Bookclub--All Wines Tasted Blind (Foretti's in Corona Del Mar): Man, this stuff is just awesome. And this is coming from a place in my drinking journey where thinking of having Napa Cab is just not my thing anymore. Thankfully, this was served blind so I had to judge what was here. Dark, chewy and dense with an irony feel when first poured. Inky, charcoal and mineral with great structure and just medium weight (at least to me). Power with balance is what my notes say with an irony finish, and a wine that is gonna age for a long time. But, at 10 years now from vintage, this is one of the very best Cabs I have had in a very long time. Bravo.
After a one hour decant, raw and lacking in the middle. Much more round and full after another hour and continued to improve through two episodes of Only Murders in the Building.
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Decanted for two hours then returned to the bottle. I understand that this vintage was heralded by wine critics and maybe it will prove itself in years to come, but I do not think I have had a 2013 yet that has really impressed me. This bottle was well made but it did not feel together on night one nor night two although night one was better. Unnuanced big mountain fruit, pretty straight forward.
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I guess my tastes have changed, or maybe my bottle just isn't "all that". I'm clearly the outlier here. 9 years after vintage, this still seems quite linear and I can't see hints of a more elegant maturation. Good for what it is, and enjoyable. But wouldn't be paying the freight to reload the cellar. I'll go 90ish points, give or take. That doesn't translate to $125 / bottle for me. I would summarize as "enjoyable wine, happy to serve it to friends, poor QPR".
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First taste btight red fruits, cranberries, rasberry with firm tannin...decanted and drank over 2 hours. Decant opened up the wine to darker fruits and softened the tannin nicely. This is drinking nicely but has plenty of years left
Similar to the last time I had this, really nice big boy mountain fruit cabernet, should get better in 4-5 years, but I keep opening it sooner expecting a different result...
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Nose: Soft spice, slight graphite minerality, deep earth, some oak with lush red (with slight bitter cranberry skins) and purple fruits. There's a lifted floral note and I'm getting a clean, fresh pond note. With some time and rigorous swirling, the fruits become creamier (trying not to just say vanilla).
Palate: Rich, brooding dark purple fruits with matching deep earth, a lacing of minerals like wet rocks, clean oak and some spice on the finish. Similar creamy purple fruits with time in the glass.
A dark, almost black Ruby. Dry with medium-plus amounts of strong, firm tannins. Medium to medium-plus body with medium amounts of acidity. Good finish of about 12-15 seconds. Definitely decant this, don't be lazy like me. So hard to describe.. this wine is very purple-ish and has a grungy, fruit texture to it (in a good way.. but I say that probably because I noticed a lot of sediment in the bottle). Straight out the wine fridge and into a pop and pour, the wine seemed to come off a little brighter and juicier. With rigorous swirling in the glass for about 30+ minutes, it becomes something dark, rich and smooth (the past few days have been warm so this came to room temp a little quicker than normal). The fruit carries out forwardly throughout the entire time, seems to balance everything out. Enjoyable now but keep for a few more years before enjoying if you can (estimating 2-3 years for everything to really start working well with each but can obviously go way longer). If enjoying now, decant for at least an hour and let it come to room temperature before serving. As always, try a small glass prior to decanting to see the evolution.
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Definitely getting better, but needs time. Dark red and black fruit, camphor, cooking spices, licorice, medium+ tannins, great mouthfeel but needs to calm down a bit. Very good.
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Much improved since I last toyed around with this wine in early Spring. After about an hour of air, this gorgeous Cabernet really started to open up and develop complex flavors, wave after wave over the palate. Blackberry, blueberry, black raspberry, black licorice, asphalt, campfire, river rock, and black mulch. The minerality here is especially elevating, hurling the massive black core along a powerful trajectory that coats the mouth front front to back. The finish is hauntingly gothic and beautifully long.
The final sips were the best. Hold for another year+ if you can.
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Consistently fabulous. Drank on Thanksgiving again a 2013 Quivet Beckstoffer Las Piedras and a slightly overmatched 2014 Carter Fortuna vineyard.
