Community Tasting Note

• AGELVIS Likes this wine: 93 points

  September 29, 2023 - Three hour decant. Deep dark, yet vibrant, magenta color. Black cherry, blueberry, maple shortbread, and dried oregano. Dry, zesty palate. Firm, medium intensity tannins on the longish finish.
  
  Things flow together very well, but this is somewhat subdued overall. The nose is very nice, but not very expressive.

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17 Comments

• Mark1npt commented:

  9/29/23, 10:21 PM - Ag, my bottle was a lot like this back in June, but got a couple points better as the evening wore on and it had another 3 hours of air, fwiw.

• AGELVIS commented:

  9/30/23, 4:43 AM - I opened this based on your review. It was good, just holding back. I’m not buying more Quivet or Myriad. As we’ve both noted, along with DQ, they are all the same wine.

• Badmonkey commented:

  9/30/23, 8:30 AM - Nice note. I’m not loving how most of these 2018s are drinking right now. Recently had a 2018 Becklyn Napa cab and it took three days to come around. I’ve been thinking about buying more of the 2018s to lay down in light of concerns that I’m hearing about the 2022s and 2023s but I think I’m going to concentrate on the 2021s. Take care.

• AGELVIS commented:

  9/30/23, 8:51 AM - ‘18 and ‘21 are both vintages to lean into. I’ve been having better experiences with quite a few ‘18s in just the last couple of months. I definitely prefer ‘18 to ‘19, with few exceptions.

• Mark1npt commented:

  9/30/23, 8:53 AM - Bad, the '21s are going to be quite good. The '23s will be very much like the '18s unless something drastically changes and quick.

• Badmonkey commented:

  9/30/23, 9:14 AM - From my experiences lately, a lot of the 2019s in my opinion also need time but like a lot of the 2018s they tend to show better on day day and even better on day three. I like what I’m seeing from the 2021 vintage so far but I haven’t had many of them.
  
  I’ve heard from a couple sources that there have been weather related problems with Napa for both the 2022 and 2023 vintages. Kirk Venge recently confirmed the same and said that’s where quality winemaking/blending becomes important with the 2022 and 2023 vintages while according to him any winemaker can do a good job with the 2021 vintage. Have a nice weekend.

• AGELVIS commented:

  9/30/23, 9:17 AM - I’m definitely liking the initial ‘21s I’ve tried. Fait-Main is really good/accessible (for example).

• Mark1npt commented:

  9/30/23, 9:20 AM - '22 was a rough vintage for reds around pick time given rain, temps etc.
  
  '23 has been one of the slowest maturation years on record (as '18s was) and the coolest growing year in more than a decade so grapes are struggling to mature and hit phenolic ripeness. We could see very long hang times so long as it doesn't rain or turn even cooler out there soon. If the grapes end up not ripening fully due to lack of warmth, it'll be a green year like '11 was.....it's already a cool year like '10 was.

• Mark1npt commented:

  9/30/23, 9:21 AM - Ag, I agree. The '21s I've had thus far have been very good quality wines.

• Badmonkey commented:

  9/30/23, 9:24 AM - I ordered some of the 21 Fait Main cab and also their 21 Missouri Hopper cab. I hate spending over $200 a bottle besides a bottle here and there for a special occasion. Missouri Hopper is the only Beckstoffer cab that I’m seeing from quality producers that is still under $200 - although I’m sure that’s not going to last long. I’m looking forward to seeing how the 21 Fait Main Missouri Hopper cab compares to Carter’s Missouri Hopper.

• Mark1npt commented:

  9/30/23, 9:26 AM - Bad, I'm no longer buying Carters so I can't help you there.

• Badmonkey commented:

  9/30/23, 10:14 AM - With the exception of some of their Haze cab, I also stopped buying Carter’s cabs a couple years ago. However, I’m a fan of Bevan’s style of winemaking and at $175 I figured I would grab a couple bottles to see what he does with Carter’s Missouri Hopper cab. In addition, Dunnuck’s 97+ rating also caught my eye.

• AGELVIS commented:

  9/30/23, 10:16 AM - I’m more excited about Addax and Bevan’s own label. Much better bang for the buck vs Carter.

• Mark1npt commented:

  9/30/23, 10:18 AM - Worth a shot for sure since it's still under $200/bottle. It just seems lately I've grown less fond of the Tench vineyard and Bevan includes so much of that in so many of his wines (as Mike does the Kenefick in so many of his). I'm moving away from Beven because of that and also his pricing is going up too much for me at this 'fixed income' stage of my life.

• Mark1npt commented:

  9/30/23, 10:20 AM - Ag, I very much tend to agree with your thinking there, but there's no denying Carter is able to get the very best Beck fruit. He's right up near Schrader on his buying power and history with AndyB.

• AGELVIS commented:

  9/30/23, 10:40 AM - I agree about Tench-fatigue. It’s too Syrah-like (at least the way Bevan does it).

• Mark1npt commented:

  9/30/23, 10:42 AM - Totally agree on that, Ag. Very much Syrah like.

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