4/15/2024 - csimm wrote: 100 points

Punchline first: And ‘the Ks’ have it!! Kaannos and Kodo! I know I’m supposed to find beauty in all creatures great and small, and that love is discovered in all forms of doe-eyed unicorns and rainbows, but after sampling over 70 wines over the course of a three-day weekend, the Kaannos is THE BEST wine. It just is. If you dare take your in vogue flat leadership model and go old school vertical with it, then the Kaannos is on the top, like the very top. #1. Numero uno. The cat’s pajamas, and even the cat’s meow for that matter. The Kodo is… also… the best…!

Punchline #1 to the punchline: Kaannos TN – Not surprisingly, the first word in my notes just says, “perfect,” along with some hyphenated expletives that remind me this is, you guessed it, the best wine hands down. Dark fruit, but ever so balanced, with rays of succulent acidity (ya, that’s a thing), providing both elegance and speed. A nervy finish gives way to a second wave of flavor and energy. With air, it grabs ahold of more richness, akin to its Kodo brother. Darker, faster, even livelier with each sip. Block 4 powers, activate! The stamina here is worth waiting a few years, though Nigel puts it out at 8-12 years. But it’s a shakin good time right now without question.

Punchline #1(a) to the punchline: Kodo TN - And of course, because every kind of exception has an exception, I will confidently say that Kodo is also the best wine. But since I just made up a rule that says I have to choose (science and law and all that), the Kodo for me is the #1(a) to the Kaannos #1. Other Galloni sympathizers at the table pegged the Kodo for grand prize winner, not that I can blame them. But my iconoclastic side gave the Kaannos the edge. That is to say, they are both solid 100 point wines, but since GPAs these days are like 6.0 to get into community college (not sure what happened to 4.0, but I digress, again), I’ll go with the Kaannos at Harvard and the Kodo at Stanford. Kodo is a darker knight, with the depth of a thousand gallant chevaliers that parade through silky seas of dark chocolate and black cherries. Unctuous. Precise. Enveloping. Balanced, but with personality and attention-grabbing gothic gumption. The initiative here is fantastic, especially on the slowly building finish that envelops the back of the mouth. I feel like this is an earlier drinker than Kaannos.

I think I phonetic-a-sized my way through how to say Kodo, but I can’t for the life of me pronounce Kaannos, especially with all those little umlaut thingamajigs over every letter. I don’t know if it’s Kay-nohs, Ka-nos, Kaw-nohs, Can-os, or Ka’a-na-nah-na-nah-nah-nos. I know it means something to do with ‘translation’ in Finnish, but I can’t claim to know what the Fins have done to influence what I now consider the best 2021 wine I’ve had thus far out of Napa.

“Save the best for last” is typically prudent advice, and it’s normal decorum to build up to the ‘best’ wine when one is toured through various wine tasting experiences. However, in this case, the esteemed Nigel Kinsman simply said, “I like to jump around,” giving us novice geeks free rein to pick among the four glasses in front of us. A creature of habit, when I reached to my left and took a sip, not bothering to look at the name, the Kaannos hit me square in the jaw. Epic! There is a sliver of me that wants it not to be so amazing, like “here we go again, another fanboy tasting note from me on Kinsman.” I wanted to be neutral on these and just write a couple lame short tasting notes (and the crowd cheers). Better luck next time I guess. So, obviously, the Kaannos was completely rad! (not Rhad – but which is also rad, by the way). And the Kodo is also a mega hit-out-of-the-park showstopper.

… wishing Cellar Tracker had a word limit right about now…?… I don’t…. :)