This was easily the wine of the night for everyone at the table. Described as “velvet” and “explosive” by guests (competing adjectives, right?). Beautiful blue and black fruit on the nose announces you’re at a different level here. The fruit and tannin are in harmony already but there’s no denying this is a big, bold, layered wine. Pepper and earth mingle with the fruit. The finish lasts a full minute. Exceptional, again.
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Drank next to a 2015 Maybach Materium and a 2012 Frank Family Winston Hill. Dark and tannic nose followed by rich, dense, black and blue fruit on the palate. Tannin, earth and leather interplay with the fruit approximately 50/50. This came in perhaps a nose behind the Maybach Materium but some picked it as the top wine. Very good, very dark, brooding, complex, commanding. Great.
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Nose is a bit closed, dark red fruits, cherry, raspberry, plum, cassis, cinnamon, violets, vanilla, silky smooth palate with fine gritty tannins on the finish. Perfect balance as usual, extremely good.
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Another Coravin pour. Seems to have moved along to a riper stage with some air. I had a Coravin issue with a Quivet LPV at the same time last week when I hit this bottle too; so, maybe there was some unwanted air influence from the Coravin with this Outpost as well. Hmm.....
Coravin pour. As others have noted, this needs 2-3 more years to get its full act together. Enticing notes of black core fruit, black licorice, black mulch, asphalt, and some river rock.
Still showing some unresolved behavior in terms of an overall smooth delivery. Not wonky by any means, as the flavors are pure and inviting; but you can tell they are still holding back. Some alcohol showed up as well, stifling the finish a tad. The tail end shut down a hair, keeping the back of the attack on a more superficial, flatter level. There is indeed depth here, but it is being a bit of a nervous tease at the moment. It just has so much more it wants to give.
This was served next to a ‘13 Quivet LPV, which showed similar behavior in that its dark core fruit had a little trouble fully shining through. Hold until 2021/2022 on the Outpost True. 95+ points now, with potentially huge upside in a few years.
I’ll plan on finishing this bottle in the near future with some extended decanting and see if/how that may help.
This is a huge wine! Decanted for a couple of hours and it is irresistible! This monster has a great smell. Dark purple black and blue in the glass with fruits to match. Nice minerality and chocolate on the very long finish.
I would recommend holding this wine for several more years as its still an infant and will only get better with time.
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Dark black fruits, blackberry, black cherry, plum, cinnamon, anise, vanilla, salty minerality, still has a massive wall of tannins depending on the bottle, it needs 2-3 years to really settle down. I'm just glad it's toned down so much after being undrinkable when it first came out.
Ok, so it's been couple years so I had to have a taste. Classic Cab nose, with a mix of old and new world, cases, currants, cherry, tea, cigar, cedar, coffee and toasted oak; palate is massively silky with still fairly massive fine grain tannins but they have dropped off significantly from the first bottle I've had, it's now tolerable.
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This was the centerpiece of our Christmas night wine festivities, served in the starring role in the middle of dinner. I don't have formal notes except to say that it's huge, compelling, layered, and still extremely tannic. We decanted this for at least six hours before serving, and it could have used even more. The wine is gorgeous, incredibly dark, and features loads of blue and black fruit, mingling with oak and tannin. Highly enjoyable for all at the table. Decades to go here. And probably another three to five years before any kind of smoothing or integration of tannin occurs.
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Wow... What an amazing and well structured juice! Comes together in a perfect way. The nose, the velvetty juice and the great finish all come together here.
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Trying to be patient with this wine in light of the anticipated maturity dates from the professionals, however, looking for something special for our anniversary so I decided to pop a bottle in consideration of some recent positive CT notes. Dark purple fruit - blueberry, blackberry, dark currants, and dark raspberry. Smooth mid-palate coupled with a beautiful purity and really nice depth/concentration. Nice flavors of dark berries and a little graphite/mineral component. Fairly long/deep finish. Decanted for three hours and drank over another three. Improved with time but I enjoyed how this wine was drinking after the decant. Clearly a long life ahead of it in consideration of the quality of fruit but impressive at this stage despite its youth. WA anticipated maturity of 2025 to 2065 which I can't argue - this is a big wine and clearly will benefit from some additional time. 100% cab.
