I notice that the average score of this wine continues to climb overall. A lot of the tough love with the ratings here belong to people who likely popped and poured this one and consumed it WAY too young. This. Wine. Needs. Time. And I wasn't sure if I was making a mistake or not opening it up with 7 years of age BUT....it turned out ok! Was hoping initially to pair this with beef fajita and Cilantro sausage with the NY2022 lunch (with black eyed peas and cabbage of course!). After bottle decanting for an hour, I was getting a mouthful of acid and a weird shoe bottom with band aid and a semi-Luden's cough drop (and that's it)....SOOOO....this one was recorked and put back in the chiller and opened up 5hr later to a MUCH IMPROVED bottle. Poured a dark dusty dark rusty rose color. Nose of ashy raspberry, smoky, black cherry, with a deeper huff revealing graphite, tobacco and a little bacon fat. The palate is dirty black cherry with good acidity. Not too much or little. Leather, tobacco, smoked figs and ashy character. Mid-palate and finish gains a smoked meat note and is a tiny bit tannic with a little bit of black pepper. QUITE an improvement. If I had known what I know now about this, I probably would have kept this in the cellar until 2025. If you're going to enjoy one of these, I highly recommend an 8 hr full decant before even touching it. Their cabernets from the '80s are still locked up FWIW, so...GIVE.... THESE.... TIME! Another beauty from Chappellet!
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Drank very nice for pnp. Good amount of fruit with a smooth texture. Medium to low tannins and balances everything out well. Drinking great now and will finish off the rest of this vintage in a year or so.
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Had a blind horizontal tasting of '14 Chappellets (Cab, Merlot, Pinot, Zin) and the Merlot was picked by half the group as the favorite. Exhibited a smooth velvety texture with blueberries and plum along with medium acidity and smooth tannins. Had subtle notes of smoke. A very elegant wine.
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Popped and poured, definitely improved with air over following 2+ hours.
Tart red fruit accented by nutmeg, cocoa and espresso. Fairly tightly wound at this point, medium plus acid and velvety texture. This one will definitely develop/improve over next 3-5 years, but nonetheless quite enjoyable now when allowed to breathe.
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Decanted for 30 minutes. Continued to open over next 30. Will decant next bottle a little longer. Mix of red and dark fruit with moderate tannin. Very nice for the price.
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Sampled at the winery. Blend, 82% Merlot. Nice tart red cherry, wet stones, lucious spicy aromatics with moderate tannins on the finish. A very pretty wine.
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Good wine. However, i don't think it is quite ready yet. The wine is still relatively one dimensional at this point. Drank over a few hours and it did get better as the evening went on. If you plan to drink this one soon, be sure to give it a couple hours to open up prior to drinking.
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1/1/2022 - mflesh wrote:
I notice that the average score of this wine continues to climb overall. A lot of the tough love with the ratings here belong to people who likely popped and poured this one and consumed it WAY too young. This. Wine. Needs. Time. And I wasn't sure if I was making a mistake or not opening it up with 7 years of age BUT....it turned out ok! Was hoping initially to pair this with beef fajita and Cilantro sausage with the NY2022 lunch (with black eyed peas and cabbage of course!). After bottle decanting for an hour, I was getting a mouthful of acid and a weird shoe bottom with band aid and a semi-Luden's cough drop (and that's it)....SOOOO....this one was recorked and put back in the chiller and opened up 5hr later to a MUCH IMPROVED bottle. Poured a dark dusty dark rusty rose color. Nose of ashy raspberry, smoky, black cherry, with a deeper huff revealing graphite, tobacco and a little bacon fat. The palate is dirty black cherry with good acidity. Not too much or little. Leather, tobacco, smoked figs and ashy character. Mid-palate and finish gains a smoked meat note and is a tiny bit tannic with a little bit of black pepper. QUITE an improvement. If I had known what I know now about this, I probably would have kept this in the cellar until 2025. If you're going to enjoy one of these, I highly recommend an 8 hr full decant before even touching it. Their cabernets from the '80s are still locked up FWIW, so...GIVE.... THESE.... TIME! Another beauty from Chappellet!
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11/19/2019 - Kate Cabernet Likes this wine: 91 Points
Very nice for the price. Just enough complexity, but still friendly. Drinking nicely right now. We had with Italian, and it worked out great.
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11/18/2019 - comlaw Likes this wine: 92 Points
Decanted for 45 minutes. Essentially the same as previous bottles. See previous notes.
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11/14/2019 - MRonan83 Likes this wine: 91 Points
Drank very nice for pnp. Good amount of fruit with a smooth texture. Medium to low tannins and balances everything out well. Drinking great now and will finish off the rest of this vintage in a year or so.
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2/18/2019 - rougeamore Likes this wine: 91 Points
Had a blind horizontal tasting of '14 Chappellets (Cab, Merlot, Pinot, Zin) and the Merlot was picked by half the group as the favorite. Exhibited a smooth velvety texture with blueberries and plum along with medium acidity and smooth tannins. Had subtle notes of smoke. A very elegant wine.
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12/8/2018 - comlaw Likes this wine: 92 Points
Based on previous bottle, decanted for 50 minutes which was better. Pleasant, well-balanced wine with good fruit and moderate tannin.
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11/13/2018 - GA_Seattle Likes this wine: 91 Points
Popped and poured, definitely improved with air over following 2+ hours.
Tart red fruit accented by nutmeg, cocoa and espresso. Fairly tightly wound at this point, medium plus acid and velvety texture. This one will definitely develop/improve over next 3-5 years, but nonetheless quite enjoyable now when allowed to breathe.
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9/13/2018 - comlaw Likes this wine: 92 Points
Decanted for 30 minutes. Continued to open over next 30. Will decant next bottle a little longer. Mix of red and dark fruit with moderate tannin. Very nice for the price.
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5/13/2018 - andrewdodd86 Likes this wine: 93 Points
82% Merlot, dark cherry, chocolate. Bright aromatics
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5/13/2018 - rustyRudy Likes this wine: 92 Points
Sampled at the winery. Blend, 82% Merlot. Nice tart red cherry, wet stones, lucious spicy aromatics with moderate tannins on the finish. A very pretty wine.
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5/13/2018 - kandrfairview wrote: 82 Points
Okay
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10/25/2017 - mgstull Likes this wine: 88 Points
Straightforward and pleasant merlot. Dark fruit, a bit of blueberry, dark chocolate, and a bit of dust. Can age short term but is fine now.
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10/22/2017 - rougeamore Likes this wine: 88 Points
Classic merlot. Sweet berry and notes of chocolate and smoke, with smooth tannins. Drink now.
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6/17/2017 - JMFWC wrote: 88 Points
Really prevalent high alcohol notes. Calmed down on night two showing more fruit and heavy oak but could use some time to develop a bit more.
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2/26/2017 - pvewino Likes this wine: 89 Points
Good wine. However, i don't think it is quite ready yet. The wine is still relatively one dimensional at this point. Drank over a few hours and it did get better as the evening went on. If you plan to drink this one soon, be sure to give it a couple hours to open up prior to drinking.
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