) after some splash decanting. Note, just picked up from winery a week ago and had not yet put in the cellar. Actually all of the 15's we picked up have been very approachable & delicious now.

10/20/2018 - PourMeSomeMore Likes this wine:

Delicious. On opening was very tight with a note of tarragon, but then after some swirling, it began to open. Rich viscosity with only the slightest clear at the rim and no sediment or crystals on the cork. Red fruit (ripe blueberry also), herbs & flowers with richness that is seemingly cleared with a smooth minerality at the finish at which point the finish goes on forever with a round tannic grip. Fab with a ribeye! Needs some decanting now, but is approachable and truly wonderful now. Have some more for later, but still love some primary fruit. Curious about the ++. Comments on that please.

9/6/2018 - PourMeSomeMore Likes this wine:

Drinking very nicely now.

9/6/2018 - PourMeSomeMore Likes this wine:

Bright, yet smooth and rich with cherries & herbs. Very satisfying. Delicious!