Blind Wine Tasting at the Lang's

Great fun wine tasting at Robin and Stef Lang's house. Total of 8 people rating the wines. Some are regular Napa Cab drinkers and some are not.

• 2013 Colgin IX Estate 94 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  Served blind. Shows on the redder fruit side in the glass. Strong notes of boysenberries, blueberries, cedar, floral aromas, wet stone and forest floor. Huge wine, that is at once deep and lean. You can definitely tell this is from a bit of elevation. Surprisingly, the tannin is slightly sweet but still gripping hard. Huge structure and just a ton of mineral driven
  and earthy elements to this wine. Very pure. This needs a lot of time. Overshadowed by the company in this tasting. 94+

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• 2012 Maybach Family Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon Materium 95 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley, Oakville

  Served blind. Crimson in color. Nose shows blueberries, dark cherry and spring flowers. Pallet is more medium than full bodied, with sweet nicely integrated tannin and a good interplay of mostly red fruit and mineral driven flavors. Finish is 30 secs+. Enjoyable flavor profile and ready to drink now. 95+

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• 2015 Memento Mori Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer Dr. Crane Vineyard 98 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley, St. Helena

  Served blind. OMG the nose on this wine is OFF THE HOOK. Just bursting out of the glass with amazing floral aromas, cassis, blackberries, blueberries, and forest floor. Incredible. Hits the pallet lightly at first and then just builds like an out of control locomotive heading downhill. Wow. All of the goodness of the Dr Crane site shows here. Beautiful interplay of scorched earth and embers with super deep and expressive black and blue fruit. So elegant yet so powerful. Finish is off the charts and has to be experienced to understand. This wine should age very well and probably needs a couple years to show its best. Likely perfect for me soon. 98-100.

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• 2014 Scarecrow Cabernet Sauvignon 99 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley, Rutherford

  Served blind. Dark purple in the glass. Distinctively rich and intoxicating nose of spring flowers, blackberries, cassis and wet stone. On the pallet -- Now THIS is what I'm talking about. Insanely deep and powerful without a hint of sweetness. Rich, with unbelievable purity and complexity. A weightless monster -- the classic iron fist in a velvet glove. Lots of great black/blue fruit balanced beautifully with herbal and earthy notes. So fresh! Finish of over 1 min. One of the best Scarecrows ever for me (2009-2014). 99-100.

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• 2015 Vice Versa Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer Las Piedras Vineyard 97 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley, St. Helena

  Served blind. As I look at my notes, very similar to those on 9/11/17. Great perfumed nose of wet stone, spring flowers, black licorice and cassis fruit. On the pallet, nice concentration of black fruit and mineral driven flavors. Very smooth and silky texture. Very refined and quite long with a 30 sec+ finish.

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• 2015 Carter Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon La Verdad Beckstoffer Las Piedras Vineyard 100 Points

  USA, California, Napa Valley

  Served blind. Let me say that I've rated this wine a number of times and had it 99-100. Those notes all apply to this experience. That said, I was pretty sure given its more bombastic fruit profile it would lose blind to the likes of the 2014 Scarecrow or 2013 Colgin IX, among others. Amazingly, I was wrong and not only did this come out #1 for me, it came out #1 for 5 of the 8 other tasters. And that's with me absolutely going gaga for the 2014 Scarecrow and 2015 Memento Mori Dr Crane. It is certainly a richer style than those wines, but it is just amazingly flavorful, with such impressive layering and endless depth of fruit. Purity and freshness are off the charts, and given some air all the parts come together beautifully. This wine will excite all your senses.

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My wine ratings were not the consensus. That was in order: 2015 Carter La Verdad, 2012 Maybach Materium, 2015 Vice Versa Las Piedras, 2015 Memento Mori Dr Crane, 2014 Scarecrow and 2013 Colgin IX.

There was also a "mystery" wine thrown in that turned out to be a 2003 Shafer Relentless. That was last on every single raters card.