Community Tasting Note

• Cristal2000 Likes this wine: 100 points

  November 12, 2018 - Escaped fires in my area and decided to have some fun. No formal notes and will just summarize my thoughts and conclusions from having the 2015 Realm Absurd, 2016 Myriad Elysian, 2016 Carter La Verdad and 2016 Quivet LPV all back to back.
  
  My order: Carter La Verdad barely over Myriad Elysian, followed by Realm Absurd and then Quivet LPV. The Verdad showed even better than when I had it a few months ago, and is easily 99-100 all day long. It's a bit more tightly coiled and structured than the 2015 version, with tons of depth and earthy mineral driven layers that continue to change and unfold in your mouth over time. It's got epic purity, no hard edges and finishes super long. In comparison, the Quivet LPV (obviously same vineyard and winemaker as Verdad) had a lot more upfront fruit, was really great but lacked the structure and complexity of the Verdad. I'd say 95-96. The Absurd was super unresolved, showed boat loads of oak and dense pure fruit, but really needs time to come together. All the stuffing is there, but it was the least ready to drink - 96-97. And finally, the Myriad Elysian showed by far the most scorched earth and crazy black tar mineral driven notes, with insane levels of power and concentration that really showcased just how incredible that site can be. For me 98-100

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5 Comments

• msuwine commented:

  11/12/18, 8:29 PM - Hi Cristal - thanks for the great note. California can be heaven, but it's times like this that make me wonder if it can also be the opposite. The fires have been farther away for those of us in NorCal, but there's nothing good about the situation...
  
  ... except this epic tasting for you - wow! I'm curious if / how the Benoit wine stood out among the Mike Smith wines. I know that the Absurd is a blend (from 2015) while the others are single vineyard (from 2016), so maybe there aren't any lessons to draw. Still, Mike and Benoit have been in my top 3-4 winemakers for the past few years, and I can feel Mike pulling ahead a bit... so I'm curious if you saw any signatures either way.
  
  Thanks again for the great note, and - aside from all this wine stuff - I wish you nothing but blue skies and fresh air!

• Cristal2000 commented:

  11/12/18, 8:54 PM - Hey Msuwright - Thanks for the positive thoughts! It's been very, very ugly around here for the past week. Hoping good times are on the horizon soon.
  
  A few notes based on this tasting. First, Realm was the only 2015, so that may have played into how these wines showed. That said, it was also nearly three times the price of the other wines, so it should have killed them but didn't.
  
  Regarding Mike vs Benoit, I too really love both of their wine making styles. I generally find Mike to get more extraction from his wines, with perhaps greater depth but many times they aren't as seamless, elegant or potentially age worthy as Benoit's. It probably would have been more enlightening to have a Realm BTK or Crane in the mix to get a sense of how they compare, since like you said, Absurd is a blend. As a matter of fact, if I had to pick one wine to drink forever, it would likely be the Realm Dr Crane. And yet that said, I would take Carter La Verdad over Benoit's Fait Main LPV every single time. So perhaps it also has a lot to do with which block they're working with and potentially the farming and production process (given Realm puts more money into it than most) to determine a winner on a vintage to vintage basis.
  
  Bottom line is love both their styles for different reasons. If drinking a wine early, definitely shade toward Mike Smith. If looking for a more refined and classy wine that needs a little age, I'd go more in Benoit's direction.

• blarmston commented:

  11/12/18, 10:50 PM - I recently got my shipment of 16 Myriad Crane Elysian as well as 16 Carter La Bam and La Verdad, and 16 Vice Versa LPV and Dr. C. I’m waiting on my 16 Memento Mori Las P and Dr. And for 16 Fait Main LPV to release in January.
  
  I’m thinking one of these days I need to perform some ‘due diligence’ and have a coravin glass from them all to compare/contrast. It’ll be a tough job, but the right thing to do :)

• JEP007 commented:

  12/19/18, 5:40 PM - @Cristal2000 - I'm popping a 16' Carter LPV for Christmas Eve. What decant time do you recommend for ultimate one hour drinking window?

• Cristal2000 commented:

  12/19/18, 7:29 PM - Hi JEP007 - Sounds like a great choice! I hope your experience with it is as good as mine. If doing a slow ox, I would suggest 6-8 hours. If using a decanter, I think 3 hours or so will do just fine. More time is not likely to be an issue, so nothing wrong with more time than what I mentioned above. These are super huge wines.

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