This is only getting better! Compared to the last two bottles, this one has seemingly gained weight, concentration, and depth of fruit. It's huge in the mouth, though perhaps not quite as nuanced (but this did not detract from the sheer pleasure that it provided). Massively concentrated at first, which prompted us to decant. I'd say it was at its best at roughly the 2 hour mark (we consumed in 6 hours or so). On the nose, notes of graphite, cocoa, and forest floor meld with super dark fruits laced with cherry, and spice added to the mix with time. Very dense and chocolatey in the mouth, and super polished and refined with no hard edges. The stature of the wine is what impresses today, an undeniable achievement in a difficult vintage (at least based on our tastes). We wish we had more!
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Battle of the Cab Francs 2015 Stormy Weather Wandering Star (Napa Valley) 2015 Sheridan Boss Block (WA)
Night 1 Opened about 2 hours before trying both bottles. The Wandering Star was more muted, but after a few hours was finally starting to gain some complexity. The Sheridan was more open and ready to go, as it showed more complex, nuanced, high toned fruit that stood out as compared to the Wandering Star. It definitely stood out more and therefore more enjoyable to consume.
Night 2 Will edit tonight with any noticeable changes.
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Allow this wine to breath for at lest 15 minutes before drinking... Black licorice, earth, leather and alcohol awaken the nose to entice one to drink. The mouth feel of this wine is smooth and luxuriant. The taste on the tongue and in the mouth is that of black plums, currents, and ripe dark berries. The after tase, which is very long lasting, starts with oak and switches to and remains black licorice.
This is a big and broad wine that should be coupled with beef or Italian red sauce dishes. Highly recommend. Drink now through 2025.
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Black Licorice, earth, leather, and alcohol aromas excite your nose. The feel in the mouth is decadently smooth an rich. The flavors of dark plum, pepper, and current explode on your tounge and in your mouth. Upon drinking, the acids makes the wine crisp, the well structured and fine tannins provide for a long finish that starts with oak and then changes and remains licorice till the end.
Beef, or Italian are a must for this broad flavored wine. Drink now till 2025. Highly recommended.
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Double decant. Lush mouthfeel. Core of sweet red fruit. Very long drying finish. Sure to improve. Will hold my remaining 5 bottles. 2014 was much better but this is still enjoyable.
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Sadly, didn't share the same overwhelming enthusiasm as others. Not a bad wine at all, but was just a little thin and linear for me. Maybe just caught it in an awkward phase. Will save my other bottle for a couple years and hopefully will be rewarded.
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Just as good as it was last June, though a bit more open and aromatic (forest floor, leather, and with time, spice, clove, and herbs). Just as complex and lush in the mouth, if slightly softer and more accessible. I plan to hold our remaining bottle another year or two just to see what happens, but it'll be difficult!
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Dark ruby red. Dark berries on the nose with some herbal notes, dark bitter cocoa and a little floral. Definitely rounded out on day two with some smoother cocoa and espresso notes. Medium to medium plus body and medium tannins (6/10). Solid acidity too. A bit of heat with some mint, dark berries, floral and some gravel. Medium plus length finish. Drink till 2022.
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What a great showing, especially in relation to the 2015 L'Orage (which in retrospect may just need a few years to come together). This wine, though, showed spectacularly tonight! It needed about an hour in the decanter to come together, but once it did, aromas of dark fruits, almonds, spice, soy, licorice, and with additional time, anise emerged as well. Though never a huge nose, it was still quite (and increasingly) expressive throughout the evening. It was in the mouth where it shined though, bursting with a cornucopia of dark fruits, spice, and licorice encapsulated in a broad, expansive, and lush package, super textured and concentrated, and quite fatty (most likely due to the vintage). Compared to the 2013, this is larger scaled, more fruit forward and open for business, though less expressive in the earthy/ceder notes (yet just as complex).
