Community Tasting Note
-
Mark1npt Likes this wine: 96 points
August 3, 2019 - Deep, dark, dense mountain fruit. Grippy tannins, tobacco, coffee and a hint of blueberry. This is a quality cab, from a quality vineyard and a quality winemaker. This has many, many good years ahead of it. No hurry for those of you holding these.
2,680 views
4 Comments
-
msuwine commented:
12/11/19, 6:15 PM - Hi Mark - I just stumbled across this set of reviews, and I must say I'm intrigued. How would you say the flavor profile here compares to the La Jota wines?
-
Mark1npt commented:
12/11/19, 7:53 PM - My friend....I am a LaJota member and love Chris Carpenter's wines, all of them. Cardinale, Lokoya, Mt. Brave, LaJota, etc......
Selah is a TRBrown product. The '16 release out now is the highest rated of the 3 vintages at 97 points. It is a '16 so how could anybody muck it up? Let alone TRB? I would say richer, deeper, every bit as well made as LaJota, with maybe a little bit more power to the fruit.....the biggest thing is the LaJota cab is now $150, Selah is $110. No doubt, the best Cab value on all of Howell Mtn. I'd buy this all day long and twice on Sundays............owned by Joe Blanton ex MLB pitcher who won a ring with my Phillies in '08. A great guy who will meet with you at his vineyard on White Cottage Rd up on Howell Mtn for a great tasting! The fruit is exquisite, maybe just a tad darker than the LaJota. You will NOT be disappointed. If by chance you are I will personally buy the bottles from you! Selahwines.com Tell Joe I sent you! (Mark Johnson) -
msuwine commented:
12/11/19, 9:36 PM - Thanks, Mark - you are quite convincing! I just ordered two of the 2016, one of the 2015. I guess $110 is the new $50 (or something), since it seemed affordable in comparison to the rest of the Napa craziness. I've had several of the TRB Howell Mountain projects (e.g., Outpost, Revana), but this one sounds like it might be a good fit.
As you may know, I'm also a huge fan of Chris Carpenter. I wasn't excited about the price increases with La Jota, either, though I still think it's an incredible wine (even though it's no longer an incredible value). Anyway, here's to Howell Mountain, and new discoveries, and so on. Thanks again! -
Mark1npt commented:
12/12/19, 6:18 AM - msu....you are most welcome. I think you will really enjoy both vintages....I am a big fan of CCarpenter, did a wine cruise with him to Italy last year and frequently sit down at the bar at Rutherford Grill to chat when I am out there. He is a great guy and a great winemaker but I may have to stop buying LaJota as much just because the costs keep rising. As I get closer to entering retirement, income will drop so stocking up the cellar now! Enjoy, my friend.