Community Tasting Notes (24) Avg Score: 96.4 points

  • 2 hr decant. Deep purple in the glass, appeared almost thick as I swirled it. Blackberry aromas with some anise. On the palate, I got lots of blackberry, currant and black cherry, just mouth filling and super smooth. A big wine to be sure. I didn't notice the tannin that others seemed to taste. To me they were pretty soft. Big long black cherry finish. Really spectacular. I had opened a Carter To Kalon 2016 back in 2019, and found it to be jammy and pretty syrupy, just all over the place. I'm glad I gave this one another 4 years, seemed to do it justice. Best cab I had this year.

    1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment

  • After one hour in the decanter this wine came together with a Massive dark fruit and tons of tannin. Very big and bold, great wine with good finish.

    1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment

  • Two hour decant. Deep, rich, powerful fruit driven wine. Grainy tannin gave way to a soft and elegant texture after another hour. Black currants, dark red cherries, spice, cassis. 30 second finish.

    1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment

  • Tasting beautifully right now still lots of fruit and the complexity is off the charts. Time has done this wine well, smoothing out the rough edges. This, like most Carter wines are huge at release and I believe this is a good proof point that time really brings Carter wines to life

    2 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment

  • Very rich and dense with teeth staining tannins. Very juicy upfront fruit. Blue and black fruit, anise, spice aromas. Very good now with a 2 hour decant but this is really going to get better with more time.

    1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment

  • Intense flavours. Opeque purple concentrated juice. it kept dancing with us for 3 full hours. But started to lose its weight afterwards and didn't show much of secondary notes.
    This is a true definition of a solid napa cab. Definitely a one to keep!

    Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment

  • Big rich jammy fruit. Very hedonistic and borders too over the top, but there is enough acidity to balance. Amazing purity of fruit

    Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment

  • Pure cassis/blackberry and deep red fruit, powerfully delivered in a structured package of smooth tannins and good tension that is in a great place right now. It needs two hours for the initial sweetness and hot finish to dissipate, and then it starts bringing on the charms.

    As a point of reference in time for this wine's developmental arc, the initial sweetness/jam is far below, for instance, a 2017 Maybach Materium -- this Three Kings is downright elegant in that comparison! The initial sweetness is more on the level of a 2016 Bevan Ontogeny, but the fruit pureness and precision blows both comparisons away... and I like both of those wines!

    I sit here contemplating this wine and wonder why couldn't (ya, more like wouldn't) Mondavi make a wine like this from their To Kalon Estate? Mark Carter cares more is the major answer I get. That, and they didn't hire Mike Smith as winemaker. But it starts with Carter, another in a string of reasons I'm planning to get down to Justins' House of Bourbon in Kentucky to find out how much Mark Carter cares about his Old Carter Whiskey, too.

    6 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comments (3)

  • MSUWINE captured my thoughts perfectly.

    That said...
    I will be even more critical, Three Kings is simply not food friendly-which is very important to us and simply overpowers everything you pair this with. At this stage, this is a wine you have one glass after dinner like a Port or Sauternes.
    I am having second thoughts about further purchases of these wines and will reserve scoring and judgment for at least another 3 and possibly 5 years, which at such time perhaps these wines will shed some fat and intensity.

    1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment

  • A wow wine if there ever was one. Splash decant and quickly polished off the bottle with my girlfriend. I'm slowly getting her into wine, and she was floored by this wine (and this came after a 2018 DICO and 2016 VV Napa).

    It was gobsmacking good, just mocha all over, creme de cassis, dark red fruit profile. The purity of the fruit was off the chart. I'd love to get my hands on another bottle of this. Maybe Mark1npt can lend me one!

    3 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comments (3)

  • Might very well be the most put together wine of the evening for me, personally. Plenty of power here...decanted for an hour while we drank and ate our early apps/salads......lots of great cab bits, all integrated and all very smooth. I can't imagine this drinking any better than it does right now, all things considered. Much like the '16 Weitz of the other night, this has really smoothed out in the last year or so and really come together rather seamlessly.....it disappeared quickly at tableside with Jaime and Melissa and of course, Caol Ann.........

