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| Community Tasting Notes (average 96.6 pts. and median of 97 pts. in 27 notes) - hiding notes with no text | | | Tasted by Artbreadman on 11/21/2023 & rated 98 points: I loved this one. Just packed with everything and still young. I have one more for the holidays next year! (1683 views) | | | Tasted by bsumoba on 5/11/2023 & rated 96 points: Bella, Vice Versa and Impensata Napa tasting: The most approachable of the 19s we had. Very good. (2467 views) | | | Tasted by WineBurrowingWombat on 5/11/2023: Napa day trip (Bella Oaks, Vice Versa, Impensata) (Napa): N: Dark but fresh blue fruits, dried slate with dried crushed minerals.
P: Dark red and soft purple fruits, fruited earth, and through this gorgeous fruit is a dark strikethrough of graphite which almost turns the red fruits black, giving a darker impression than it really is.
Rating this the same as the rest of the other times I've had this. Most approachable of the line up. (2851 views) | | | Tasted by avoking on 4/11/2023 & rated 99 points: I normally don't create a tasting niote but this bottle was definitely worth one. Decanted about 3 hours and then took it out for a nice dinner. Each sip was worth it's price point. So glad we have 3 more in the cellar. (2320 views) | | | Tasted by AGELVIS on 4/9/2023 & rated 95 points: One hour decant. Very deep dark purplish magenta color. Juicy blackberry and boysenberry, raw pecan, and powdered sugar. Smooth, dry, satiny palate. Firm tannins on the longish finish.
This was a touch restrained. It needs another year to truly enter it’s drinking window. Lots of opportunity for the score to increase. Kept getting more expressive over an hour of sipping. (2934 views) | | | Tasted by Artbreadman on 3/30/2023 & rated 97 points: Outstanding and will only improve. (2000 views) | | | Tasted by #1Winelover on 3/8/2023 & rated 98 points: Re-visited with VVs 2021 release. Opened at 3pm and took a little sip. It was good. Decanted at 6pm and took another sip. It was better. Poured my 1st glass at 8:30pm because I had a client meeting and it was great. I will thank my client for making me wait as this needed all of that time!
Very dark in the glass with black and purple to the core. It's really a perfect wine for me as it's full-bodied yet restrained; a rare combination. Strong smells, blackberry and plum notes, perfect combo of tannins and acid. All of the earth notes one can expect from Las Piedras, including: mineral and stone. It's a pure representation of The Las Piedras Vineyard, and, Vice Versa's signature style.
have 1/2 bottle remaining and will finish it up tonight. (2812 views) | | | Tasted by tomoem on 1/7/2023 & rated 98 points: One of the greatest cabernet's I have had. This thing is ready to go and I recommend enjoying this wine in your best stemware and don't' let food ruin this experience. These "Beckstoffer" Vineyard Vice Versa's are rising stars of wines !
I get a freshly paved asphalt nose with berries just dancing out of the stemware. More beautiful in mouth with a modern cabernet purity that can compete with wines 10x what this goes for. Totally decadent experience. Rich dark sweet chocolate emerges at the mid palette alongside creme de cocoa, cassis and sweet blackberry. The mouthfeel is viscous. Long lingering finish. (2735 views) | | | Tasted by Asull2k on 11/9/2022 & rated 95 points: Double decanted 12 hrs prior to serving. Dark dense purple and slight ruby color. Graphite and mineral, blackberry, and a bit of rose petal on the nose. Black pepper, licorice, dense blackberry, black cherry, and pencil shavings on the palate with a lingering 35-40 sec finish. This one felt like an expression of a great Napa vineyard through a French lens. It is similar to the Fait Main style but a little more restrained and subtly elegant. Beautiful wine right now that I am sure will also age beautifully well. (2894 views) | | | Tasted by havana4 🍾🍇 on 9/5/2022 & rated 91 points: Fruit Bomb. Beautiful ripe blackberries, black cherries but a bit too concentrated for me. My wife loves this style. Very rounded and jammy.