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A couple of 100 pointers (for me) (Home): Wow. One sip and my wife was saying this is the best bottle she has had all year. Her opinion only got stronger as we drank the bottle. Not sure I totally agree but maybe so. Wow. Purple in color. The nose has cassis, slight graphite, blueberries and char. On the palate, this is seamless with black raspberries and slight char. Deep and complex. Long finish. Tannins but fine and they weave their way in. Its a big wine due to its youth but not overly done. Wow.
No joke, this is a colossal monster of a wine. Massive tannins and dark purple and black fruit on the attack...and I mean ATTACK. Hits you like a sledge hammer at first, but in the absolute best of ways. PnP was an instant onslaught on the palate of deeply pitched fruit, and then a huge wave of tannic clamp rushes in on the back end. Not astringent in the least; just a total embodiment of all the superfluous adjectives in the English language that describe "HUGE."
An hour in the decanter actually allowed some accessibility. It was certainly drinkable after some air, showing viscous and focused flavors. Even with all the fruit still needing some time to integrate, this wasn't sloppy or jammy at all. Purity of fruit was unbelievable; it was just hard to get a total sense of what all was there due to its youth. I kept waiting for it to shut down completely, but it never did. Had a ton of drive.
This wine epitomizes bad ass mountain fruit. The purple/black fruit profile is exactly what I want from this wine. It will undoubtedly be epic in 5+ years. As others have mentioned, this wine will go for decades.
WOW, the nose on this wine is UNBELIEVABLE! Just amazing complex notes of expressive blue/black fruit and stark minerality. You can smell this wine from across the room. A coiled up monster on the pallet, if you don't give this about 12 hours in the decanter you'll be chewing through a tannic wall the size of Everest. As big, broad and enormously built as they come, this is stacked full of layers with a finish that goes for days. Probably a 40yr+ wine. Give it another 10 years or so.
Decanted; young; tight; has beautiful potential; likely wait 5 more years, but at least 3. Spicy; full mouth feel and finish. Great density; will be interesting.
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Do NOT drink this in the next 5 years. I can't even score the wine as it was very hard to drink, and yes I know that was my fault, but I was curious. I gave it a 5-6 hour decant in wide-base decanter and it was still nearly undrinkable, huge/massive doesn't begin to describe it, but the tannins and oak were a real problem this young in it's life. Already has tons of sediment, so I can only imagine what will happen with age when the tannins start to drop out. This reminds me of a young Dunn which are also undrinkable in their youth, I honestly don't know how many years it will take to come into balance, but I won't try another one for 5 years min. HOLD HOLD HOLD
Tasted this at the winery. Just a few thoughts here from my memory, which is now inhibited from drinking so many different wines over the course of 4 days in Napa.
HUGE wine. This is most definitely a mountain wine built to last for a long, long time. The nose is gorgeous dark blue fruit with a small oak element. It is teeth staining purple with a massive core of fruit. It shows amazing depth and concentration, with equally massive tannins at the moment. This is packed and stacked for a long life. I doubt it will be ready to drink well for at least 5 years. 96+
Had this at the winery over the weekend. Loved it, but I may have liked the regular Cab a little more. that being said, I still think this was an amazing bottle of wine.
Floral component to the nose with black fruit and raspberry coming through along with a little bit of oak (but not too much.) Tight on the palate with the fruit peeking underneath a layer of tannins that will take a long time really integrate. This will be fantastic in due time but right now it's just too young to really enjoy, in my opinion.
