Community Tasting Note
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sfwinelover1 Likes this wine: 93 points
April 14, 2023 - First of 2 ($135@) from online clearinghouse #2. On the nose and palate, red and black cherries, red currants, mixed dark berries, wet soil, dark chocolate, coffee, anise, forest floor and a note of sherry. Medium dark purple, full bodied, thick legs. Medium+ tannins, medium acidity, a touch of heat. VG complexity, persistence and intensity. I’d probably get a “D” in Napa wine history—knowing who made what wines when—and I had only a vague knowledge of the principals and this winery (mostly that it was very expensive, from following auctions) when these wines were offered, and without any kind of pro reviews, relied fairly heavily on CT friend QL in my purchase, although when I looked up the principals’ backgrounds, I was impressed, even if I’ve had few, if any of their wines. This came out of the bottle good to go, mouth-filling, fulsome and delicious, a straight down the middle classic Napa Cab. It’s stayed pretty constant over 2 nights, perhaps deepening ever so slightly, but what you see is pretty much what you get. Concur with both reviewers: this wine probably works best as a cocktail wine, and was mostly a non-factor with pizza, neither adding nor detracting much. Drinking well now without air but holding up over 2 nights, I suspect that this is pretty much at peak, and while I’d expect it to hold that for 5+ years (God knows, it should at this price point), any improvement would likely be very incremental. As enjoyable as this wine is, I’m left with a feeling similar to KVS, that at this price point, let alone full retail of just under $300, this is a bit of an underwhelming showing, that I’d expect the complexity and structure I’d find in a LMV or a QC or Flac (all of which I’ve paid about the same for as what I paid for this), without even thinking that the WS price is close to what I’ve paid for my Abreus and Colgins. 93+
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3 Comments
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Quiet Lion commented:
4/15/23, 9:42 AM - Nice price. I paid $175 from the winery and it's higher now. I have two more bottles and I'm not really sure where the 2012 vintage in general is going.
Bob Levy is a great guy. I had a glitch in shipping and he gave me his cell number to fix it personally. -
sfwinelover1 commented:
4/15/23, 10:52 AM - I think that ‘12 continues to generally drink well, as it has for a while, but it won’t last as long as ‘13 (or even several vintages of the aughts, which mostly continue to hang in there more than respectably, at least at the better labels); interestingly, I’m finding the same to be true in Tuscany, which is my next biggest drinking interest.
One of the things that made the ‘12s so good so relatively early was that the tannins and acidity were under control almost immediately. I’m not sure if this wine was like when the delivery van dropped it off on your doorstep—it sounds like there more tannins in particular—or they’ve just smoothed out, but it definitely has less structure and complexity than I’d hope for a wine at its price point, not just the near $300 I’m seeing, but even at what you and I paid for it. Is this true of the more expensive L&Ms as well? That would be hard to accept in a $600 wine, at least for me, when I could get something so much more interesting from Abreu or Colgin, even without much shopping.
I hope a trip to NorCal might still be in the works for you when hockey season ends! -
Quiet Lion commented:
4/15/23, 11:57 AM - The 2005 L&M is wonderful. My sense is that their flagship wine is meant for long cellaring, although they are skillful enough that it can be enjoyed on release. See my notes.