March 20, 2024 - Arrow & Branch winemaker dinner at Murphy's (Atlanta, GA): A&B winemaker dinner @ Murphy's in Atlanta. From Magnum. PNP. Paired with grilled wagyu shortrib and served alongside the '19 A&B VHR. Blue fruit. EXCELLENT pairing and WOTN for me. I picked up several for the cellar. It was interesting that almost everyone else at the dinner felt that the VHR was the WOTN and some indicated they detected smoke taint in the Dr. Crane. I didn't detect even a hint of smoke taint and thought this wine was fantastic! Brad - heavypourwine.com
October 10, 2023 - Great night of drinking with a 2016 Checkerboard Aurora, 2017 Arrow & Branch Dr. Crane, and a 2012 Opus One. This was the last wine of the night and we drank this at dinner with the steaks. I was shocked by the intensity of this wine. I have not drank another 2017 wine with this kind of sheer power. I passed on all my allocations of the 2017 vintage but have drank quite a few 2017's at my favorite wine bar as others purchased them. On release they were very thin in the mid palate but many have seemed to fatten up a bit. I still stay away from the vintage as qualitatively I find other vintages much better. This was surprisingly good and would probably have guessed it was a 2018.
This was filled with flavors of blackcurrant, blackberry, dark cherry, and tobacco. This was delicious with the steak especially the Snake River Wagyu. This got an hour decant before we started consuming but could have used 2-3 hours or better yet another year or two. While I gave this and the Checkerboard a 96 I preferred the Checkerboard as it was more polished. My wife preferred this wine because of the power. A good conundrum!
September 30, 2023 - 45 min double decant and drank over 2 hr with Mrs Geaux Tigers. Young and needed more air and more time sideways. Racy. Juicy. Tannic. Delicious. Hides the 15+ AC well. Black cherry, white flowers, dirty earthy mineral streak carrying everything along. I liked it, I’ll like it a lot more in 4 years. Hold til 2027.
May 8, 2022 - 👍
August 13, 2021 - Wine of the lineup, floral and very elegant, pure yet restrained. Well done. Complexity lines up with what I’ve come to expect from the 2017s though, not as much going on. Need to try another vintage.
August 1, 2020 - Arrow and Branch Tasting 2016-2018 Vintages: Really a fabulous effort. Wonderful nose of blueberry pie, black cherries, violets, and tobacco, with earthy and mineral driven notes. Shockingly powerful and concentrated for the vintage, this has elegance and refinement in spades. Pure and fresh, without a hint of the green or bitterness this vintage can sometimes give off. Lots of tension and built for a long life.