Only decanted in glass however. Would like to try after a 3 hour full decant. (3756 views) | | | Tasted by wineholder on 8/25/2022 & rated 97 points: This will be epic in 5 years
Fantastic wine (3428 views) | | | Tasted by csimm on 6/9/2022 & rated 97 points: Party with some 100 pointers: This continues to perform like the molten mineral-laced black asphalt blackberry bitter-chocolate baby you all know and love. It’s as flashy and opulent as LPV can get without sacrificing focus and frame. The purity of fruit is on point, as is the balance between youthfully sheer power and touches of nuance that provide a textural saturation that coats the mouth like a bear paw dipped in maple syrup. Finishes with a chewy Deux Cranes chocolate chunk bar-meets-road tar-meets-toasted cardamon-meets blackberry filling. Decadent and chiseled. A wine that straddles two worlds of academics and hedonism. Drink now if you’re a cool kat that just loves to shake them hips, or hold for a few years if you’re looking to up your LSAT score. (6999 views) | | | Tasted by sfwinelover1 on 3/31/2022 & rated 97 points: Return to Napa (MacDonald and Vice Versa): Wine 3 in the Cab flight, as things started getting particularly interesting for me. Here, the intense dark fruit found a powerful counterpoint in more red-fruited notes (red cherries, strawberries, maybe a note of cranberry) and the intense minerality/graphite I usually get from LPV oozes through this wine, along with notes of dark chocolate and a hint of exotic spice. Drinking really well, but tannins are, along with Mysterons, more obviously present than in the first 2 bottlings. I’d hold this unless I had several, and under any circumstances, give it lots of air. Oodles of potential to get even better. 97+ (5441 views) | | | Tasted by #1Winelover on 1/30/2022 & rated 98 points: It's been around 8 months since I have had this and it just got a little better. Nothing has really changed except that it is coming along nicely. I would have the same review so I won't repeat. (6179 views) | | | Tasted by WineBurrowingWombat on 1/7/2022 & rated 97 points: Nose: [59°-64°+] Tons of dark fruits like black berries, cranberry skins and perfectly ripe strawberries. With little time, the fruits meld and become this dark concoction of macerated fruits, stirred with a clean twig. Beautiful violets, deep green colored leaves with chips of tree bark atop of damp black earth and smooth, weathered stones with a dusting of pencil shavings. With additional time comes a soft dusting of pleasantly bitter cocoa notes.
Palate: [60°] Black and dark purple fruits, deep black earth and bright tasty river stones with dark graphite. The river stones trail into the finish with a tail of steeped tea. [64°] Flavors hold strong throughout. On the finish, flavors develop towards the deeper end of the graphite spectrum with similar cocoa from the nose on the finish.
Attributes: Clear dark ruby. Dry with medium to medium-plus amounts of fine, grainy tannin. Medium to medium-plus body with medium to medium-plus acidity. Good finish of at least 20-22 seconds.
Thoughts: First off, my goodness do I miss drinking wine. Happy new year to all you guys and please stay safe and healthy - unfortunately, covid is here to stay. This was just as good as when I had the barrel sample and kept getting better in the glass. The flavors are there and the kind I get a kick out of LPV: great fruit and a pleasurable minerality (and the accompanying earth, of course). Great to enjoy now with some air time but would probably be even better to let it cellar for another 1-3 years to allow it to develop some.
Serving notes: Bordeaux glass. Emptied bottle into a decanter at cellar temp ~55° for 0-1 hours before serving, continued to decant while consumed over another 6.5 hours (total 7.5 hrs). Recommend serving ~64° (seemed to bring out more weight and bolder flavors as it came to room temp) with a decant of at least 1-2 hours at cellar temp if opening now. (5426 views) | | | Tasted by AGELVIS on 1/5/2022 & rated 96 points: Opaque purple magenta color. Parchment, minerality, black cherry pie, and cinnamon on the nose. Dry, satiny, voluptuous palate, with good, tongue coating acidity. Firm, medium intensity tannins on the long finish.
