March 30, 2024 - Double decanted and let breathe for 30m in bottle before trying. Drank over two days, allowing to bottle breathe for ~4hrs while drinking on both days. 76% Cabernet Sauvignon and 24% Merlot from Napa Valley. 18 months in French oak.
Pours a deep, dark red in the glass with a bit of garnet at the rim. Expressive nose of chocolate, dark fruit, and dark flowers. Fruits are more towards blackberry and plum. A little baking spice too after agitation in glass. A bit hot on the nose. Picking up a lot more chocolate on the nose as it gets air. On the palate it’s a medium-bodied wine that delivers on the plum, cassis flavors of the nose. Also get a good amount of leather/earthiness and rosemary towards the finish, which is very long. After 1hr it’s getting quite more vivid fruit on the palate and chocolatey on the finish. Good acidity keeps it in balance. Tannins are very fine grained at this point.
On day 2 it’s changed very little. Lots of red and dark fruits (getting more tart cherry today), and a bit of sweet tobacco earthiness. Very soft tannins, medium acidity and a loooong subtle chocolate finish.
A good California Cabernet that can be found at reasonable prices. This isn’t my favorite style but it benefits from giving it plenty of air, I like where it started and where it ended up, in the middle it became a weird chocolate bomb that integrated more soundly with air.
January 19, 2024 - 👃 very fresh ripe red berries
👅 At PnP, light, fresh, blackberry though not really much fruit, chocolate and wood notes quickly take over, ending with a medium-short finish of oak and just a little menthol note.
After a 2h decant:
Oak! Oak! Oak! Tooooo much! STOP IT!
I think the lesson here is don't buy "value" napa cab. Gross!!!!
September 9, 2023 - Paired with grilled ribeye. Consistent with prior note - very one note cherry/black cherry nose and palate upon opening. Decanted for one hour, flavors of cherry, cinnamon, baking spice, raspberry and cedar. Really opens up with the air time. Delivers for mid-$30s Costco price point.
September 8, 2023 - This really grew on me after being in the decanter for 2+ hours.
Palate has lots of dark fruit, and some red fruit. Almost a chocolate finish.
Nose is a lot of leather and oak, with some dried fruit.
Tannins are nice, especially after getting some air.
Great QPR as a $36 Costco find.
September 1, 2023 - Gorgeous deep dark burgandy in color. To the nose are aromas of leather, dark berries, earth, Forst floor, & oak. First impressions were of soft velvety texture of black berries & cherries with a hint of oak. That quickly dissipates to an earthy flavor that ended in a metallic aftertaste. The fruit flavors would be short finish in duration but the metallic is very long. A bit disappointing as I was hoping for the initial velvety fruit to carry a bit longer.
Overall, a decent Cabernet for the money but not sure I would buy it again.
August 11, 2023 - Immediate burst of bright cherry on the palate, followed by a mouthful of cinnamon, ginger, and baking spices. Long finish with leather, cigar box and pipe tobacco. Surprisingly light bodied. As wine opened, cherry and baking spices mellowed and allowed raspberry and blue fruit to emerge a bit.
Opened and tasted, then decanted for an hour and consumed over the next 1-2 hours. Would recommend the decant but it was good from the pop. Enjoyed more than expected. Sadly was the last bottle at my local Costco!
July 29, 2023 - Lovely nose with hints of cinnamon. Easy fruit palate but a too light for this to be special. Would love some heft here to go with nice flavors and higher alcohol.
April 23, 2023 - Great
April 17, 2023 - Cassis, plum and cedar with slight thyme nose. Same on palate but cherry comes out. Nice fruit in a softer style. Dusty tannins coat the tongue on finish. Great for the Costco price.
February 1, 2021 - Pricey ($132) but worth it. As it turns out, very little information is available about this wine, so I asked the winery to provide me with some data. Through the wine club office, the winemaker (Marisa Taylor) responded as follows:
WINEMAKER’S COMMENTS ON THIS WINE
This wine is 100% Rutherford Cabernet Sauvignon from our hillside vineyard here at Rutherford Hill.
COLOR: Deep ruby
AROMA: Black currant, black cherry, blackberry with vanilla, nutmeg, anise, cocoa, toasted hazelnuts.
FLAVORS: Blackberry, boysenberry with hazelnuts that lead to layers of fruit and baking spices, with a long rich lingering finish.
WINE DATA
VINTAGE: 2016
VARIETAL: 100% Cabernet Sauvignon
APPELLATION: 100% Napa Valley
HARVEST DATES: September 24, 2016
FERMENTATION TEMPERATURE: 85° Fahrenheit
LENGTH AND TYPE OF AGING: 23 months in French oak barrels
ACID: 6.2 g/L
ALCOHOL LEVEL: 14.5 %
RESIDUAL SUGAR: none
MONTH WINE WAS BOTTLED: August 9, 2018
OPTIMUM PERIOD FOR CONSUMPTION: Release through 2038
NUMBER OF CASES PRODUCED: 41 cases (12 X 750 mL)
Vegan: Yes