    3 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comments (2)

  • Great wine....brought to the table by HMC.....rich, extracted, dark red fruit. Good balance of acid and tannins. This is very good now but could also go many years more, without question. Maybe 2nd WOTN to me.

    Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment

  • Double decant and consumed over 6 hours in glass. Packed on deeper fruit, depth, and became beautifully balanced over the evening. A terrific wine.

    1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment

  • Fellow Carter wine lovers, do yourself a big favor and don't have a 2016 vintage wine next to 2017 - it will not be good for the latter. I had a rather mediocre (at best) experience with a 17 OG the past couple days, and now this is just blowing its doors off.

    The violets, creme de cassis, asian spices and blackberries jump from the glass with awesome aromatics. While not quite showing the depth and structure of the 16 OG, this is still absolutely loaded with flavor intensity. Wonderful sweet and fine grained but powerful tannins surround opulent blue and red fruit, filling the palate with extraordinary concentration backed by spicy and earth driven elements. Huge but still fresh, it shows full bodied and powerful all the way to a really long and lasting finish. Great vintage for this wine.

    3 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comments (5)

  • I am not a patient person, but this wine requires patience. It is ridiculously dense, ripe, and intense, like someone packed 20 jars of strawberry jam into one jar and said, "here, have a spoonful." Still, even after following this over five hours, I never thought it shed the sugariness. To me, it remained like some form of fruit extract - so much power, but just not ready yet.

    Dark red in color and full in body, the wine offers aromas of blackberry liqueur, red licorice, cherry pie, and gravel. Tastes of boysenberry syrup, milk chocolate, and toasted almonds - almost like a Baby Ruth candy bar (really: nuts, chocolate, caramel - it's all there). The finish reminded me of a Sauterne, where there is acidity and tension - but oh so much sugar. 14.9% alcohol.

    I hate to be the skunk at the CT party - especially among people whose opinions I greatly respect - but I couldn't fall in love with this wine in its present state.The 2016 La Bam came around for me a few months ago, but this seemed a lot like the Weitz - top-heavy, but with potential. Maybe I caught this at a funny stage of development; maybe I'm developing an animus towards flavor in my old age; or maybe the early brilliance of the 2015 Carters ruined me forever. Almost certainly, though, this just needs time (at least for me!). I'll look forward to checking in on this in 2020 or later. 93-94 for now.

    1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comments (3)

  • Lovely focus and purity of fruit, this 2016 Three Kings is a knockout. Dark berries, ripe dark cherry fruit, cream de cassis with a smooth elegance in style, yet live intensity and flavors on the palate - l don’t know how they do it, but this is some amazing juice and it’s so approachable now. This wine will benefit greatly with some time in the cellar, it’s certain to develop greater character, and nuance. I don’t know how long my Carter stash is going to last, they’re so good right now.

    2 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment

  • Carter 2016 vintage lineup - reboot: Previous notes apply. Power and flavor all wrapped into one big hunk of spicy sexiness. A true athlete on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition (but like a for-real athlete...not just a poser model arching her back as if she just scored playing ultimate frisbee with her Gamma Gamma Gamma sorority sisters at a community college tournament). The Kings is Olympic-bound all day long.

    A fantastic effort and my favorite Three Kings to date.

    2 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comments (4)

  • Leading with gorgeous baking spice notes and a solid push of black, super dark red, and some purple core fruit flavors, this Three Kings was a healthy glass of youthful flavor fun, with just the right amount of seriousness to hold it all together. It manages to display a degree of sophistication along with some of that party rockin’ sexiness that seems to be fairly indicative of a number of the young 2016s I’ve been having lately. A sweet kiss of dark cassis rounds out the finish, with the spice notes continuing with their steady cascade of palate pleasure. The fruit here becomes increasingly lavish with air. Previous notes apply otherwise.

