I bought this bottle while working at Wilburs Wine and Spirits in Ft Collins. I didn't have high hopes for the 2003 due to the heat of that vintage. But at the lower alcohol and being a Chappallet, they obviously took care of the grapes and the wine making process. Very, very good.
Color. Dark red. A slight touch of brick at the edge.
Nose. Chocolate, cherries, plums, anise, cedar?
Palate. Very balanced and rich. Finish lasts and lasts. Its starts with cherries and red plum skins and morphs into a cinnamon red hot with some lavender. There isn't much acidity left, but maybe there wasn't any to begin with?
If you're sitting on any bottles, pop that cork and enjoy.
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very interesting wine tasting with several bottles that I will never have the opportunity to drink again. However , this bottle of Chappellet I fortunately have another bottle of. This wine represented hand selected lots of the best grapes that Prichard Hill has to offer. Only 5 cases were produced and was sold at the "premiere Napa Auction 9". It was a great old Napa cab and was the WOTN. We also had a Carter Revilo Vineyard 2007, 92pts,(others all rated the Carter higher), a Cakebread Cellers Benchland Select 2005, 94pts, a Bedrock Weilll a Way Exposition two Syrah, 94pts, a 2006 Quilceda Creek 93pts, and a Joseph Phelps cab, 2013, 91pts. Quite a fun night.
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An Evening of Chappellet 1/25/2013 2003 Chappellet Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Signature - 90 30 mins decant drinking wonderfully still youthful amazing wine 2004 Chappellet Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Signature - 91 lush 30 mins decanted mouth coating red fruit gentle wine 2005 Chappellet Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Signature - 93 Home Run WOTN - wow fruit structure and mojo 2006 Chappellet Vineyard Mountain Cuvee - 88 Solid mellow cuvee more oak than fruit 2007 Chappellet Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Signature - 92 Outstanding - some citrus? But a long finish...great nose 2008 Chappellet Vineyard Mountain Cuvee - 90 Delightful probably right in the peak of drinking window 2008 Chappellet Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Signature 91 - Big wine, red fruit, cider, vanilla....love this wine 2010 Chappellet Vineyard Mountain Cuvee "Cervantes" 87 - Tannic needs a longer decant or cellar nap still enjoyable
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Didn't take good notes. Outstanding. Good nose - light cherry, bit of char. Great structure. Really holding up. This can go a bit longer. Smooth. Ripe red fruit with good tannins holding it together. 30 second finish. Only bottle - wish I had more.
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Beautiful. Not showing much age. Nice toasty nose with some current. Flavors are nice bright cherry and other red fruit still. Not that weighty but well balanced. Nice long finish.
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Popped and let sit in the bottle for 45 minutes. Poured a glass and took a note at hour 3. Ripe currants, some oak, graphite and menthol. Not terribly complex but pretty texture
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This has finally settled down from it's jammy self and has picked up some elegance. Fantastic nose and slightly simple mid palate but still very pleasant now.
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Opened and decanted this one for about an hour. Opened it as a New Years special, and it took a little while to mellow out. After another hour it emerged as the WOW wine of the night. Beautiful wine with currant, and berry flavors. Silky smooth. Open and let it open up I'd say at least 2 hours. Good things comes to those who wait.....
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Opened for 30~45 minutes then consumed over 2 hours. Nose is ripe currant with menthol and graphite. Taste is Ripe currant, blackberries and dusty pencil shavings. What strikes me most though are the big tannins. There is a little heat that tries to crop up but the tannins slam the alcohol back down and just dominate the finish. Definitely new world; definitely big.
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Decanted for an hour, consumed over 3. Dark color, ripe nose with hints of graphite and menthol. Ripe fruit, currant, some smokiness, and luscious tannins coat the mouth. Big, ripe and smooth would be a perfect description.
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Splashed into a decanter and poured for dinner with rib eyes. Wow! Powerful fruit yet smoothed out tannins. Everything you could ask for out of a napa valley cab. Impeccable balance and great dark red fruits with some tobacco and leather. Smooth as it gets... Wish I had more, will look for more. For a tough year, this can't be beat. What I would HOPE for with a wine that costs 4x as much.
