2013 Riverain Cabernet Sauvignon Tench Vineyard

Community Tasting Notes (34) Avg Score: 94.0 points

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  2/22/2024 - Geaux Tigers Likes this wine: 94 Points

  PnP, took 45 min to hit its stride. This bottle was a bit more restrained and elegant than the last but consistent with prior notes. Great QPR at < $100. Sadly, this was my last bottle of the ‘13. Moving on to the ‘15s.

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  1/18/2024 - sfwinelover1 Likes this wine: 97 Points

  Second of 3, a couple of years + past the prior bottle. I really don’t have much to add to my prior TN—not that that will stop me from riffing—or CT friend Geaux’s more recent TN other than to say 1) this is now pretty much singing out of the bottle, but the super complex elements—see below—come into better balance and present with more elegance with about an hour of air, 2) this is even better than the prior bottle, and while I think it’s smack dab in the middle of its drinking window, it’s incrementally more likely to get a bit better than worse in the short term, although one way or another, it should have at least 5, and maybe 10, years of excellent drinking left, and 3) Geaux’s homage to Tench is dead on, and while all I’ve had from there is this and a couple of vintages of Russell’s, the combination of blue/black fruit, red fruit, green (forest floor, herbs, pyrazines) along with exotic spice is something to behold, almost exploding out of the glass. That said, the structure keeps this sexy, as opposed to the Maybach wines, of which I’m quite fond, which tip over into sluttiness, to whatever that concept makes sense and isn’t totally offensive. This and a couple of Hartwell Estate Reserves, which I bought at auction in all cases for under $70/btl, are my greatest qpr champs. But to be clear: they’re not just great values; they’re great wines. 96-97

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  4/9/2023 - Geaux Tigers Likes this wine: 97 Points

  PnP but really hit the peak after 30 min air. Unmistakably Tench! Into its drinking window with plenty of fruit, but rounded edges and hints of secondaries. Plenty of acid to go 5+ years. Viscous but not inky, blackish purple color, faint discoloration on the edges. Perfect wine for the back nine of the ‘23 Masters.
  
  Blueberry, black cherry, black raspberry, morello cherries, red raspberry, fresh green sage and thyme, black olive, hint of green olive, cracked peppercorn, fresh black tea, hot cinnamon, moist forest floor. Grippy tannins early on, but not obfuscating the flavor menagerie.
  
  A cool blue mint aroma filled the glass and cooled the nostrils as I tried to keep my nose out of the glass.
  
  At 1hr, it lost the boisterousness and became high maintenance elegant. Much of the same, just not as much in your face. In addition, browned beef, warm brown sugar, cornmeal fried oysters (crazy huh?), more earthy notes and more tar/asphalt/touch of creosote and fruit closer to balance, enough acid to keep it interesting.
  
  I loved it on open, I really loved 30+ min. 96 on open/97 in the end.
  
  I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again—-Oh Tench, how I love thee!

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  2/24/2023 - konadog wrote: 93 Points

  Dark ink with brooding red cherry and cedar. Could maybe have used a 1-2 hour decant as tannins were still grippy at outset and mellowed over a couple of hours

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  4/4/2022 - Geaux Tigers wrote: 94 Points

  PnP and this was ready from the get go, though improved as we drank. Black with a purple/red tinge. Classic Tench profile with dark berry and dark cherry fruit, fresh cut herbs, perfume, creosote. No holes in this, beautiful up front, nice carry on the mid palate, and a 20 second finish. Still a few tannins and plenty of acid left, so this has many years left.

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