Community Tasting Note

• msuwine wrote: 94 points

  March 1, 2020 - This rich and extracted Cabernet is a bit top-heavy at the moment, though it may improve in another year or so. Much more of a bruiser than the 2012 Fairchild LPV I tasted earlier this week, this wine has an abundance of fruit, with some tannin, and even less acidity. I'm not saying its unbalanced (at least for a modern Napa Cabernet), but - if anyone says this is light in the mouth - do not trust their judgment.
  
  Dark purple in color and full (I mean heavy cream full) in body, the wine offers evocative aromas of boysenberry, bay leaf, baking spices, fresh leather, and pencil lead. Tastes of blueberry pie, crushed gravel, sage, and scraped metal, with a juicy and sweet finish. 14.5% alcohol.
  
  I confess to not having figured out the Fairchild label yet. If the LPV I had earlier this week had too much finesse, this wine had too little. 93-94 for now, though it could be more impressive if it calms down in a year or two.

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3 Comments

• HowellTime commented:

  6/26/20, 4:58 AM - Good Morning,
  
  So after reading your reviews on the three 2012 Fairchild wines it’s refreshing to see honest views of a cult style wine. Sigaro is by far my favorite of the series, the vineyard is nuzzled just above Lake Hennessy bordering Howell mountain, which is my favorite AVA. These are great wines and a great consulting wine maker (philippe melka), but at the end of day it is just four glasses of wine !!!

• msuwine commented:

  6/27/20, 9:54 AM - Thanks, Howell - I appreciate the comment. I'm always pleasantly surprised when some of these more expensive producers don't blow me away. (It's a lot more painful, at least to the wallet, when you fall in love with them!)
  
  I saw your favorite region was Howell Mountain, which I've dabbled in (but don't claim to know). So what would be your favorite wine? I've been impressed with Dunn, La Jota, Arkenstone, and Abreu, but I'm always on the lookout for recommendations. Thanks again for the comment.

• HowellTime commented:

  6/28/20, 5:27 AM - Where to begin? Howell mountain wine is what made me fall in love with wine. For me, it started with White Cottage, now they make wine under a new label called Round Two. As for wines like Dunn, it is a great wine that requires a long rest. The owner and family are great people, Randy and his son Mike are very down to earth. Randy Dunn is a trip, he swears his just a farmer that turned out to make some pretty good wine. His son Mike and his wife make a nice petite Sirah called Retro Cellars. For me, Cabs have gone up in price so much for daily drinkers I like to enjoy a nice Zin, Turley has several vineyards on the mountain and they are all great with tons of aging capability. If you can find some from the early 2000’s they are hitting their stride. My favorite would be La Jota and Ladera. La Jota is now made by Chris Carpenter who also makes Cardinale and Lokoya, but a fun fact during the mid-90’s Anniversary series was made by Heidi Barrett.

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