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| Drinking Windows and Values |
| Community Tasting History |
| Community Tasting Notes (average 95.3 pts. and median of 95 pts. in 7 notes) - hiding notes with no text | | | Tasted by msuwine on 1/14/2022 & rated 92 points: The 2013 vintage in Napa sometimes reminds me of that old folk song, “She’ll be coming around the mountain when she comes.” Despite its many verses, the song never describes the moment when she actually, you know, comes around the mountain, a circular futility that honors the song’s origins (originally describing the second coming, which - whatever your belief system - is still TBD). In vinous terms, the critics rain acclaim on the 2013 vintage, and some wines were open for business early. For others, though, we’re nine years in and still waiting for Godot.
This is the latter kind of wine. Dark purple in color and medium in body, the wine carries intriguing but cool aromas of blackberry, baking chocolate, graphite, and thyme. The flavors are still coiled and grumpy (as if to yell “get off my lawn”), with notes of blueberry skin, espresso, peppercorn, and volcanic rock, followed by a dark and peppery finish (think Turkish coffee). 14.5% alcohol. I decanted three hours, which only softened the dense wine around the edges. Wait until 2025 and, in the meantime, keep a lookout for those six white horses. (4679 views) | | | Tasted by dcwino on 9/29/2021 & rated 97 points: Napa and Bordeaux gathering (Clarity - Vienna, Virginia): Explosive cult cab nose displaying concentrated opulent black fruit, cremes de cassis, blackberry liqueur, blueberry pie, licorice, luxurious oak, cappuccino, lead pencil sweet spices and mineral. Exceptional concentration, layers upon layers of rich concentrated black fruit, unctuous and rich, good silkiness, perfect amount of acidity and mineral, strong but very sweet tannins, and a long ripe black fruit driven finish with luxurious oak at the end. This may require another decade to be ready. It might be a Jedi mind trick but this is very Harlaneqsue. (3487 views) | | | Tasted by Sylvain1962 on 2/16/2019: Offerte à Léon (5419 views) | | | Tasted by dfresh on 4/16/2017 & rated 96 points: Pleasantly surprised how approachable this wine is at this stage. The tannins are sweet and soft, not drying, and the mouthfeel is round and plush. Not overwhelming juice, but nice blackberry, cassis and dust. Nice vanilla and caramel notes but not over oaked or over alcoholed. Medium to long finish. (6933 views) |
| The Napa Valley Reserve Producer websiteRed Bordeaux BlendRed Bordeaux is generally made from a blend of grapes. Permitted grapes are Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Malbec and rarely Carménère.Today Carménère is rarely used, with Château Clerc Milon, a fifth growth Bordeaux, being one of the few to still retain Carménère vines. As of July 2019, Bordeaux wineries authorized the use of four new red grapes to combat temperature increases in Bordeaux. These newly approved grapes are Marselan, Touriga Nacional, Castets, and Arinarnoa.
Wineries all over the world aspire to making wines in a Bordeaux style. In 1988, a group of American vintners formed The Meritage Association to identify wines made in this way. Although most Meritage wines come from California, there are members of the Meritage Association in 18 states and five other countries, including Argentina, Australia, Canada, Israel, and Mexico.USAAmerican wine has been produced since the 1500s, with the first widespread production beginning in New Mexico in 1628. Today, wine production is undertaken in all fifty states, with California producing 84% of all U.S. wine. The continent of North America is home to several native species of grape, including Vitis labrusca, Vitis riparia, Vitis rotundifolia, and Vitis vulpina, but the wine-making industry is based almost entirely on the cultivation of the European Vitis vinifera, which was introduced by European settlers. With more than 1,100,000 acres (4,500 km2) under vine, the United States is the fourth-largest wine producing country in the world, after Italy, Spain, and France.California2021 vintage: "Unlike almost all other areas of the state, the Russian River Valley had higher than normal crops in 2021, which has made for a wine of greater generosity and fruit forwardness than some of its stablemates." - Morgan Twain-Peterson Napa Valley Napa Valley Wineries and Wine (Napa Valley Vintners)Napa ValleySt. Helena |
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