January 27, 2024 - NR - Purchased recently from KL recently when they were selling a number of past vintages. Opened D1 with 3 hours of decanting. Tried the wine on opening and immediately regretted opening the bottle. It's too early to open this wine. Drank half of the bottle D1 with my somm buddy. Lots of tannins. Definitely high quality and got some 'maple syrup'. D2: settled down a bit. mix berry syrup and some vanilla with the oak. Again, too early to enjoy in my opinion.
Small side note: our brown bag included an '82 3 Palms and an '12 Pape Clement. Palms was excellent and Pape was excellent D2.
I have at least one of every Backus vintage going back to 1997 and I've only opened the 2004. Wait 20 on these. There are not many opportunities to enjoy and the wine needs to integrate.
Cheers.
September 17, 2023 - Opened up nicely with a nose of dark fruit and some leatger. Further opening added a nice herbal essence - maybe a little cardigan. Flavors were full of dark cherry and blackberry with some ripe dark plum. Finish was beautiful with that dark fruit and a nice blackberry twinge of acid. A beautiful wine!!
August 27, 2023 - Decanted for an hour and drank over several hours. Smooth and seemed quite ready to drink in terms of well-integrated tannins, but strangely muted on the nose and on the palate. It was not corked or seemingly otherwise flawed, so maybe in a dumb phase, although others’ notes here don’t suggest that. I have more bottles, so I will try another one later and see if maybe it was just an off bottle somehow.
May 27, 2023 - This wine was opened three hours prior to dinner and drank against a 2013 Insignia and a 2006 Cos d'Estournel. The nose on this wine was spectacular with dark berries and hints of chocolate. The palate was dark berries, dark cherry, tobacco and chocolate leading to a long finish. My good Michael preferred this wine over the Insignia. I have rated them the same but I did prefer the Insignia.
April 15, 2023 - Awesome bottle. Will be good for many years is my guess. Bold but smooth
July 24, 2022 - This wine is drinking quite well now but does have more life to it. Nose of leather and wood and dark fruit. Flavors were explosive with dark fruit of black cherry, black raspberry and a little cassis. Perfectly integrated tannins leaving a long and lush finish. Perfect with my perfect Ribeye steak!!
June 25, 2022 - Deep purple color with slow legs. New oak, cassis and blackberry on the nose. Plum, black cherry and tobacco on the palate. Long leathery finish.
November 13, 2021 - Big purple, rich , juice , monster....too much for me.
November 26, 2020 - One bottle had turned bad when we opened it. Vinegary...
May 31, 2020 - A beautiful cabernet that needs another 3-5 years to reach its peak. One hour decant. Leafy nose followed by sweet dark red fruit. Loads of cassis and mocha. Tannins and acid both still going strong. Finish goes on for 30+ seconds. Next one in 2025.