2012 Carter Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Weitz Vineyard
Community Tasting Note
Mark1npt Likes this wine:
Friday, May 29, 2020 - Well......having experimented with these older Carters......I am majorly underimpressed. I don't see any way possible that either the '10 or '12 fruit/wines drink any better than they were on release and probably only worse. I am re-thinking my past theories and now saying everyone out there should drink any Carter you have in the first 2-6 years if you bought them for their big, juicy fruit tendencies. I'm sorry, but that's the way it is, to me, based on these recent trials. Don't get me wrong, I love aged wines, but it seems these big Napa fruit bombs just age differently and are not in a sweet spot for me personally.
Day 2 addendum: Need to make amends. Didn't realize last night but I think cork shrinkage from poor storage is to blame. Cork slid right out by hand today, seems narrowed and shrunken on the wine end, so probably this bottle has been micro-slow oxing for years from poor storage conditions. I only picked it up a month ago at auction from Brentwood so buyer beware, there have been a lot of Carter's showing up there recently and if they've not been stored well, then......? Having said that I find a lot of what I found in my previous bottle of the '10 OG on Day 2, also from Brentwood. Rich cassis/graphite nose, almost liqueur like fruit concentration, a little better balance to the acid and tannins but also a little more whiff of alcohol, too. It's actually just a tad hot in the back of your throat after swallowing. The fruit is beginning to llighten at the rim and there is the faintest hint of raisin and other tertiary flaovrs developing. This is better put together than the '10 OG was. I found Day 2 of this to be 2 points better than last night, so a 94. This '12 drinks like it may be an '01 and I would certainly blame that on storage issues and the micro-oxing due to the cork shrinkage.
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Comment posted by Decanting Queen:
5/30/2020 7:59:00 AM - Interesting theory, I have been thinking about that lately too. The problem is when all the notes come out about the ‘16s being shut down—then I don’t know what to do. For example, ‘16 and ‘17 Quivet LPV. All the CT reviews suggest to hold—but will they really get any better?????
Comment posted by Mark1npt:
5/30/2020 8:57:00 AM - Jen, I think if we drink these fruit bombs in years 2-6 we'll love them and they'll be great. Generally when I suggest a wine like this or Myriad or B Cellars is shutdown and I will hold, I mean to say I will wait 6-12 months on average and then start drinking them again. I have seen some of the '16s literally be great one moment, then shutdown, then 3-4 months later be great again. I don't see too many where the shutdown period lasts very long usually much less than a year. On the flip side, some of our BDX seem to take much longer naps and in the course of their 30-40 year lives may take many of those naps for years at a time, to get where you and I and others seem to like them. I had a '10 Sociando Mallet this week for the first time in 2.5 years and it was very different. Moving in the right direction now. I would like to see what an '04 Carter tastes like now just for historical perspective. I think that was one of their earliest years in production. Maybe it would eventually get to where we would like our more aged Napa cabs to be? As an aside, I put the cork back in the bottle and have half left to try tonight. I wanted to see if it changed any the 2nd day.....I'll add to this review after I try it tonight.