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This arrived at our house five days ago. Ordered while visiting winery last month. I know it was all wrong to open this today -- bottle shock, travel shock, couldn't be younger. But we were having a tasting of the newly acquired wines with friends, so we popped, decanted for 90 minutes, and went to work on it over about five hours -- along with four other 2013 Napa cabernets (Mending Wall Cab, Chappellet Signature Cab, Bremer Family Cab and Kelly Fleming Big Pour).
Poured thick, inky purple. All tannin and muscle and alcohol here. As time went on, this monster started to show its inner beauty. Fruit and sweetness appeared. At 2:45 after opening, it was just starting to drink nicely.
Massive depth. Incredible structure. Layers of flavors. Vanilla. Black fruit, blue fruit, red fruit. Muscle but elegance. Really, exceptional.
There's 30 years in this bottle, with at least the first dozen of those being rising, evolving, improvement years.
Consensus wine of the day. Mending Wall a relatively close second.
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9/7/2023 - brigcampbell wrote:
Blind: Guess this was Napa cab in probably a 2011.
Why did this show well, classic cassis, dark and brooding, and a significant iron note. Extremely enjoyable wine to drink.
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9/7/2023 - Frank Murray III wrote:
Bookclub--All Wines Tasted Blind (Foretti's in Corona Del Mar): Man, this stuff is just awesome. And this is coming from a place in my drinking journey where thinking of having Napa Cab is just not my thing anymore. Thankfully, this was served blind so I had to judge what was here. Dark, chewy and dense with an irony feel when first poured. Inky, charcoal and mineral with great structure and just medium weight (at least to me). Power with balance is what my notes say with an irony finish, and a wine that is gonna age for a long time. But, at 10 years now from vintage, this is one of the very best Cabs I have had in a very long time. Bravo.
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12/11/2022 - Red Sox Fan Likes this wine: 94 Points
After a one hour decant, raw and lacking in the middle. Much more round and full after another hour and continued to improve through two episodes of Only Murders in the Building.
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8/11/2022 - jeagle wrote: 92 Points
Decanted for two hours then returned to the bottle. I understand that this vintage was heralded by wine critics and maybe it will prove itself in years to come, but I do not think I have had a 2013 yet that has really impressed me. This bottle was well made but it did not feel together on night one nor night two although night one was better. Unnuanced big mountain fruit, pretty straight forward.
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1/29/2022 - vanpe003 wrote: 91 Points
I guess my tastes have changed, or maybe my bottle just isn't "all that". I'm clearly the outlier here. 9 years after vintage, this still seems quite linear and I can't see hints of a more elegant maturation. Good for what it is, and enjoyable. But wouldn't be paying the freight to reload the cellar. I'll go 90ish points, give or take. That doesn't translate to $125 / bottle for me. I would summarize as "enjoyable wine, happy to serve it to friends, poor QPR".
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2/6/2021 - pakabear Likes this wine: 96 Points
Massive wall of Cassis, cherry, strawberry, lead pencil, clove, cinnamon, great texture and balance. Good now as a PnP, but will last another decade.
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10/16/2020 - beau11 wrote: 96 Points
First taste btight red fruits, cranberries, rasberry with firm tannin...decanted and drank over 2 hours. Decant opened up the wine to darker fruits and softened the tannin nicely. This is drinking nicely but has plenty of years left
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10/6/2019 - pakabear Likes this wine: 96 Points
Similar to the last time I had this, really nice big boy mountain fruit cabernet, should get better in 4-5 years, but I keep opening it sooner expecting a different result...
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9/14/2019 - WineBurrowingWombat Likes this wine: 96 Points
Nose: Soft spice, slight graphite minerality, deep earth, some oak with lush red (with slight bitter cranberry skins) and purple fruits. There's a lifted floral note and I'm getting a clean, fresh pond note. With some time and rigorous swirling, the fruits become creamier (trying not to just say vanilla).
Palate: Rich, brooding dark purple fruits with matching deep earth, a lacing of minerals like wet rocks, clean oak and some spice on the finish. Similar creamy purple fruits with time in the glass.
