Community Tasting Note

• Cristal2000 wrote: 93 points

  March 7, 2019 - First vintage of this wine. Didn't expect to open so soon but had a dinner right after work and this was the box in the car! Therefore, take this all with a grain of salt since no time for the bottle to settle.
  
  For perspective, I think Venge's best work is B Cellars wines. Likely because a few of the vineyards, namely Crane, BTK and LPV, are just about the best sites you can source. B Cellars also has a Missouri Hopper made by Venge that is $200 retail and $160 in the club, so at least $40 more expensive than his own label. I've always found it to be good, but a bit too gamey for me. Figured it would be fun to try this and see how it stacked up.
  
  Nose shows violets, blackberries and cassis, along with a fair amount of BBQ, salami and lots of mineral notes. Also getting a little bit of sulphur here. The pallet is rich, decadent and a tad bit grape-y or fruity at the moment. Full bodied, with a nice mouthfeel, great concentration and a bit more of a spine than I would normally expect for this label. Showing dark blue fruit, with lots of spice and a hint of smoked meat. It has a very full mid pallet and super long and mineral driven finish. Turns out it is very similar to the B Cellars version. I think ideally you want to let this sit for a while to let it integrate more and hopefully lose the sulphur and grape-y qualities. Lots of potential. 93+

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3 Comments

• HowellMountainCru commented:

  3/8/19, 5:45 PM - Hi Cristal, Got my bottles yesterday and was tempted to pop one early to see what I had. Thank you for the review as I can now hold off for a few months and then do a side by side with some other hopper 16s.
  
  Spoke to Kirk here in FL before I purchased and he told me that though this was from a different block, the that the treatment, barrel etc. was the same as the B cellars wine.
  
  So as I love the B Cellars Beckstoffers and really enjoyed the Hopper I jumped on this for quite the savings. HowellmountainCru

• Cristal2000 commented:

  3/8/19, 9:36 PM - Hi HowellmountainCru: This was definitely opened too early, so I do believe it is a good idea to wait for a while before popping the cork. It seems like B Cellars always get a bit more out of their wines, perhaps because of the equipment they use, coopers, assistant winemaker, proprietor input etc. I have always found them to be a cut above the rest of Venge's work. As a fan of the B Cellars MH, I will be curious to hear what you think of this wine in comparison. I suspect it will not show quite as well, but not sure since it isn't really my ideal profile to start. Cheers!

• HowellMountainCru commented:

  3/9/19, 6:14 AM - Cristal, Will post a review/comparison when my buddy Mark1npt gets back from SA. He'd be mad if I opened w/o him.. LOL. Keep up the great reviews. I always appreciate them. HMC

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