This is already drinking beautifully, although it’s only at the very edge of it’s early drinking window. It’s like drinking pie (in a good way). These ‘19s from good wineries continue to impress in the early going. (4950 views) | | | Tasted by galewskj on 12/7/2021 & rated 92 points: Napa trip day 3 (Napa): Drank a small glass over 45 minutes at the Wheeler Farms tasting facility with a winery rep. The nose has great balance. The palate is big, dark and desnse. I can smell the minerality, I can't taste it. Hopefully this integrates with time. (4494 views) | | | Tasted by I'd Rather Be Drinking Wine on 12/7/2021 & rated 95 points: Epic Napa Trip - Day 3: Tasted at Wheeler Farms - Darn good juice! The nose showed jammy fruit with some floral bouquet and hints of wet rock and spice. The palate was rich and concentrated with plenty of red and black fruit, milk and dark chocolates, with gravely minerality peeking out periodically. Mouthfeel was nice and creamy with refined tannins and enough acidity to let you now this will age. Drink now with a decant for hedonistic pleasure or store away in the cellar and let it integrate and show more minerality. 95 today, should get better. I had to buy some additional bottles at the tasting. (5215 views) | | | Tasted by LiteItOnFire on 8/21/2021 & rated 95 points: 6 hour decant not tasted throughout. Ok so hmm where do I start. I either love LPV or want to chuck it into a fireplace posted off that I got sucked in to buy another bottle from this vineyard. Like others have said, there is not a more schizophrenic vineyard I have ever come across (it’s not winemaker or bottle variation it is simply a temperamental beast. After tasting the ‘18 earlier this year, not buying the ‘19 LPV as the ‘18 was closed up tight for business, my credit card gave me a high five and complemented me on my restraint… but who walks in on the third tasting flight right after the Steltzner- yup public enemy number one 2019 LPV. Since the Steltzner was a good wine but opposite of my palate, and the Chardonnay was already sold out, I foolishly told my self, self this will be a cheap night! I was 25% of the way through and wouldn’t buy a thing. It was smiles all around as I patted my self on the back until I started to hear murmurs next to me and then down the table of how good the wine is they just started drinking… damnit should I not taste it so I am not compelled to buy it because it may be really good and I have held out for a few months? Ha that was a stupid thought, so bam this is a totally different LPV than I was expecting. So deep and dark yet nailed with minerality that doesn’t allow you to ever full grasp how dam penetrating it is of full flavor continually washed over by the backbone. If you are not familiar with LPV and want a taste of awesomeness - this is a wine for you to try.
Yep I caved and bought rounding out my order. So so good I am not even upset about it. 95++
I will put this line on all of my tasting notes from this lineup- not sure if they have any left but if they do, jump at the chance to buy or at a minimum get on the list as this vintage and winery strategy is at an entirely new level (the LC shows how focused they are on the future). The best horizontal tasting from the same winery I have ever had. (6619 views) | | | Tasted by csimm on 7/27/2021 & rated 100 points: Vice Versa weekend and dinner: This is round #2 with the 2019 LPV since my last sampling it back in April. Once again, it is unquestionably the star of the show. This is the best LPV Vice Versa has ever produced and is categorically one of the best LPVs I’ve ever had. It just does…not…let…up, with a finish that lasts longer than a Turritopsis dohrnii immortal jellyfish (It’s fer reals. Look it up… And that’s right friends, you’re always sure to score an esteemed education nugget with a rando factoid every time you read a note from your pal csimm! You’re welcome). The concentration and intensity are perfectly weighted, with an attention-grabbing entry that isn’t so ostentatious it leaves you facedown on a sticky barroom floor at 2AM. Instead, its flashiness is bracketed with honed acidity and dark, DARK minerality.
