March 31, 2024 - Decanted off moderate crust in bottle and small amount of fine sediment. Dark garnet red with limited transparency. Aromas of smoke, sous bois, plum, and currant. Palate is initially very dark with plum and smoke dominating. Left in decanter for 3.5 hours before meal service. Time did open this up and more red fruit elements came out along with some vanilla and cedar notes. Finish is medium and a bit tart. Expect this has more upside for my tastes but fully resolved and ready now. Drink at leisure.
March 10, 2024 - Antepenultimate bottle of 6. Decanted 2 hours, some age on rim, nose complex - vanilla / tar / tobacco, blackcurrant and cedar wood on palate but not very complex. Grabs your attention but doesn’t wow!
March 1, 2024 - (75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 23% Merlot, 2% Cabernet Franc, 13.4% Alkohol) Dichtes Rubin. Die Nase ist fordernd, gereifte Frucht, ätherische Noten, etwas Gummireifen, Medizinschrank, Minze, Eukalyptus, sehr reiffruchtig und für Montebello erstaunlich warm anmutend. Im Gaumen dicht, konzentriert, reife Frucht, viel Struktur, etwas ruppig, wild, sehr lang in der Aromatik, jedoch mit weniger Finesse als die letzte Flasche. Vermutlich keine Top Flasche, dennoch hohes Niveau.
February 22, 2024 - Terrific! This was ready to go from pnp, but develops additional depth over the course of 2 hours. Aromatically, this smells like an old school right bank (Figeac?) with plush Merlot fruit, tobacco, and a twinge of green. Only a little bit of cassis. In the mouth this is both mellow and expansive, fanning across the palate with layers of luxurious kirsch, plum, cedar, hay, and wet clay. A whiff of harmonious American oak. Medium bodied and held up by Fresh and vibrant acidity bolted to lightly raspy tannins than are not yet fully resolved, leading to a long savory finish. At peak and probably will stay here for another 10 years easy. This is a masterclass in low alcohol, old school mountain cab.
June 18, 2023 - Stellar.
April 15, 2023 - Drank with boys in Hawaii…spectacular!!
December 16, 2022 - No decant. Fabulous wine. Quite youthful at age 22! Super dark color, nearly black. Opened up after roughly half an hour: notes of blackberry and cassis but very reserved, conservative. Some tobacco, even hints of dark chocolate. You are getting an impression of the power of the wine, although it’s elegant at the same time, wonderful. Medium to long finish with some remarkable but silky tannins, concentrated and harmonious. Deep. Well done in that difficult year! I think the wine has many more years of pleasure to offer.
November 23, 2022 - Tasted double blind. This showed quite complex and elegant although there were some first signs of oxidation distracting although not yet to the amount that the wine is tainted. This won‘t be one of the long-lived MB vintages.
TN: Medium expressive nose only but on the palate there’s an explosion of red berries, dark berries and spices and loads of herbs. Anis and some oxidation notes. Very intense. Fine, velvety structure. Good freshness. Very elegant and round.
Decanting: Not decanted, no decanting needed.
November 12, 2022 - During a blind tasting dinner. This bottle unfortunately had oxidative notes of Maggy beef stock, so I won't be rating it. A pity as Monte Bello is consistently my favorite American wine.
November 11, 2022 - Tasted blind. Not decanted. Very ripe and concentrated, even jammy fruit with plenty of sweet Christmas spices, gingerbread, smoke and dark mineral notes. The density and concentration quite atypical for this estate, I found. The palate dense but surprisingly fresh. unfortunately this can‘t hide the onset of beef juice like notes - at this point can still be seen as a feature, but it‘s a close call already.