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P&P Started out a bit funky & out of balance. Two hours later she emerges. Beautiful Cali Cab mountain fruit nose, big fruit and complex flavors begin to emerge. Takes on weight. Gravitas. This is a beautiful wine. I just keep having good experiences with this wine, regardless of vintage. Lots of earth, mushrooms, forest floor, tinge of mint. Euci. Big presence in the mouth, tannins are gaining, cutting the fruit, acid and balancing the oak, all perfect. This wine is great now with a two hour decant and can go for a long while. Day II. Nose a little subdued, just mature Cali Cab. The weight develops though, acid is still fresh bright, not spritzy, interesting with the rich fruit, oak somewhere hidden. Long beautiful finish, floats across the palates. This wine is young, can go another 10. Enjoy.
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Big curranty nose. Extremely dark. Thick chewy mouth feel - major glycerine. Initial fruit resolves into a lingering sherry aftertaste. A little hot and a little unbalanced but very good and very interesting/different. Not like a more recent vintage we had - perhaps a 2005- which was very good but more "ordinary"
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Decanted for two hours. Wow what a great wine with Christmas dinner, the #1 pick versus 2001 Beringer Napa Cab, 2002 Chateau Coucy, 2004 BV Rutherford and 2005 Silverado Cab. Great nose, full bodies with a medium to long finish. Great solid calif cab.
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Ripe showing glycerin and alcohol; lean and oaky; fruit overshadowed; smell more seductive than the taste; long, hot finsh; not balanced, but not terrible. 2003 Reynold's Family Reserve was much better.
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At a wine tasting party we did five wines with dinner: a vertical tasting of 03, 04 and 05 Chappallet Cabernet, an 04 Costers del Siurana Priorat Clos de L'Obac, and an 01 Poggio Antico Brunello di Montalcino. Each of these wines were huge hits with our guests but the Clos de L'Obac Priorat was the clear standout - the unanimous winner for all of our guests. The Poggio Antico Brunello was a clear number 2 choice, followed by the 04 Chappallet, then the 03 Chappallet and finally the 05.
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From a .375. Decanted an hour before dinner as initial sip was pretty grippy. Color was a bright, foamy purple from stem to stern. Fruits--red and black--dominate the nose.There is some char there, but it is playing hide and seek on the nose and on the tongue. A young wine with some tang. Clearly Napa with some upside.
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The wine was opened for about an hour or two prior to drinking. It showed very well, though it followed the 1989 La Mouiline, so it had an uphill battle for recognition. The Chap had a nice floral and mineral nose. Cedar, leather, dust and red fruit flavors. Very round and extraordinarily supple.
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Dark color. Full bodied wine. Nose of coffee and dark fruits. Flavors of currants and dark berries. Great mouthfeel and a long finish. This wine had lots of pop to it, and was quite enjoyable with a good steak.
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It was tasty, but the aromas and taste were not as explosive as say the 2002 vintage, which I preferred. It was definitely solid however and quite good...with aromas of cherry, and maybe the faintest hint of chocolate.... Its got a LOT of tannins at this stage so definitely eat something based on beef with some fat...or your tongue is just going to shrivel up...
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Vegetable nose upon opening bottle. Blew off after about 10 minutes. After decanting for an hour, dark chocolate, clove and nutmeg came out. Very smooth dark fruit flavors. Went well with strawberries. Put me in my happy place. Would purchase again.
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Tasted this in a blind tasting with Trefethen Double T ($15). 3 out of 4 people picked the Trefethen over the 2003 Chappellet. We are big chappellet fans, but didn't feel that the 2003 is standing up to the 2001 or 2002. Hopefully it will open up more over time.
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10/8/2022 - RichardsEric1 Likes this wine: 93 Points
I bought this bottle while working at Wilburs Wine and Spirits in Ft Collins. I didn't have high hopes for the 2003 due to the heat of that vintage. But at the lower alcohol and being a Chappallet, they obviously took care of the grapes and the wine making process. Very, very good.