A dark, almost black Ruby. Dry with medium-plus amounts of strong, firm tannins. Medium to medium-plus body with medium amounts of acidity. Good finish of about 12-15 seconds. Definitely decant this, don't be lazy like me. So hard to describe.. this wine is very purple-ish and has a grungy, fruit texture to it (in a good way.. but I say that probably because I noticed a lot of sediment in the bottle). Straight out the wine fridge and into a pop and pour, the wine seemed to come off a little brighter and juicier. With rigorous swirling in the glass for about 30+ minutes, it becomes something dark, rich and smooth (the past few days have been warm so this came to room temp a little quicker than normal). The fruit carries out forwardly throughout the entire time, seems to balance everything out. Enjoyable now but keep for a few more years before enjoying if you can (estimating 2-3 years for everything to really start working well with each but can obviously go way longer). If enjoying now, decant for at least an hour and let it come to room temperature before serving. As always, try a small glass prior to decanting to see the evolution.
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5/3/2019 - pakabear Likes this wine: 95 Points
Definitely getting better, but needs time. Dark red and black fruit, camphor, cooking spices, licorice, medium+ tannins, great mouthfeel but needs to calm down a bit. Very good.
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12/24/2018 - csimm wrote: 98 Points
Much improved since I last toyed around with this wine in early Spring. After about an hour of air, this gorgeous Cabernet really started to open up and develop complex flavors, wave after wave over the palate. Blackberry, blueberry, black raspberry, black licorice, asphalt, campfire, river rock, and black mulch. The minerality here is especially elevating, hurling the massive black core along a powerful trajectory that coats the mouth front front to back. The finish is hauntingly gothic and beautifully long.
The final sips were the best. Hold for another year+ if you can.
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11/22/2018 - WineGold wrote: 97 Points
Consistently fabulous. Drank on Thanksgiving again a 2013 Quivet Beckstoffer Las Piedras and a slightly overmatched 2014 Carter Fortuna vineyard.
This was easily the wine of the night for everyone at the table. Described as “velvet” and “explosive” by guests (competing adjectives, right?). Beautiful blue and black fruit on the nose announces you’re at a different level here. The fruit and tannin are in harmony already but there’s no denying this is a big, bold, layered wine. Pepper and earth mingle with the fruit. The finish lasts a full minute. Exceptional, again.
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10/14/2018 - WineGold wrote: 97 Points
Drank next to a 2015 Maybach Materium and a 2012 Frank Family Winston Hill. Dark and tannic nose followed by rich, dense, black and blue fruit on the palate. Tannin, earth and leather interplay with the fruit approximately 50/50. This came in perhaps a nose behind the Maybach Materium but some picked it as the top wine. Very good, very dark, brooding, complex, commanding. Great.
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8/21/2018 - pakabear Likes this wine: 95 Points
Nose is a bit closed, dark red fruits, cherry, raspberry, plum, cassis, cinnamon, violets, vanilla, silky smooth palate with fine gritty tannins on the finish. Perfect balance as usual, extremely good.
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4/28/2018 - csimm wrote:
Another Coravin pour. Seems to have moved along to a riper stage with some air. I had a Coravin issue with a Quivet LPV at the same time last week when I hit this bottle too; so, maybe there was some unwanted air influence from the Coravin with this Outpost as well. Hmm.....
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4/20/2018 - csimm wrote: 95 Points
Coravin pour. As others have noted, this needs 2-3 more years to get its full act together. Enticing notes of black core fruit, black licorice, black mulch, asphalt, and some river rock.
Still showing some unresolved behavior in terms of an overall smooth delivery. Not wonky by any means, as the flavors are pure and inviting; but you can tell they are still holding back. Some alcohol showed up as well, stifling the finish a tad. The tail end shut down a hair, keeping the back of the attack on a more superficial, flatter level. There is indeed depth here, but it is being a bit of a nervous tease at the moment. It just has so much more it wants to give.
This was served next to a ‘13 Quivet LPV, which showed similar behavior in that its dark core fruit had a little trouble fully shining through. Hold until 2021/2022 on the Outpost True. 95+ points now, with potentially huge upside in a few years.
