Community Tasting Note

• Cristal2000 Likes this wine:

  February 8, 2019 - Was fortunate to sample many of the 2018 wines from barrel from Memento Mori. The broad takeaway is WOW, these are going to be stunning. 2018 seems to be similar to the quality and characteristics of 2016, which is just fantastic.
  
  MM has added two blocks of Vine Hill Ranch to their lineup in this vintage (and 2017), and I believe it will not only be added to the blend, but also used as an SVD. Tasting those two blocks, they are extremely different from each other and show how amazingly unique each block in the same vineyard can be. The first sample was black, deep, rich and showed scorched earth elements similar to LPV. It was lights out. Just awesome. The second sample was way higher toned and hit you right in the face. Fruit seemed redder, the profile was more acidic and rode way higher on the pallet. Reminded me much more of a VHR wine. It will be interesting to see how they blend these together. It is very promising. 95-98.
  
  The 2018 Dr Crane was again for me the star of the show. Shows that wonderful and amazing nose of blueberry compote, scorched earth and white flowers that is so intoxicating. Already expressive and opulent on the pallet, it is super concentrated, round, dense and chock full of pure fruit backed by lots of mineral driven and wet stone flavors. This is killer. 98-100
  
  The 2018 LPV was super dense, dark and black in the glass. Scorched earth, embers, mineral driven flavors and great blackberry fruit throughout. Dense and drying on the pallet at the moment. Big structure and quite long. Super young, but tons of promise. 96-98

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12 Comments

• vintage1949 commented:

  12/4/20, 6:47 AM - Hey Cristal,
  The LPV sure sounds like a winner from your perspective. Can you indicate to me the differences of this offering from the others? Also how long do you estimate before the window opens on this wine?
  
  On this end our lifestyle has been severely restricted because of covid. Hopefully our yearly track to Florida will resume in 2022-skipping just one year. Therefore, lastly, how are you doing during this historic time?
  
  Dave

• Big&Bold707 commented:

  8/16/22, 3:52 PM - Hey Cristal, what are the winery’s price points for the cab, lpv, and dr crane?

• Cristal2000 commented:

  8/16/22, 4:12 PM - For the last vintage, they were all $225.

• Big&Bold707 commented:

  8/16/22, 4:23 PM - Thank you Cristal. Out of curiosity, what’s you year in and year out ranking of the 3? If I can grab a couple I’d like to cherry pick your favorites

• Cristal2000 commented:

  8/16/22, 5:46 PM - I'd go with the SVD's, probably in the order of Crane, LPV and then VHR. But I also can't recommend you buy 2020 vintage, if that is what you are contemplating.

• Big&Bold707 commented:

  8/16/22, 6:01 PM - Appreciate it. Definitely not buying Napa 2020. I’ll buy a couple wine clubs in Paso like Tar and L’Aventure and get the alternative year on the next few Saxum releases. What, if any, 2020s are you buying besides MacDonald?

• Cristal2000 commented:

  8/16/22, 6:05 PM - Exactly zero from Napa other than MacDonald if they release one. A few here and there from Paso and Santa Barbara, plus Sonoma and RRV.

• Big&Bold707 commented:

  8/16/22, 6:15 PM - Have you heard anything on TR or andremily 2020s? I saw good reviews by Jeb for L’Aventures 2020s

• Cristal2000 commented:

  8/16/22, 8:45 PM - I haven't. When I was at L'Aventure last year, Chloe was luke warm on the vintage, saying it would be good but not near 18 or 19. I appreciated the honestly. I am sure most will make a decent wine, but it will be very hard to compare vs 19.

• Big&Bold707 commented:

  8/16/22, 8:52 PM - Agreed. Jeb gave the 20 estate cuvée a 96-98 and reserve cab 95-97 if I remember correctly. They told me the same thing. Said it was still good but can’t touch 19. They also said 21 might be even better than 19 but very small production.

• Cristal2000 commented:

  8/16/22, 9:01 PM - If Jeb doesn't give it 100, it's shit. Lol. That dude inflates scores like no one else, but I do enjoy his notes.

• Big&Bold707 commented:

  8/16/22, 9:07 PM - Lol so true. I reduce 2 points normally on his reviews lol. But I do tend to agree with his write ups and like the wines he likes, just know to reduce his scoring

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