Color. Dark red. A slight touch of brick at the edge.
Nose. Chocolate, cherries, plums, anise, cedar?
Palate. Very balanced and rich. Finish lasts and lasts. Its starts with cherries and red plum skins and morphs into a cinnamon red hot with some lavender. There isn't much acidity left, but maybe there wasn't any to begin with?
If you're sitting on any bottles, pop that cork and enjoy.
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7/17/2017 - michigan dogs Likes this wine: 95 Points
very interesting wine tasting with several bottles that I will never have the opportunity to drink again. However , this bottle of Chappellet I fortunately have another bottle of. This wine represented hand selected lots of the best grapes that Prichard Hill has to offer. Only 5 cases were produced and was sold at the "premiere Napa Auction 9". It was a great old Napa cab and was the WOTN. We also had a Carter Revilo Vineyard 2007, 92pts,(others all rated the Carter higher), a Cakebread Cellers Benchland Select 2005, 94pts, a Bedrock Weilll a Way Exposition two Syrah, 94pts, a 2006 Quilceda Creek 93pts, and a Joseph Phelps cab, 2013, 91pts. Quite a fun night.
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1/15/2017 - Jkut04 Likes this wine: 93 Points
Excellent , balanced, mature
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1/15/2017 - Jkut04 Likes this wine: 93 Points
Fully mature, balanced with hint of berry at finish.
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12/25/2016 - woof wrote: 91 Points
Nice nose, smooth, is aging well.
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8/6/2016 - Cdouble Likes this wine: 91 Points
Was afraid it might be past its prime but it certainly was not! Flavorful and soft on the palate!
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3/21/2015 - liquorice Likes this wine: 91 Points
Slightly minty, milk chocolate, sweet tannins. Gentle finish. Very drinkable now.
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12/29/2014 - tubeman Likes this wine: 90 Points
Drinking very well. Still some fruit left.
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4/27/2013 - tplskylrk wrote:
Delicious. Lost all the chemical oak thing I dislike in newer younger Chapp's. Just beautiful fruit.
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1/25/2013 - redman77 wrote: 90 Points
An Evening of Chappellet 1/25/2013
2003 Chappellet Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Signature - 90 30 mins decant drinking wonderfully still youthful amazing wine
2004 Chappellet Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Signature - 91 lush 30 mins decanted mouth coating red fruit gentle wine
2005 Chappellet Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Signature - 93 Home Run WOTN - wow fruit structure and mojo
2006 Chappellet Vineyard Mountain Cuvee - 88 Solid mellow cuvee more oak than fruit
2007 Chappellet Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Signature - 92 Outstanding - some citrus? But a long finish...great nose
2008 Chappellet Vineyard Mountain Cuvee - 90 Delightful probably right in the peak of drinking window
2008 Chappellet Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon Signature 91 - Big wine, red fruit, cider, vanilla....love this wine
2010 Chappellet Vineyard Mountain Cuvee "Cervantes" 87 - Tannic needs a longer decant or cellar nap still enjoyable
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10/29/2012 - Zingrrl Likes this wine: 92 Points
Didn't take good notes. Outstanding. Good nose - light cherry, bit of char. Great structure. Really holding up. This can go a bit longer. Smooth. Ripe red fruit with good tannins holding it together. 30 second finish. Only bottle - wish I had more.
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6/3/2012 - AlexHop wrote: 92 Points
Beautiful. Not showing much age. Nice toasty nose with some current. Flavors are nice bright cherry and other red fruit still. Not that weighty but well balanced. Nice long finish.
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4/23/2012 - KenYz Likes this wine: 92 Points
Decanted for 1 hr. Delicious!
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10/11/2011 - Bellissimo wrote:
Popped and let sit in the bottle for 45 minutes. Poured a glass and took a note at hour 3. Ripe currants, some oak, graphite and menthol. Not terribly complex but pretty texture
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6/12/2011 - Outplaying wrote:
Chappellet Vertical 2000-2008 (The Twelves, West Grove PA): Dark black and blue fruits. A step up in the fruit level from the first flight. Slightly riper than those in the first flight. Some coffee. Slight heat.
