sfwinelover1
Member #630,647 signed up 1/14/2019
This Member Is a Fan(42)
1 to 3 of 42
-
cab blends
3,338 Tasting Notes
-
Decanting Queen
1,953 Tasting Notes
-
Nikielizabeth
5 Tasting Notes
Fans(157)
1 to 3 of 157
-
Travis Bickel
0 Tasting Notes
-
pren
1,124 Tasting Notes
-
The Drunken Cycli…
7,651 Tasting Notes
Friends(60)
1 to 3 of 60
-
essenceofreal
198 Tasting Notes
-
umndgrad
4 Tasting Notes
-
MN Wine Junkie
141 Tasting Notes
Profile
Member since January 2019
This member's profile is not public.
2006 Hidden Ridge Cabernet Sauvignon 55% slope
4/16/2024 - sfwinelover1 Likes this wine: 94 Points
Brought to our lunch at Rutherford Grill (TY, TY, TY, MN) by Kelsey along with a ‘19 IEIM) and PnP’d. Deep purple, lush, plush and almost creamy with a great nose of dark mountain berry-tilting fruit, this was an unapologetically delicious wine with powerful notes of forest floor, menthol and judicious amounts of vanilla and oak. These were my first 2 wines from this producer, and they couldn’t have been more different, and while age was certainly a part of that, it’s hard to imagine that, even in its youth, this wine had anything like the tannic backbone of the ‘19 IE. Acidity and tannins are minimal here, and what is here is totally integrated, so the wine is supple to the point of almost softness; a bit more structure could have added a point plus. And while this and the IE were really the only wines we had with substantial food, the food choice was completely inappropriate (a seared tuna salad), so I can’t evaluate it as a pairing wine, but the noted softness makes me think it likely best now as a cocktail wine. Really nice, and a pleasure to drink something with age amidst all of the youngsters. Drink now-soon. 94+
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment
2019 Harlan Estate
4/16/2024 - sfwinelover1 Likes this wine: 99 Points
We moved into the Library, a stunning room with the feel of being suspended above earth (as I commented to Krista, Harlan’s wines give the impression of ethereality) after the barrel taste in the Cave. Krista said that this had an hour of air in the decanter, but it still came pretty tight and dark, almost opaquely black, fairly closed aromatics, with dark berries, dark florals, cassis, tobacco, dark chocolate, black currants, dark earth, rocky minerality and a long, intense, gravelly finish. We sipped this over 20-30 minutes, and I don’t think I’ve ever had another wine where each sip seemed to show more openness and new notes to the extent this did; it was thrilling! Even at that point, for me, it didn’t quite to the point of perfection, not only of the BO ‘21, but perhaps more so, of where this will go with time (5 years? 10 years? 20? Idk) or even prodigious amounts of air now. I’m not going to get into abstract debates about appropriate amounts to spend for a bottle of wine, but for those who’ve read my TNs, it won’t be a shocker that even this level of quality wasn’t nearly temptation enough for me to sign up for the Harlan list. But if someone forgets to bid on one of their wines at auction, who knows, and in the interim, I’m so appreciative to have a friend like MN who shares his bottles. 99++
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
2015 BOND Quella
4/15/2024 - sfwinelover1 Likes this wine: 96 Points
The one “older” (I say this as someone who, for the most part, is just beginning to drink his ‘13s) wine opened for us by Lucy. This was dark, dark, dark, with gothic tannins joined by black currants, black plums, dark earth, leather with end notes of hot bricks and asphalt. Already great persistence and intensity and VG+ complexity, this wine has a dense, and dare I say, slightly forbidding feel. I’m now forgetting how much air this received prior to our tasting, but for my palate, it clearly needed more, or better still, 5+ years more of bottle age. Don’t rush to drink this, as it may outlast the arctic ice caps. While, like almost all of these wines, we drank with minimal to no food (the Hidden Ridge and Immortal Estate were the exceptions for the tastings, and then the Morlet CdC with the sushi), I think that, if were one to disregard my advice, as many often do, in the world of wine and otherwise, it’w far more of a food than cocktail wine at present. Within the family, the heavy, brooding quality at present is interesting to contemplate as it’s so much at variance with the Prom of the same vintage I was fortunate to drink a year and a half ago. More generally, it would be interesting to do a retaste of all of these wines in the future, as at present, they were well below the Proms and Harlans I’ve had (though, I hasten to add, less expensive, even if *far* from cheap, or even affordable, for that matter).
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment