Community Tasting Note

• sid_loves_wine Likes this wine: 94 points

  January 9, 2022 - I thought this was pretty gorgeous for $35, maybe not fully realized at this stage (especially structure-wise) but still beautifully balanced and delicious without relying on underripe grapes. So many otherwise amazing Washington cabs seem to lean on excessive green tones and underripe fruit to achieve balance- this shows perfectly ripe fruit, solid oak, and uncommonly well-integrated green.
  
  Not a super expressive nose but not shy either- shows a lot of creme de cassis, spiced blackberry pie, rich but very taut, not even approaching baked or jammy. This is combined with a little touch of toasty oak, almost buttery like like a solid Napa, but tempered with a super subtle bitter note, maybe closest to dark coffee. As time went on the oak and earthy notes merged to show crazy vivid baking spices, nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice, etc. The fruit always took center stage. Such a gorgeous nose here- genuinely reminded me of the Long shadows feather, nearly twice the price.
  
  The palate was a little more awkward. The fruit is pretty bright, still mostly blackberry and plum but notably acidic and high-toned. I love that, such fantastic energy, but the tannins are genuinely harsh and dusty right now too. They linger long after the fruit and acids fade, making this pretty difficult to drink much of without food- or without further aging, which would be effortless here. Way more than enough fruit, acid, structure, and complexity to go the distance. About to try the 2019 Ciel du Cheval vineyard to compare, $10 more.

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2 Comments

• ChrisinCowiche commented:

  1/10/22, 1:09 PM - Very nice note, thanks for sharing. 2018 was a pretty ripe/hot vintage overall, so not surprising. I have almost a case of this but will leave it alone for a while since I have older JBN as well. What do you put as a drinking window on this wine?

• sid_loves_wine commented:

  1/10/22, 6:07 PM - Hey there, thanks for the kind words. I think if you have nearly a case of this, I'd try one now to see what I mean and drink the rest over a decade or even a little longer. It's brooding but not inexpressive; it's tannic and rugged, but also charming and would be doubly so with a good steak or something. I'd say this could easily improve with 5 years, even more with 10, would probably be just fine into 15 but compared to the 2019 Ciel du Cheval (I'll post my note soon) it's lacking just a little stuffing and acidity, even with plenty of both in its own right.

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