Considering the extreme heat of the vintage, I'd say this has been an accomplishment of colossal proportions! We've had the good fortune to have recently drank 2000 Chateau Lagrange and 1998 Chateau Latour, and my wife and I both remarked about the close affinities those two wines had with this, certainly just as good as those two wines are today - if tasted blind, we may have guessed Bordeaux (and probably not 100% Cabernet Franc). Sheridan just might produce the best straight-up Cab Franc in the world. This surely has years of life ahead (due to the wealth of stuffing and tannin), but we plan to enjoy in the short term as we wait on the L'Orage's (as well as the 2014 Boss Blocks, which seem way more backward and structured in comparison). This has garnered a solid round of applause from us!
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What a difference the vintage made for this wine. 14 was seemingly flabby and spineless whereas this 2015 gem has a spine plus. Lifted mouthfeel as the ripe deliciously sexy wine coats the mouth with grip and intent. Serious cassis and violet intertwined with slight mint and forest brush. Grab a bottle if you can.
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1/9/2024 - Dine&Vine wrote: 90 Points
Spicy with saturated cherry flavors. A 30 minute decant was needed to breath life back into sleeping wine.
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5/22/2023 - curtr Likes this wine: 91 Points
Nice pairing with Lasagna.
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4/24/2023 - curtr Likes this wine: 91 Points
Medium body, holding up, drink now to 2026.
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1/29/2023 - EvanRose Likes this wine: 92 Points
Big red cherry preserves, very round mouthfeel with slight tannins, long finish. Terrific wine
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12/18/2022 - FlyPig Likes this wine: 94 Points
Drink
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9/13/2022 - GARDEN Likes this wine: 93 Points
In the prime drinking window.
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8/16/2022 - GARDEN Likes this wine: 93 Points
This is an excellent Cab Franc that appears to be in its peak drinking window.
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5/20/2022 - eszencia Likes this wine:
Far more integrated than earlier tastings. Rich, dark fruit with a slight tannic edge.
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4/4/2021 - JGinMO wrote: 92 Points
Rich, nice complexity. Still quite young.
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2/10/2021 - curtr Likes this wine: 90 Points
Deep fruit, still too tannic, nice potential, drink 2023-26. Day#2 better integrated, needs more age.
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9/6/2020 - Apollo5710 wrote: 95 Points
This is only getting better! Compared to the last two bottles, this one has seemingly gained weight, concentration, and depth of fruit. It's huge in the mouth, though perhaps not quite as nuanced (but this did not detract from the sheer pleasure that it provided). Massively concentrated at first, which prompted us to decant. I'd say it was at its best at roughly the 2 hour mark (we consumed in 6 hours or so). On the nose, notes of graphite, cocoa, and forest floor meld with super dark fruits laced with cherry, and spice added to the mix with time. Very dense and chocolatey in the mouth, and super polished and refined with no hard edges. The stature of the wine is what impresses today, an undeniable achievement in a difficult vintage (at least based on our tastes). We wish we had more!
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8/29/2020 - sean7711 Likes this wine: 93 Points
Battle of the Cab Francs
2015 Stormy Weather Wandering Star (Napa Valley)
2015 Sheridan Boss Block (WA)
Night 1
Opened about 2 hours before trying both bottles. The Wandering Star was more muted, but after a few hours was finally starting to gain some complexity. The Sheridan was more open and ready to go, as it showed more complex, nuanced, high toned fruit that stood out as compared to the Wandering Star. It definitely stood out more and therefore more enjoyable to consume.
Night 2
Will edit tonight with any noticeable changes.
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6/26/2020 - DJO1958 Likes this wine: 92 Points
Allow this wine to breath for at lest 15 minutes before drinking...
Black licorice, earth, leather and alcohol awaken the nose to entice one to drink. The mouth feel of this wine is smooth and luxuriant. The taste on the tongue and in the mouth is that of black plums, currents, and ripe dark berries. The after tase, which is very long lasting, starts with oak and switches to and remains black licorice.