    1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment

  • The nose is rich, ripe, round with a gummy fruit quality. Dark currants and cassis. Ripe & lush fruits of; blackberries, dark cherries, black raspberries, strawberries, black plum, ollieberries, soft well layered baking spices, vanilla, cinnamon, clove, sweet, dark spice, mixed berry cola, crush dry rock powder, dark rich soils, bay leaf/dry herbs and dark fresh dark floral bouquet.

    The body is full but so soft and elegant and glides so beautifully over the palate. Ripe, blackberries, dark cherries, black raspberries, strawberries, black plum, ollieberries, soft well layered baking spices, vanilla, cinnamon, clove, sweet, dark spice, mixed berry cola, crush dry rock powder, dark rich soils, bay leaf/dry herbs and dark fresh dark floral bouquet. The acidity is excellent. The structure, tension, length are really harmonious so young. The finish is so well balanced, elegant, rich ripe and goes on & on.

    Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment

  • Carter: Jesus H. Christ on a rollercoaster! Strap in boys and girls, because this Three Kings is a “Wow!” wine if there ever was one. Huge, huge fruit. Red and black cherry, rich cassis, licorice, and a fat slap of rocket fuel.

    This displayed a little more of a Chernobyl effect this time around, with some booze on the back end that initially almost took my face off. Not to worry friends...some swirling and aeration blew off the hooch, leaving the consumer with a bombastic BTK that kicked out power without ever overdoing it (once it was allowed to breathe a bit). Of the BTKs, the Kings was the most strapping and athletic. I love it. It harkens back to some of the earlier days where huge cult Cabs started to really burst from the TK site. This version still has refinement, overshadowed only by the OG, which had a perfect focus and more sophisticated scaffolding.

    97-98 points for the Kings. Probably my favorite vintage of 3K to date. Hold for another two years.

    1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment

  • Carter Tasting - 2016 Vintage (Envy Wines): Wow, do I love this wine. At this stage, it is easily the best 3K's I have ever had. Wonderful nose of creme de cassis, black licorice, blueberry pie and black cherry. There is just a ton gorgeous concentrated fruit, with massive depth of flavor that is backed by nice structure and great complexity. It is forward and overwhelms the senses with waves of pure hedonistic flavor. I also felt this showed a lot more complexity than the GD, which set it apart. Not quite on the level of the OG, but just an outstanding wine. I almost feel like 98 is underselling it.

    2 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment

  • Somewhat similar profile as the 2016 Carter Grand Daddy with dark red and black fruit - blackberry, dark currants, dark cherry, and a little blueberry. However, a little more fruit forward and richer than the Grand Daddy. Really smooth coupled with a nice purity but also like the 2016 Carter Grand Daddy I expected a little bigger/fuller fruit in consideration of my experience with previous vintages. Really nice vibrant flavors of dark berries and some spice. Decent finish but not overly long nor deep - it needs a little more time for the fruit to open-up. Enjoyable and approachable at this stage, however, once again I believe the 2016 Carter cabs ideally need at least another six to twelve months for the fruit to fill-out and open-up some more.

    3 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment

  • Carter 2016 vintage lineup: This may be the best Three Kings I’ve had to date. A step up from 2015, and a worthy competitor to my usual favorite, the OG. This Kings was all about a perfect combination of sexy flavor and formidable structure. Not as structure-driven as the OG, but certainly a massive wine with a huge body. Intense, full, deep, and complex, the Kings caught me a little off guard with its unctuous black and dark red core fruit, black licorice, black soil, cassis, and subtle spice notes.

    The mid-palate on this wine is unreal, as is the intense drive. I think this may compete with a few of the others in the Carter lineup for a perfect score. This was just a slight tick behind the OG and GTO. If it can maintain its intensity and complexity over time, this will inch its way up even further in status as it integrates.

    Drinking great now, but holding another 12-18+ months in-bottle is probably most prudent. 98++ points.

    4 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment

  • Another exquisite wine in the 2016 Carter Cellars lineup . 95-97 Points for now.

    Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment

What Do You Think? Add a Tasting Note

×
×