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4/30/2011 - FPNova wrote: 92 Points
Black currant, blueberry, blackberry & floral aromas. Blueberry, coco, chocolate & vanilla. Nice long finish with still a little oak tannins.
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3/27/2011 - bwillia wrote: 89 Points
This has finally settled down from it's jammy self and has picked up some elegance. Fantastic nose and slightly simple mid palate but still very pleasant now.
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2/10/2011 - jnastynebr wrote: 88 Points
Fairly forward with red fruits and berries. Medium finish
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12/31/2010 - bradc2112 wrote: 91 Points
Opened and decanted this one for about an hour. Opened it as a New Years special, and it took a little while to mellow out. After another hour it emerged as the WOW wine of the night. Beautiful wine with currant, and berry flavors. Silky smooth. Open and let it open up I'd say at least 2 hours. Good things comes to those who wait.....
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12/30/2010 - Bellissimo wrote:
Opened for 30~45 minutes then consumed over 2 hours. Nose is ripe currant with menthol and graphite. Taste is Ripe currant, blackberries and dusty pencil shavings. What strikes me most though are the big tannins. There is a little heat that tries to crop up but the tannins slam the alcohol back down and just dominate the finish. Definitely new world; definitely big.
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11/20/2010 - Bellissimo wrote:
Decanted for an hour, consumed over 3. Dark color, ripe nose with hints of graphite and menthol. Ripe fruit, currant, some smokiness, and luscious tannins coat the mouth. Big, ripe and smooth would be a perfect description.
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10/11/2010 - miller3324 wrote: 95 Points
Splashed into a decanter and poured for dinner with rib eyes. Wow! Powerful fruit yet smoothed out tannins. Everything you could ask for out of a napa valley cab. Impeccable balance and great dark red fruits with some tobacco and leather. Smooth as it gets... Wish I had more, will look for more. For a tough year, this can't be beat. What I would HOPE for with a wine that costs 4x as much.
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9/25/2010 - Fishboy wrote: 91 Points
A great cab that got better on day two.
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9/22/2010 - tplskylrk wrote: 92 Points
P&P Started out a bit funky & out of balance. Two hours later she emerges. Beautiful Cali Cab mountain fruit nose, big fruit and complex flavors begin to emerge. Takes on weight. Gravitas. This is a beautiful wine. I just keep having good experiences with this wine, regardless of vintage. Lots of earth, mushrooms, forest floor, tinge of mint. Euci. Big presence in the mouth, tannins are gaining, cutting the fruit, acid and balancing the oak, all perfect. This wine is great now with a two hour decant and can go for a long while. Day II. Nose a little subdued, just mature Cali Cab. The weight develops though, acid is still fresh bright, not spritzy, interesting with the rich fruit, oak somewhere hidden. Long beautiful finish, floats across the palates. This wine is young, can go another 10. Enjoy.
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8/22/2010 - rpfarwell wrote: 92 Points
Big curranty nose. Extremely dark. Thick chewy mouth feel - major glycerine. Initial fruit resolves into a lingering sherry aftertaste. A little hot and a little unbalanced but very good and very interesting/different. Not like a more recent vintage we had - perhaps a 2005- which was very good but more "ordinary"
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6/26/2010 - EricBe wrote: 92 Points
Was great the first day and help up overnight.
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6/4/2010 - team-blackburn wrote: 92 Points
Very nice balance
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5/31/2010 - cowtownguy wrote: 92 Points
Decanted one hour plus. Met expectations. Smooth, drinking perfectly.
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5/7/2010 - normg wrote: 91 Points
Drank at Pranzo - excellent - Mayo liked a lot
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12/25/2009 - redman77 wrote: 90 Points
Decanted for two hours. Wow what a great wine with Christmas dinner, the #1 pick versus 2001 Beringer Napa Cab, 2002 Chateau Coucy, 2004 BV Rutherford and 2005 Silverado Cab. Great nose, full bodies with a medium to long finish. Great solid calif cab.
