December 12, 2021 - shared with pat at selkirk manor. i continue to prune the cellar of wines with past due drink by dates. i was hanging on to this wine due to a discrepancy regarding the purchase price. the wine proved to be in sound condition. complex bordeaux style with lots of dark fruit. more recent vintages are north of $100/bottle. not sure i am willing to pay the freight. i have some of his lesser wines in the cellar which i will try before making a final decision.
January 11, 2020 - Better on PnP when it was smokey and interesting. After 2+ hrs it was a tad nondescript. Do not aerate!
On 2nd and 3rd tries (stored on nitrogen) I knew what to expect and enjoyed it more than my 1st try.
Really dark fruit with drying tannins...not as much going on flavor-wise to make it uber-interesting, but an enjoyable cab for sure.
Got it for $40 at K&L which makes it an excellent QPR.
February 14, 2017 - This baby tows the line of new and old world. Ok it's more new world, but nicely aged and integrated. Cedar...rustic...with a nice rich finish. Sad this is my last, would like a couple more. Fantastic QPR
February 9, 2016 - Superb Boudreaux style, Napa cab from a small, historic, winery. This is a great value, if you can find at less than $50.00. I paid more, at the winery. I drank the 2007 over two nights and the second night held up better than most wines.
August 4, 2015 - A $40 Napa Cab that tastes like a $90 Napa Cab. Impressive little wine. Spent 26 months in 1/3 new French Oak. I left the last one of these bottles to sit for over a year. It's been a while since the second bottle. This wine is showing NO SIGNS of oxidation, no tertiary notes. Cork was popped to about a 25 percent bleed and a dark black stain on the cork. Nose on the cork was pure blackberry. Bottle didn't show much nose-wise, but once the wine was poured, blackberry was the nose in the glass along with a subtle sweetness. The entry was soft, blackberry and smoke dominated the front. The middle was where this one took a turn to the dark side, but instead of developing earthy or vegetal characteristics, it started to develop a baking chocolate / cocoa sweetness, with black pepper and black licorice. Finished with cocoa and cedar-type tannin. A little bit of sediment on the neck and in the final 20ml of pour. After 2 hours, no signs of oxidation were noted and this one seemed just as youthful. Drink 2013-2022.
May 22, 2014 - Bright nose with some pepper. Very popular at our 2007 Napa retrospective where it was the least expensive wine of the night.
April 15, 2014 - Day 1 was way too tannic. Very very tight coming out if the bottle
March 29, 2014 - Not a bad wine at all. I remember tasting this one for the first time about 6 months ago after release and not liking it to the point that I didn't even want to review it. Well, this time is different, and I think that this one is coming into its element this year for sure. Cork popped with a candy apple red glycerine wet cork. The nose out of the bottle was a little strange at first - almost like....candied red apples with some acidity but was probably more like black cherry. I definitely let this one sit for about 30 minutes in the bottle before touching it again at that point. When I revisited, it was all about the dark black fruits -- nose was very strong and gave me two things: blackberry and licorice. The wine poured a very dark red with a significant froth. After the swirl, the nose took on a really nice blackberry and almost had an earthy minerality sting. On the palate was cassis and graphite, settling in the middle with more graphite, light smoke, some black pepper, blackberry backbone, but a caramel coffee sweetness started to creep in. The finish is moderately tannic with some expressive oak, but has quite a bit of pepper in the finish which makes this one linger 10-15 seconds. Very nicely done, very well balanced and layered. I think the last bottle will hold another 3-4 years with proper cellaring.
January 19, 2014 - Typical White Rock elegance allied with richness. Really can't get much better, especially considering the price.
November 29, 2013 - Good nose and decent layers of dark fruit, wood/earth, and spice. Still a bit young and got better with a couple hours if air. Will wait a couple years to open the rest