I’ll plan on finishing this bottle in the near future with some extended decanting and see if/how that may help.
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4/16/2018 - #1Winelover Likes this wine: 97 Points
This is a huge wine! Decanted for a couple of hours and it is irresistible! This monster has a great smell. Dark purple black and blue in the glass with fruits to match. Nice minerality and chocolate on the very long finish.
I would recommend holding this wine for several more years as its still an infant and will only get better with time.
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3/30/2018 - pakabear Likes this wine:
Finished the rest on day 2, it softened a bit and had a more raisin profile, but I’d still hold for 2-3 years minimum.
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3/28/2018 - pakabear Likes this wine:
Dark black fruits, blackberry, black cherry, plum, cinnamon, anise, vanilla, salty minerality, still has a massive wall of tannins depending on the bottle, it needs 2-3 years to really settle down. I'm just glad it's toned down so much after being undrinkable when it first came out.
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3/2/2018 - pakabear Likes this wine: 95 Points
Ok, so it's been couple years so I had to have a taste. Classic Cab nose, with a mix of old and new world, cases, currants, cherry, tea, cigar, cedar, coffee and toasted oak; palate is massively silky with still fairly massive fine grain tannins but they have dropped off significantly from the first bottle I've had, it's now tolerable.
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12/25/2017 - WineGold wrote: 97 Points
This was the centerpiece of our Christmas night wine festivities, served in the starring role in the middle of dinner. I don't have formal notes except to say that it's huge, compelling, layered, and still extremely tannic. We decanted this for at least six hours before serving, and it could have used even more. The wine is gorgeous, incredibly dark, and features loads of blue and black fruit, mingling with oak and tannin. Highly enjoyable for all at the table. Decades to go here. And probably another three to five years before any kind of smoothing or integration of tannin occurs.
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10/22/2017 - rashcar Likes this wine: 98 Points
Wow... What an amazing and well structured juice! Comes together in a perfect way. The nose, the velvetty juice and the great finish all come together here.
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8/9/2017 - Badmonkey wrote: 98 Points
Trying to be patient with this wine in light of the anticipated maturity dates from the professionals, however, looking for something special for our anniversary so I decided to pop a bottle in consideration of some recent positive CT notes. Dark purple fruit - blueberry, blackberry, dark currants, and dark raspberry. Smooth mid-palate coupled with a beautiful purity and really nice depth/concentration. Nice flavors of dark berries and a little graphite/mineral component. Fairly long/deep finish. Decanted for three hours and drank over another three. Improved with time but I enjoyed how this wine was drinking after the decant. Clearly a long life ahead of it in consideration of the quality of fruit but impressive at this stage despite its youth. WA anticipated maturity of 2025 to 2065 which I can't argue - this is a big wine and clearly will benefit from some additional time. 100% cab.
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8/7/2017 - Loren Sonkin wrote: 100 Points
A couple of 100 pointers (for me) (Home): Wow. One sip and my wife was saying this is the best bottle she has had all year. Her opinion only got stronger as we drank the bottle. Not sure I totally agree but maybe so. Wow. Purple in color. The nose has cassis, slight graphite, blueberries and char. On the palate, this is seamless with black raspberries and slight char. Deep and complex. Long finish. Tannins but fine and they weave their way in. Its a big wine due to its youth but not overly done. Wow.
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7/29/2017 - JGA Likes this wine: 99 Points
One of kind , dense fruit BOMB exploding on your palate.Great nose long finish decanted in a wide decanter for 6 hours .
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6/7/2017 - csimm wrote: 98 Points
No joke, this is a colossal monster of a wine. Massive tannins and dark purple and black fruit on the attack...and I mean ATTACK. Hits you like a sledge hammer at first, but in the absolute best of ways. PnP was an instant onslaught on the palate of deeply pitched fruit, and then a huge wave of tannic clamp rushes in on the back end. Not astringent in the least; just a total embodiment of all the superfluous adjectives in the English language that describe "HUGE."
