Coming along very nicely since I last had it six months ago, this 2016 version of the Ontogeny is a dark and extracted example, with powerful black, purple, and deeply pitched red berry notes. The scortched earth, black licorice, and fresh black asphalt notes are at the forefront here as well, pumping out pure, dark intensity and offering a flavor push that makes for a chewy, melted chocolate-in-butter experience. A streak of muddled red raspberry injects itself just in time to save this from becoming just a big mass of tarry black viscosity.
A bit of clunky booze on the back end to still shed, as well as some deepening of the mid-palate (especially when compared to a few of its more concentrated but twice-the-price SVD siblings). But overall this Ontogeny is compelling stuff, and remains one of the better QPRs out there.
A fine bottle of wine that should only get better over the next year or two with some short term cellaring. Ideally hold for another couple of years. 94-95+ points.
Bigger, chewier, and more powerfully extracted than its more focused and complex 2015 sibling, the 2016 EE in its current state is a swirling whirlpool of black and dark red berry fruit. Hints of floral, earth, and spice notes try their best to squeeze past all of the Pumping Iron posing, but right now this EE is all biceps.
Everything about these 2016 Bevans appears to be ratcheted-up versions of the previous vintages. Seamlessness and glide will eventually come, but at the moment these bad boys are all about liquid infernos of flavor and enormity. I have no doubt this will be a fabulous beast when all is said and done, but this rendition of the EE is currently all about flaunting its mammoth muscles in an infant extra schmedium Rocky Balboa tank top.
This will be another success indeed once its show-me muscles deflate to where it doesn’t come off like a satiated and swollen topped-off tick. Give it two to three years and allow the steroids to cycle-off completely. Fun, fast, and flavorful now, but I say let’s get it out of the “look at me ladies” phase and see if it can actually graduate high school after its seventh year.
Take one 250-pound ballerina barista roasting a vat of Death Wish coffee in a 55 gallon drum of plutonium, add 185,000 teaspoons of chocolate covered chocolate, mix with a six-mile strip of newly paved asphalt from the Pan-Am highway in the Atacama at high noon in the dead of summer, grab a $100,000 Tanzanian Shilling sack of fresh cloves from a one-armed Zanzibarian street merchant, sprinkle with the black, molten baby tears of Satan just after getting booted from Zion, slowly pour the after-morning belly sweat of a gaggle of Vegas showgirls after a tequila-shot bender at the Bellagio... and you have the ingredients for one 2016 Bevan Wildfoote Cabernet Sauvignon.
Oh yah... and the mid-palate is really nice by the way...
Hold for another two+ years... or at least until Jenna Jameson finally stops trying to sell Hugh Hefner’s old slippers at auction...
This latest experience with the 2012 Wildfoote was from a multi-Coravin’d bottle than clearly was a bit tired and flat. The flavors were all there, but the drive and intensity had fallen off quite a bit. As others have mentioned, I think this 2012 is performing exceptionally well as a PnP. However, I wouldn’t bet on this lasting more than a few more years without losing some desired traction. For my palate at least, I personally prefer a little extra verve on this beautiful wine.
For those holding bottles, drink now and over the next few years. As a PnP, it seems to be in its optimum drinking window now.
This was served side by side with a 2016 Wildfoote (refer to my notes on the ‘16 as well), which was a COMPLETELY different animal given its comparative stage in life in relation to the 2012.
As versions of the various Bevan wines offered up from this site go, this Tench Cabernet Sauvignon is bit more of a front-end downshift from the EE or Calixtro in terms of the initial push of intensity and concentration. It’s a 2016 Bevan, so continue to still expect a full bodied experience, but perhaps more medium-ish+ mid-palate complexity and depth-wise compared to the EE and Calixtros of the world. The delivery does some skipping over the mid and makes for a flatter plane of flavor distribution.
Floral and higher register red berry notes compete with the deeper black fruit and subtle embers and earth elements in a way that keeps the fulfillment of a complete execution at bay for the moment. Finishes medium, with red currant and somewhat bitter powdered spice notes clipping the back end slightly.
A wine to sit on for a few years. Revisit in 2022. 93-94+ points with upside.
Red and black berry core, with a thick bloody roast beef/black sanguine of Satan element that rides shotgun with the fruit and dark oak char flavors. A little gamey and roasted in its current state, with a “Dammit I left the steak on the BBQ for too long” profile. Finishes chewy and charred.
Hold and hope the campfire element works it’s way more effectively into (or out of) the core to provide a better integration of flavors overall. A good wine with potential, but this sample has some oak influence that it needs to shed. Try again in 2023+.
2016 Bevan Cellars Ontogeny 95 Points
USA, California, Napa Valley
Coming along very nicely since I last had it six months ago, this 2016 version of the Ontogeny is a dark and extracted example, with powerful black, purple, and deeply pitched red berry notes. The scortched earth, black licorice, and fresh black asphalt notes are at the forefront here as well, pumping out pure, dark intensity and offering a flavor push that makes for a chewy, melted chocolate-in-butter experience. A streak of muddled red raspberry injects itself just in time to save this from becoming just a big mass of tarry black viscosity.