Yummy black licorice, blackberry cobbler, graphite, char, toasted spice, obsidian, creosote, and black molten lava from the biblical bowels of the underworld. It’s kinda like chewing on the Exorcist, except the ending of the LPV is WAY better. This is likely the deepest LPV I’ve encountered. Thankfully, its lift comes from propulsions of luscious tannins and acid that glaze the mouth and drench the palate with the proper ramp to hurtle the succulent black fruit and spice into flavor orbit.
100 points. If this can retain its core character throughout the course of its evolution once in-bottle, then it will surely merit continued accolades and be rightly lauded as a perfect representation of the site and of Napa Cabernet Sauvignon. And what’s even better, my Cellar Tracker pal Cristall2000 has to once again face me and admit that the 2019 LPV beat out the 2019 Crane – for the second time. Victory! (8915 views) | | | Tasted by Cristal2000 on 7/24/2021 & rated 99 points: Vice Versa Wine Dinner: CSIMM wins this battle, as he always pledges his allegiance to LPV over Dr Crane and for once that proved true. He is now 1 for 50. :) In a tightly grouped race of siblings, this had a slight edge over Crane and TK, while falling just below M7 for me. Do I think that will last? Perhaps not, as LPV is a fickle vineyard, sometimes being out of this world good and other times being as impregnable as CSIMM’s love of the French.
Dark black in the glass, this wine is simply gorgeous, displaying notes of blackcurrant, crushed stone, cassis, spice box and deeply savory elements. Full bodied and with crushing depth of flavor, this envelops your entire mouth with amazingly pure and fresh black and blue fruit along with a massive mineral driven streak. It’s like a bottomless pit of flavor, never losing energy or focus while it makes it way from the front to the back of your palate, showing textbook silky mouthfeel and an unreal finish. This may be the bottle to crack as soon as you get it, because wow, it’s amazing. 99+ (6919 views) | | | Tasted by #1Winelover on 5/9/2021 & rated 98 points: Vice Versa 2019 final barrel wine dinner with additional bottles. For the 2019 flight, the WOTN was Las Piedras followed by Dr. Crane, Mysterons and To-Kalon. Additional wines included: Vice Versa 2105 Dr. Crane, Vice Versa 2015 Las Piedras, 2015 Vine Hill Ranch VHR, 2014 Novicium (Continuum's 2nd label), Vice Versa 2017 BBS Las Piedras, Cornell 2014, Vice Versa 2018 Platt Chardonnay, Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc, and several others that I cannot recall.
There were 10 of us at dinner and the unanimous choice for 2019 was Vice Versa's Las Piedras. The unanimous choice for the overall winner of the night was Vice Versa's 2015 Dr. Crane. 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th place choices were not unanimous!
For the 2019s, Patrice recommended opening the bottles a couple of hours early, so I pulled the corks at 4:30pm but did not decant. I just let a little air in the bottles. We all agreed that Las Piedras was just spectacular. It was very easy to consume with signature notes from The Las Piedras Vineyard, including stone, a streak of mineral throughout, dark fruit and slight notes of chocolate. Everybody wanted more and it was the 1st bottle gone. The most interesting was Mysterons and we agreed that in 3 years time, it might end up being the best wine from 2019. It seemed to have a little more structure and more tannin. Mysterons is from The Ecotone Vineyard (formally Abreu's thorevilos), Dr. Crane, and, Vice Versa's new estate in the northwest corner of Calistoga.
Maybe the elevation has something to do with its boldness.
It was a great night, I am suffering today, but remembering good times with great friends, food and wine. Thanks to Patrice for being so kind to share the wine and include tasting notes. I cannot wait to try these in bottle next year.
