Community Tasting Note
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Cristal2000 Likes this wine:
May 17, 2023 - This was a 2016 vintage blind of: Abreu Thorevilos, Colgin IX, MacDonald, Scarecrow, Bond St. Eden, Eisele, Futo Oakville, Colgin Tychson and Vice Versa M7. Each wine had a decant of approximately five hours before the first sip, except for MacDonald, which had around three, and the Futo, which I believe was PnP. There were nine tasters, including CSIMM1161, wine proprietors and a prominent winemaker.
I’d really love to post notes on all these wines, but unfortunately time is scarce, and I don’t think I would be able to get to it anytime soon. I am sure CSIMM will post a ton on each, so that should fill the gap. Instead, I am going to give the broad strokes here.
The first thing to note is all these wines could have used more air, especially the MacDonald. We shorted it in the tasting, and I think there was an impact on how it showed. The other thing that could have impacted how the wines showed is bottle shock. Most of these bottles were packed onto an airplane a couple days prior. While I didn’t note any overtly off bottles, there is no doubt it could have played a role.
I know a lot of folks that hate blinds. It can really test your palate, and crowing a winner means the other great bottles must “lose”. If you haven’t done it before, it can also wear you down and things can blend, so it does take a methodology and consistency to do it well. That said, all these wines were spectacular.
While we didn’t have the group rank order them all, we did ask for a top 3. The consensus was 1. Magnificent 7 2. Futo and 3. Scarecrow. There were certainly others than received votes in the top 3, but overall, it was uniform across the group. Those top three were easily 99-100 pt wines, and the others were not far behind. A few comments on each (in no particular order outside the top 3):
1. Magnificent 7: almost universally the #1 wine in the tasting, this had all the elements of perfection. Suave and powerful, with super refined tannins, excellent purity, unreal depth, and a finish for days. Nothing harsh and pure class without any element out of balance.
2. Futo: super focused wine with precision, this wrapped power and grace into a regal package. Showed dark chocolate and powerful fruit intensity backed up by impressive levels of freshness and acidity. Simply outstanding.
3. Scarecrow: the most opulent, plush, and sexy wine of the bunch. While some of the other wines were trying to get all the pieces to fit together, this one was complete on every level. Beautifully integrated with supple tannins and wonderful energy and balance.
4. Colgin IX: the only mountain/hillside wine of the bunch. This wine really progressed over the course of the tasting to the point where it was gaining on the leaders. Lovely red soil profile with deep mineral driven flavors, the mid palate began expanding over time and produced a complex, powerful yet refined wine with fantastic length.
5. MacDonald: this was one of the wines that was a bit discombobulated, and I attribute that mostly to lack of decant time. It showed more spice and woodsy character than usual and was a little rough around the edges despite clearly having the class, pedigree, and overall intensity to be amongst the best wines in Napa.
6. Colgin Tychson: this had a soft, supple entry with opulent fruit and gorgeous floral notes. The mid palate stayed tight throughout, and it never really blossomed into what I am sure will be an epic wine. I love this bottling, and this is going to be spectacular with a bit more time.
7. Eisele: another wine here that needed more time to unfurl. This showed possibly the best complexity of the bunch, both on the nose and in the glass. It had all the hallmark savory character, but the fruit was wound up tight and there was a bit of oak obscuring things. I’ve had this when its blown my mind, just needs more air or more time.
8. Abreu Thorevilos: the most disappointing wine for me in this tasting. I was expecting it to vie for top honors and it couldn’t get out of its own way. It was super unresolved and reductive, with oak and tannin obscuring most everything. This is a fabulous vineyard and winemaker, so I am sure it will come around, and part of me wants to attribute this showing to bottle shock.
9. Bond St Eden: another wine that was within striking distance of the leaders. Rich, textured, beautiful and still grippy, it showed a ton of class with hallmark red earth notes and killer concentration and length.4 people found this helpful 1,901 views
6 Comments
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NickRut commented:
5/18/23, 9:10 AM - Was it Mike Smith or Russel Bevan that was with you guys?
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Cristal2000 commented:
5/18/23, 10:16 AM - Nope, neither of them. :)
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NickRut commented:
5/18/23, 11:44 AM - Ha well dang. Thought I was being cute there.
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I'd Rather Be Drinking Wine commented:
5/18/23, 3:01 PM - Very nice tasting of some awesome wines! Just looking at your lineup and the age of the wines, the only surprise to me is Bond didn't perform better. Most of these wines are built for long haul aging, especially the ones I am familiar with, namely Abreu, Eisele, Colgin IX and MacDonald. Only had Futo once, and thought it was way over-priced...kind of like Dana. Have not had Mag 7 yet nor Scarecrow
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Cristal2000 commented:
5/18/23, 4:47 PM - IRBDW: the only thing I'll say is blinding wines is eye opening. Removing your inherent bias is humbling, even for people who make wine for a living. Always a good gauge of whether you like a wine due to some factor other than the wine itself. What was amazing is that we had 9 people with very different preferences in wine, and yet the top wine was virtually universally selected, along with the next 3-4.
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I'd Rather Be Drinking Wine commented:
5/18/23, 8:18 PM - I hear you, and don't get me wrong, I like drinking wines blind once in a while, even though I totally suck at it! My issue with blind tastings is it cuts both ways, i.e., yes, you don't have inherent biases influencing your judgement, which is an awesome gauge of how a wine is drinking in the moment....on the other hand, you don't have any knowledge of the wine you are drinking, which could influence your opinion objectively, i.e., you don't know if a wine is on an upward or downward slope, or whether it is a poorly made wine or a shut down wine, etc...E.g., if I drink an Abreu (like you did), I would likely have not rated it too high also because it is still young and disjointed, but knowing it is Abreu, I would have figured that it just needed way more time, rather than it was poorly made, a bad vintage, or something else.....also, it could be I just am not that good at evaluating wines at all stages, or recognizing what stage the wine is in! Heck, in blind tastings, sometimes I can't even get the right grape varietal!