This is a big and broad wine that should be coupled with beef or Italian red sauce dishes. Highly recommend. Drink now through 2025.
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6/26/2020 - DJO1958 Likes this wine: 92 Points
Black Licorice, earth, leather, and alcohol aromas excite your nose. The feel in the mouth is decadently smooth an rich. The flavors of dark plum, pepper, and current explode on your tounge and in your mouth. Upon drinking, the acids makes the wine crisp, the well structured and fine tannins provide for a long finish that starts with oak and then changes and remains licorice till the end.
Beef, or Italian are a must for this broad flavored wine. Drink now till 2025. Highly recommended.
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12/23/2019 - David Haskell Likes this wine: 91 Points
Solid Cab Franc. Buy again.
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4/28/2019 - Clark W Griswold Likes this wine: 91 Points
Double decant. Lush mouthfeel. Core of sweet red fruit. Very long drying finish. Sure to improve. Will hold my remaining 5 bottles. 2014 was much better but this is still enjoyable.
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4/22/2019 - r4Cali wrote: 89 Points
Sadly, didn't share the same overwhelming enthusiasm as others. Not a bad wine at all, but was just a little thin and linear for me. Maybe just caught it in an awkward phase. Will save my other bottle for a couple years and hopefully will be rewarded.
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4/15/2019 - Apollo5710 wrote: 94 Points
Just as good as it was last June, though a bit more open and aromatic (forest floor, leather, and with time, spice, clove, and herbs). Just as complex and lush in the mouth, if slightly softer and more accessible. I plan to hold our remaining bottle another year or two just to see what happens, but it'll be difficult!
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8/5/2018 - Millennial Drinkers wrote: 88 Points
Dark ruby red. Dark berries on the nose with some herbal notes, dark bitter cocoa and a little floral. Definitely rounded out on day two with some smoother cocoa and espresso notes. Medium to medium plus body and medium tannins (6/10). Solid acidity too. A bit of heat with some mint, dark berries, floral and some gravel. Medium plus length finish. Drink till 2022.
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6/9/2018 - Apollo5710 wrote: 94 Points
What a great showing, especially in relation to the 2015 L'Orage (which in retrospect may just need a few years to come together). This wine, though, showed spectacularly tonight! It needed about an hour in the decanter to come together, but once it did, aromas of dark fruits, almonds, spice, soy, licorice, and with additional time, anise emerged as well. Though never a huge nose, it was still quite (and increasingly) expressive throughout the evening. It was in the mouth where it shined though, bursting with a cornucopia of dark fruits, spice, and licorice encapsulated in a broad, expansive, and lush package, super textured and concentrated, and quite fatty (most likely due to the vintage). Compared to the 2013, this is larger scaled, more fruit forward and open for business, though less expressive in the earthy/ceder notes (yet just as complex).
Considering the extreme heat of the vintage, I'd say this has been an accomplishment of colossal proportions! We've had the good fortune to have recently drank 2000 Chateau Lagrange and 1998 Chateau Latour, and my wife and I both remarked about the close affinities those two wines had with this, certainly just as good as those two wines are today - if tasted blind, we may have guessed Bordeaux (and probably not 100% Cabernet Franc). Sheridan just might produce the best straight-up Cab Franc in the world. This surely has years of life ahead (due to the wealth of stuffing and tannin), but we plan to enjoy in the short term as we wait on the L'Orage's (as well as the 2014 Boss Blocks, which seem way more backward and structured in comparison). This has garnered a solid round of applause from us!
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3/27/2018 - MDV wrote: 94 Points
What a difference the vintage made for this wine.
14 was seemingly flabby and spineless whereas this 2015 gem has a spine plus.
Lifted mouthfeel as the ripe deliciously sexy wine coats the mouth with grip and intent.
Serious cassis and violet intertwined with slight mint and forest brush.
Grab a bottle if you can.
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