Community Tasting Note

Sunday, March 17, 2024 - Drank over two days, alongside the same vintage Domaine de Chevalier.

This has not softened as much as the DdC. Rather, it has retained its original, velvet gloved iron fist character. Delightful fruit, high-order expression of (Pauillac) place, exceptional structure and grip. The finish reveals no conception of quit.

My preference over the DdC, on the strength of its rusticity. Tanninphobes might want to give this a wide berth through 2035. Indeed, even the tannin initiated might find holding bottles through 2030 rewarding. 97-98.

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10 comments have been posted

Comment posted by mikita77:

3/17/2024 11:06:00 PM - Tanninphobe! Finally there’s a term for what I‘m suffering from!
Comment posted by Decanting Queen:

3/18/2024 4:07:00 AM - Great note, thanks so much. I have found the ‘15 DDC surprisingly accessible and while not a tanninphobe per se, I can tell that I am better off waiting for the P-C
Comment posted by Motz:

3/18/2024 4:22:00 AM - Glad to have been of service to you both. Cheers!
Comment posted by Mark1npt:

3/18/2024 5:45:00 AM - Nice note, Motz. Glad this is still rocking! Might have to open another bottle soon!
Comment posted by Portland Seth:

3/18/2024 7:33:00 AM - I like tannins, it's excessive oak that I'm phobic of and I happen to love tertiary leather and parchment flavors. I haven't tasted the '15, I guess I could open one for science but thanks to excellent TNs like yours I feel like I get all the benefits while keeping my wine inside the bottle.
Comment posted by thesternowl:

3/18/2024 8:21:00 AM - I'm with Portland Seth! As always, thanks for sharing the notes Motz!
Comment posted by Mark1npt:

3/18/2024 9:17:00 AM - PS....I'm kind right there with you on the overbearing oak. Tannins are not a big turnoff to me either, personally.
Comment posted by Portland Seth:

3/18/2024 9:37:00 AM - Mark, I'm actually somewhat surprised given your love of young Napa Cabs. I opened an '18 Carter (granted, their Weitz Vineyard) and found the vanilla overpowering, so I'm going to cellar my other Carters for the long haul.
Comment posted by Mark1npt:

3/18/2024 9:52:00 AM - Seth, I've been staying away from my '18 Carter the past year. I had some early on when the fruit overwhelmed everything else. Once that ends, then the oak really comes out. I don't mind the vanilla or caramel notes, but the pure oak wood does bother me more and more as I get longer in the tooth. Over the past 18 months I have been backfilling my cellar with more and more traditional (not Carter, Myriad, etc) aged Napa reds '02s-'13s. I'm really liking where the '02-'09 vintages are right now.....I'm buying less new wine every year. Not just because I'm getting older (66 yo now), just mainly that I've grown tired of the big fruit bomb Napa reds. They just seem to all be getting more and more man-made or 'manufactured' to me and so many of them just all taste the same, now.
Comment posted by Motz:

3/30/2024 12:54:00 AM - Interesting commentary here. Thank you all for the kind words.

When age worthy wines reach a certain maturity, almost invariably by fifteen to twenty years from vintage (this is the all bets are off window for great bottles), I find leather and parchment in only the most judiciously oaked from the outset. Put differently, oak treatment above the condiment level will always be above the condiment level, regardless of age. The modern, ripe stye of winemaking does not hold up to oak treatment in the way that wines made in restrained styles can. The more I drink wine, the less I like oak, especially new oak.

Cheers!