Very dark red color. PNP, drank a couple glasses over 2.5 hours. There's an enticing perfume immediately with a mix of sandalwood, leather, cassis, cigar box and leather, peat and sweet lead pencil. The palate is sublime, with a harmonious feel to the tangy cassis, wild black raspberry, dried earth and absolutely wonderful spices and white pepper. There's a hint of menthol, subtle green pepper and wood that goes layers into the pencil and leather notes. The last of five wonderful bottles. A fitting way to bid adieu to a long standing old friend with many, many years ahead. 94+ to 95pts.
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12L format, opened on Thursday 12/30/21, when the 12 of us managed to put a serious dent in the bottle (roughly 45% finished). We revisited on Friday and Saturday, and I took the remaining ~25% home tonight, where I decanted into a magnum, 750, and two glasses for the wife and I. As you might imagine, this was extremely youthful in this format, and held up with hardly any noticeable decline over 3+ days. Some mint and spice on the nose, with beautiful cassis and plum fruit, a smooth midpalate and chewy but smooth tannins on the back end. While clearly a California cab, it tends toward a more restrained style, and the oak was unobtrusive and became better integrated with air and time. A real treat to try this in this format.
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Deep, dark opaque garnet in the glass, 2 hours of air reveals graphite on the nose with strong dark fruit on the palate. Great depth to the fruit. Great tobacco flavor on the palate. Amazing how this doesn't drink like a 19 yo bottle! Plenty of life left in this one given the remaining acidity and tannic structure. Initially gave this a 94 but with another hour of air the finishing acidity and fruit brings it up another point for me.
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Jen-a-palooza with Paul, Mark and Carol; 10/22/2021-10/24/2021 (Atlanta): Drinking beautifully right now, a perfect aged napa cab. This is 1.5 better than the Venge today but also has a lot more life ahead. Expressive nose of cassis, darker fruits, some vanilla and oak, sous bois, graphite mineral ling finish. A bit of an acid zing which mellows out after a few hours. Dark and youthful in color. Thank you for sharing this one Mark! Can’t wait until our 97’s arrive
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11/11/2023 - jwebtx wrote:
It's time or somewhere in the 4th Q. An excellent pairing with the NYT's mustard/cognac stew.
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9/22/2023 - rocknroller wrote: 95 Points
Very dark red color. PNP, drank a couple glasses over 2.5 hours. There's an enticing perfume immediately with a mix of sandalwood, leather, cassis, cigar box and leather, peat and sweet lead pencil. The palate is sublime, with a harmonious feel to the tangy cassis, wild black raspberry, dried earth and absolutely wonderful spices and white pepper. There's a hint of menthol, subtle green pepper and wood that goes layers into the pencil and leather notes. The last of five wonderful bottles. A fitting way to bid adieu to a long standing old friend with many, many years ahead. 94+ to 95pts.
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1/2/2022 - GrapeScott wrote: 93 Points
12L format, opened on Thursday 12/30/21, when the 12 of us managed to put a serious dent in the bottle (roughly 45% finished). We revisited on Friday and Saturday, and I took the remaining ~25% home tonight, where I decanted into a magnum, 750, and two glasses for the wife and I. As you might imagine, this was extremely youthful in this format, and held up with hardly any noticeable decline over 3+ days. Some mint and spice on the nose, with beautiful cassis and plum fruit, a smooth midpalate and chewy but smooth tannins on the back end. While clearly a California cab, it tends toward a more restrained style, and the oak was unobtrusive and became better integrated with air and time. A real treat to try this in this format.
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10/23/2021 - Mark1npt Likes this wine: 95 Points
Deep, dark opaque garnet in the glass, 2 hours of air reveals graphite on the nose with strong dark fruit on the palate. Great depth to the fruit. Great tobacco flavor on the palate. Amazing how this doesn't drink like a 19 yo bottle! Plenty of life left in this one given the remaining acidity and tannic structure. Initially gave this a 94 but with another hour of air the finishing acidity and fruit brings it up another point for me.
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10/23/2021 - Decanting Queen Likes this wine: 93 Points
Jen-a-palooza with Paul, Mark and Carol; 10/22/2021-10/24/2021 (Atlanta): Drinking beautifully right now, a perfect aged napa cab. This is 1.5 better than the Venge today but also has a lot more life ahead. Expressive nose of cassis, darker fruits, some vanilla and oak, sous bois, graphite mineral ling finish. A bit of an acid zing which mellows out after a few hours. Dark and youthful in color. Thank you for sharing this one Mark! Can’t wait until our 97’s arrive
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