Our groups last night at Blackberry Farms was capped off by two wines in which I had been thinking about for awhile.
19 Kinsman wines I've been told are approachable early so this bottle made the trip to Tennessee. So well in advance of dinner, Rhadamanthus was prepared by the sommeliers with a double splash decant and held at cellar temp along side the 2nd largest private collection in the country.
Rhadamanthus was presented along side another selection, this time off the restaurants list. 2001 Martha's Vineyard.
I got to say I have a love hate relationship with Napa. I love to taste them now but only like to drink them with significant age. I'm fortunate enough to have these in the cellar but "god willing" I'll drink these in a window with secondary and tertiary flavors. Nigel's wines have some of the most compelling fruit from the best terroirs in the Valley. The balance, structure and energy are all there to reward those with the cellar space to store these for the long haul.
As a side note, even the 2001 Martha's was young. In fact AG's recent 2022 review marks the drinking window as 2021-2041 and I totally agree.
Decanted for about 4 hours before pouring back in the bottle to serve.
Long story short, Napa simply doesn't get any better than this. Rhad is my 'last meal' wine and is everything I look for in a red wine. I normally hate the word hedonistic when describing wine, but there's simply no better way to characterize this bottle. I savored every sip and it continued to get better in the glass over the 2 hours we drank this. Tons of blue fruit, graphite, plush tannins, and a wonderful dance between structure, depth, acid, and fruit. Nobody manages tannins better than Nigel, and it's what puts this bottle completely over the top.
I hesitated opening this, as it's bordering on infanticide, but with sufficient air, this was singing and I don't regret it one bit! I managed to come across a few additional bottles, so couldn't resist checking in on this, but will tuck my remaining stash far back into the cellar and out of arms reach for the next few years.
Professional reviews have copyrights and you can view them here for your personal use only as private content. To view pro reviews you must either subscribe to a pre-integrated publication or manually enter reviews below. Learn more.
3/6/2024 - Bakerbd Likes this wine: 95 Points
Decanted for 5 hrs. Violets, cassis, cigar box, very fine tannin, powerful, long
5 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
1/23/2024 - RMundell Likes this wine: 98 Points
6 hr decant. Drinking very good.
4 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
11/23/2023 - rrasmuss wrote: 99 Points
Mint, cassis and blue fruit.
Opened for 5 hours prior to drinking. As good as Napa gets. Aside from Harlan and Macdonald not sure there is better in Napa.
6 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
11/4/2023 - MJP Hou TX Likes this wine: 98 Points
Our groups last night at Blackberry Farms was capped off by two wines in which I had been thinking about for awhile.
19 Kinsman wines I've been told are approachable early so this bottle made the trip to Tennessee. So well in advance of dinner, Rhadamanthus was prepared by the sommeliers with a double splash decant and held at cellar temp along side the 2nd largest private collection in the country.
Rhadamanthus was presented along side another selection, this time off the restaurants list. 2001 Martha's Vineyard.
I got to say I have a love hate relationship with Napa. I love to taste them now but only like to drink them with significant age. I'm fortunate enough to have these in the cellar but "god willing" I'll drink these in a window with secondary and tertiary flavors. Nigel's wines have some of the most compelling fruit from the best terroirs in the Valley. The balance, structure and energy are all there to reward those with the cellar space to store these for the long haul.
As a side note, even the 2001 Martha's was young. In fact AG's recent 2022 review marks the drinking window as 2021-2041 and I totally agree.
98+
19 Bedrock Cuvee Karatas
19 Kinsman Eades Rhadamanthus
01 Heitz Martha’s Vineyard
21 Sadie Family Kokerboom
6 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comments (12)
10/21/2023 - tyfabes Likes this wine: 99 Points
Decanted for about 4 hours before pouring back in the bottle to serve.
Long story short, Napa simply doesn't get any better than this. Rhad is my 'last meal' wine and is everything I look for in a red wine. I normally hate the word hedonistic when describing wine, but there's simply no better way to characterize this bottle. I savored every sip and it continued to get better in the glass over the 2 hours we drank this. Tons of blue fruit, graphite, plush tannins, and a wonderful dance between structure, depth, acid, and fruit. Nobody manages tannins better than Nigel, and it's what puts this bottle completely over the top.
I hesitated opening this, as it's bordering on infanticide, but with sufficient air, this was singing and I don't regret it one bit! I managed to come across a few additional bottles, so couldn't resist checking in on this, but will tuck my remaining stash far back into the cellar and out of arms reach for the next few years.
7 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comments (15)