A bit of clunky booze on the back end to still shed, as well as some deepening of the mid-palate (especially when compared to a few of its more concentrated but twice-the-price SVD siblings). But overall this Ontogeny is compelling stuff, and remains one of the better QPRs out there.
A fine bottle of wine that should only get better over the next year or two with some short term cellaring. Ideally hold for another couple of years. 94-95+ points.
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2016 Bevan Cellars EE Cuvée Tench Vineyard 95 Points
USA, California, Napa Valley, Oakville
Bigger, chewier, and more powerfully extracted than its more focused and complex 2015 sibling, the 2016 EE in its current state is a swirling whirlpool of black and dark red berry fruit. Hints of floral, earth, and spice notes try their best to squeeze past all of the Pumping Iron posing, but right now this EE is all biceps.
Everything about these 2016 Bevans appears to be ratcheted-up versions of the previous vintages. Seamlessness and glide will eventually come, but at the moment these bad boys are all about liquid infernos of flavor and enormity. I have no doubt this will be a fabulous beast when all is said and done, but this rendition of the EE is currently all about flaunting its mammoth muscles in an infant extra schmedium Rocky Balboa tank top.
This will be another success indeed once its show-me muscles deflate to where it doesn’t come off like a satiated and swollen topped-off tick. Give it two to three years and allow the steroids to cycle-off completely. Fun, fast, and flavorful now, but I say let’s get it out of the “look at me ladies” phase and see if it can actually graduate high school after its seventh year.
94-95++ points with upside after 2022+.
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2016 Bevan Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Wildfoote Vineyard, Vixen Block 98 Points
USA, California, Napa Valley, Stags Leap District
Take one 250-pound ballerina barista roasting a vat of Death Wish coffee in a 55 gallon drum of plutonium, add 185,000 teaspoons of chocolate covered chocolate, mix with a six-mile strip of newly paved asphalt from the Pan-Am highway in the Atacama at high noon in the dead of summer, grab a $100,000 Tanzanian Shilling sack of fresh cloves from a one-armed Zanzibarian street merchant, sprinkle with the black, molten baby tears of Satan just after getting booted from Zion, slowly pour the after-morning belly sweat of a gaggle of Vegas showgirls after a tequila-shot bender at the Bellagio... and you have the ingredients for one 2016 Bevan Wildfoote Cabernet Sauvignon.
Oh yah... and the mid-palate is really nice by the way...
Hold for another two+ years... or at least until Jenna Jameson finally stops trying to sell Hugh Hefner’s old slippers at auction...
Previous notes apply otherwise. Crazy awesome juice.
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2012 Bevan Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Wildfoote Vineyard, Vixen Block
USA, California, Napa Valley, Stags Leap District
This latest experience with the 2012 Wildfoote was from a multi-Coravin’d bottle than clearly was a bit tired and flat. The flavors were all there, but the drive and intensity had fallen off quite a bit. As others have mentioned, I think this 2012 is performing exceptionally well as a PnP. However, I wouldn’t bet on this lasting more than a few more years without losing some desired traction. For my palate at least, I personally prefer a little extra verve on this beautiful wine.
For those holding bottles, drink now and over the next few years. As a PnP, it seems to be in its optimum drinking window now.
This was served side by side with a 2016 Wildfoote (refer to my notes on the ‘16 as well), which was a COMPLETELY different animal given its comparative stage in life in relation to the 2012.
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2016 Bevan Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Tench Vineyard 94 Points
USA, California, Napa Valley, Oakville
As versions of the various Bevan wines offered up from this site go, this Tench Cabernet Sauvignon is bit more of a front-end downshift from the EE or Calixtro in terms of the initial push of intensity and concentration. It’s a 2016 Bevan, so continue to still expect a full bodied experience, but perhaps more medium-ish+ mid-palate complexity and depth-wise compared to the EE and Calixtros of the world. The delivery does some skipping over the mid and makes for a flatter plane of flavor distribution.
Floral and higher register red berry notes compete with the deeper black fruit and subtle embers and earth elements in a way that keeps the fulfillment of a complete execution at bay for the moment. Finishes medium, with red currant and somewhat bitter powdered spice notes clipping the back end slightly.
A wine to sit on for a few years. Revisit in 2022. 93-94+ points with upside.
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2016 Bevan Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon Sentinel Ridge Vineyard 91 Points
USA, California, Napa Valley, Howell Mountain
Red and black berry core, with a thick bloody roast beef/black sanguine of Satan element that rides shotgun with the fruit and dark oak char flavors. A little gamey and roasted in its current state, with a “Dammit I left the steak on the BBQ for too long” profile. Finishes chewy and charred.
Hold and hope the campfire element works it’s way more effectively into (or out of) the core to provide a better integration of flavors overall. A good wine with potential, but this sample has some oak influence that it needs to shed. Try again in 2023+.
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