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11/28/2009 - islayman wrote: 92 Points
Decanted for an hour. Drinking very well. Full of fruit, kind of jammy. Good mouth feel. Tanins have subsided. Nice hints of cherry and chocolate.
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11/15/2009 - redman77 wrote: 83 Points
I am praying for bottle variation issues.
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10/6/2009 - winejnky wrote: 85 Points
Ripe showing glycerin and alcohol; lean and oaky; fruit overshadowed; smell more seductive than the taste; long, hot finsh; not balanced, but not terrible. 2003 Reynold's Family Reserve was much better.
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9/12/2009 - billschrader wrote: 95 Points
Very balanced. excellent food wine. Got great reviews from all in attendance.
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5/23/2009 - Fishboy wrote: 89 Points
Well balanced with ripe fruit and vanilla bean notes.
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5/2/2009 - FPNova wrote: 89 Points
At a wine tasting party we did five wines with dinner: a vertical tasting of 03, 04 and 05 Chappallet Cabernet, an 04 Costers del Siurana Priorat Clos de L'Obac, and an 01 Poggio Antico Brunello di Montalcino. Each of these wines were huge hits with our guests but the Clos de L'Obac Priorat was the clear standout - the unanimous winner for all of our guests. The Poggio Antico Brunello was a clear number 2 choice, followed by the 04 Chappallet, then the 03 Chappallet and finally the 05.
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4/16/2008 - Rangstrom wrote: 90 Points
From a .375. Decanted an hour before dinner as initial sip was pretty grippy. Color was a bright, foamy purple from stem to stern. Fruits--red and black--dominate the nose.There is some char there, but it is playing hide and seek on the nose and on the tongue. A young wine with some tang. Clearly Napa with some upside.
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10/7/2006 - AZ Wine Lover wrote: 94 Points
Excellen...it is Chappellet...need I say more! Does not need any type of food!
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9/11/2006 - tmac77 wrote: 92 Points
Young but still wonderful
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8/27/2006 - dwhsieh wrote: 91 Points
quite good but give it a little time. better with some under air under it.
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7/22/2006 - Old_Winyards wrote: 92 Points
The wine was opened for about an hour or two prior to drinking. It showed very well, though it followed the 1989 La Mouiline, so it had an uphill battle for recognition. The Chap had a nice floral and mineral nose. Cedar, leather, dust and red fruit flavors. Very round and extraordinarily supple.
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7/3/2006 - last chance wrote: 91 Points
Dark color. Full bodied wine. Nose of coffee and dark fruits. Flavors of currants and dark berries. Great mouthfeel and a long finish. This wine had lots of pop to it, and was quite enjoyable with a good steak.
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6/28/2006 - ivsimler wrote: 87 Points
It was tasty, but the aromas and taste were not as explosive as say the 2002 vintage, which I preferred. It was definitely solid however and quite good...with aromas of cherry, and maybe the faintest hint of chocolate.... Its got a LOT of tannins at this stage so definitely eat something based on beef with some fat...or your tongue is just going to shrivel up...
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6/25/2006 - mreinitz wrote: 90 Points
Drank at our campsite in Olympic National Park. Dark purple, very tasty once the tannins blow off.
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6/24/2006 - last chance wrote: 92 Points
Vegetable nose upon opening bottle. Blew off after about 10 minutes. After decanting for an hour, dark chocolate, clove and nutmeg came out. Very smooth dark fruit flavors. Went well with strawberries. Put me in my happy place. Would purchase again.
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3/8/2006 - rvalicenti wrote: 89 Points
Dark purple color. Currant and vanilla mocha nose and taste.
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11/26/2005 - jcanyon wrote: 87 Points
Tasted this in a blind tasting with Trefethen Double T ($15). 3 out of 4 people picked the Trefethen over the 2003 Chappellet. We are big chappellet fans, but didn't feel that the 2003 is standing up to the 2001 or 2002. Hopefully it will open up more over time.
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10/28/2005 - EricBe wrote: 91 Points
Still young, but already drinking wonderfully. Give it some more time in the bottle.
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