An hour in the decanter actually allowed some accessibility. It was certainly drinkable after some air, showing viscous and focused flavors. Even with all the fruit still needing some time to integrate, this wasn't sloppy or jammy at all. Purity of fruit was unbelievable; it was just hard to get a total sense of what all was there due to its youth. I kept waiting for it to shut down completely, but it never did. Had a ton of drive.
This wine epitomizes bad ass mountain fruit. The purple/black fruit profile is exactly what I want from this wine. It will undoubtedly be epic in 5+ years. As others have mentioned, this wine will go for decades.
97-98+ points, with even more upside after 2022.
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1/8/2017 - Cristal2000 Likes this wine: 97 Points
WOW, the nose on this wine is UNBELIEVABLE! Just amazing complex notes of expressive blue/black fruit and stark minerality. You can smell this wine from across the room. A coiled up monster on the pallet, if you don't give this about 12 hours in the decanter you'll be chewing through a tannic wall the size of Everest. As big, broad and enormously built as they come, this is stacked full of layers with a finish that goes for days. Probably a 40yr+ wine. Give it another 10 years or so.
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12/8/2016 - dlcass Likes this wine: 98 Points
Decanted; young; tight; has beautiful potential; likely wait 5 more years, but at least 3. Spicy; full mouth feel and finish. Great density; will be interesting.
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2/25/2016 - pakabear wrote:
Do NOT drink this in the next 5 years. I can't even score the wine as it was very hard to drink, and yes I know that was my fault, but I was curious. I gave it a 5-6 hour decant in wide-base decanter and it was still nearly undrinkable, huge/massive doesn't begin to describe it, but the tannins and oak were a real problem this young in it's life. Already has tons of sediment, so I can only imagine what will happen with age when the tannins start to drop out. This reminds me of a young Dunn which are also undrinkable in their youth, I honestly don't know how many years it will take to come into balance, but I won't try another one for 5 years min. HOLD HOLD HOLD
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2/8/2016 - Cristal2000 Likes this wine: 96 Points
Tasted this at the winery. Just a few thoughts here from my memory, which is now inhibited from drinking so many different wines over the course of 4 days in Napa.
HUGE wine. This is most definitely a mountain wine built to last for a long, long time. The nose is gorgeous dark blue fruit with a small oak element. It is teeth staining purple with a massive core of fruit. It shows amazing depth and concentration, with equally massive tannins at the moment. This is packed and stacked for a long life. I doubt it will be ready to drink well for at least 5 years. 96+
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2/7/2016 - yonster24 wrote:
Had this at the winery over the weekend. Loved it, but I may have liked the regular Cab a little more. that being said, I still think this was an amazing bottle of wine.
Floral component to the nose with black fruit and raspberry coming through along with a little bit of oak (but not too much.) Tight on the palate with the fruit peeking underneath a layer of tannins that will take a long time really integrate. This will be fantastic in due time but right now it's just too young to really enjoy, in my opinion.
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12/20/2015 - WineGold Likes this wine: 97 Points
This arrived at our house five days ago. Ordered while visiting winery last month. I know it was all wrong to open this today -- bottle shock, travel shock, couldn't be younger. But we were having a tasting of the newly acquired wines with friends, so we popped, decanted for 90 minutes, and went to work on it over about five hours -- along with four other 2013 Napa cabernets (Mending Wall Cab, Chappellet Signature Cab, Bremer Family Cab and Kelly Fleming Big Pour).
Poured thick, inky purple. All tannin and muscle and alcohol here. As time went on, this monster started to show its inner beauty. Fruit and sweetness appeared. At 2:45 after opening, it was just starting to drink nicely.
Massive depth. Incredible structure. Layers of flavors. Vanilla. Black fruit, blue fruit, red fruit. Muscle but elegance. Really, exceptional.
There's 30 years in this bottle, with at least the first dozen of those being rising, evolving, improvement years.
Consensus wine of the day. Mending Wall a relatively close second.
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