97-99 points for now. (6471 views) | | | Tasted by csimm on 4/30/2021 & rated 98 points: 3 days in Napa: Arkenstone, Memento Mori, Maxem, The French Laundry, Christopher Tynan, Kinsman, Harlan, Vice Versa, Accendo, Fairchild, Macdonald, and a truckload of others (Napa): Barrel sample. Anyone who knows me knows that LPV is directly in my wheelhouse, and based on the performance of this LPV, it should be in your wheelhouse, too. Aside from the 2019 M7 (which was just off-the-charts impressive on so many levels), this rendition of LPV was one of the main showstoppers of the evening. It not only thrusts out its perfect marriage of dark black fruit and hallmark terroir-driven minerality, but also shows off flashy acidity that really launches this thing into orbit. Saturated and also joyously punchy, the blackberry cobbler, black cherry, cassis, pencil lead, river rock, and spice notes all fan out on the front end and never stop expanding throughout the entire delivery. Finishes with the fruit reverberating for minutes on end.
It is indeed true that LPV wines in general can be a bit capricious during their evolutions in bottle, with their moments of shutting down being especially prickly for a bit. But when they are in flash mode, they always present as some of the best wines in the Valley for my palate. This 2019 is especially encouraging given its elevated freshness and tension. Less of a tannic spear the way some LPVs can start out. I personally feel as though 2019 will be a special vintage for Vice Versa and LPV. The stars certainly aligned well here. 98+ points, with the anticipation that a perfect score isn’t out of the question come 3-5 years from now. Stunning! (9649 views) | | | Tasted by Cristal2000 on 4/23/2021 & rated 97 points: Barrel sample. I have a love hate relationship with this wine. When it's open for business it is absolutely amazing. But it's a bit fickle, and sometimes it is just nails. Ask Patrice and he will tell you the shut down phase is something all great wines experience. I can't argue with Patrice, because the man drinks WELL. I'd just say make sure to check CT or get some feedback before you open these in bottle.
Thankfully because it was a barrel sample, this baby was singing. Nose of blackberry, crushed rock, violets and forest floor. Full bodied and super pure, this is a stunning compilation of gorgeous ripe fruit and gravely minerality. Does a fabulous job of representing the vineyard. The fruit is mostly black with hints of char and earth, and it shows really pixilated tannins and wonderful depth of flavor. As usual with LPV, it is a complex mix of fruit, stone and soil. Very fresh and super long, this is going to be fabulous on release. (6114 views) | | | Tasted by ffzhang on 4/19/2021 & rated 97 points: Exploring 2018s and 2019s in Napa - Spring 2021; 4/18/2021-4/22/2021 (Napa Valley, CA): Final barrel sample. Huge wine. Deep purple with earthy nose. Lots of dark berries, black cherry, coffee, crushed gravel, cedar, earth, and even a little leather. Also intermingled was a slightly spicy note. This wine is dark, brooding, tense with relatively grippy tannins and racy acidity. Mineral-driven and complex, showcasing Las Piedras terroir at its finest. (5429 views) | | | Only displaying the 25 most recent notes - click to see all notes for this wine... |
| Vice Versa Producer websiteCabernet SauvignonCabernet Sauvignon is probably the most famous red wine grape variety on Earth. It is rivaled in this regard only by its Bordeaux stablemate Merlot, and its opposite number in Burgundy, Pinot Noir. From its origins in Bordeaux, Cabernet has successfully spread to almost every winegrowing country in the world. It is now the key grape variety in many first-rate New World wine regions, most notably Napa Valley, Coonawarra and Maipo Valley. Wherever they come from, Cabernet Sauvignon wines always seem to demonstrate a handful of common character traits: deep color, good tannin structure, moderate acidity and aromas of blackcurrant, tomato leaf, dark spices and cedarwood.
Used as frequently in blends as in varietal wines, Cabernet Sauvignon has a large number of common blending partners. Apart from the obvious Merlot and Cabernet Franc, the most prevalent of these are Malbec, Petit Verdot and Carmenere (the ingredients of a classic Bordeaux Blend), Shiraz (in Australia's favorite blend) and in Spain and South America, a Cabernet – Tempranillo blend is now commonplace. Even the bold Tannat-based wines of Madiran are now generally softened with Cabernet SauvignonUSAAmerican 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)St. Helena Appellation Napa Valley
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