Community Tasting Note

• Crunge Does not like this wine: 70 points

  February 12, 2022 - I have determined that my tastes simply do not align with Bevan. Having never had any Bevan before, I bought the 2016 Ontogeny and this wine. I thought the Ontogeny tasted like a wine that used massive quantities of oak to cover up bad fruit, a la 19 Crimes or Caymus (yes, I said it.)
  
  Tonight I opened this inky black monster. I took a sip at open and it was quite astringent, but I was planning on a long decant so no worries. I decanted for four hours and it was consumed over the following 90 minutes.
  
  So let's see... It's impenetrable to light. It is completely flabby with no tannic structure at all. And the dominant flavor? Wet cardboard. First glass was alone, second small glass was with a ribeye. Gave up after that.
  
  I appreciate that many of you enjoy this wine, including tasters I respect and with whom my tastes normally align. I, however, find nothing appealing about this wine and wonder what Bevan does that so offends my palate.
  
  (For the record, when I reviewed the Ontogeny, someone asked if I'd had any decent Napa cabs for comparison. Yes.)

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9 Comments

• ChrisR commented:

  2/13/22, 5:25 AM - If "wet cardboard" was really the dominant flavor, your wine was corked and should be recorded as "flawed."

• Quiet Lion commented:

  2/13/22, 7:41 AM - wet cardboard = corked

• Crunge commented:

  2/13/22, 8:06 AM - Thanks for the comments, guys, but it wasn't corked. I've had corked wines and this wasn't it. The wine smelled fantastic and my wife really enjoyed it. We usually agree on wines and she thinks I'm crazy not to have liked this.

• drmarc61 commented:

  2/13/22, 9:56 AM - I would look for a 20 year old bottle of Seavey or Dunn. They are not like the overly extracted wine profile that you do not like.
  
  Overly extracted wines take a lot of skill to enable the component flavors to become nuanced and blend with the other flavors. My experience with Bevan is that with real age (10 years), these wines flow nicer on the palate.

• Quiet Lion commented:

  2/13/22, 10:24 AM - Very curious. I haven't opened my two bottles of this yet as I have found many Napa 2016 not ready for business. The EE and the Ontogeny are both blends, while most of Bevan's wines are 100% Cabernet Sauvignon or nearly so. Probably worth trying one for comparison, or, well, if you hate Beven there's plenty of other wine to drink!

• NickRut commented:

  2/13/22, 12:48 PM - Don’t think I’ve ever had a Bevan wine where I thought of wet cardboard. If anything I’d expect this to be all fruit and oak. Sorry you didn’t enjoy.

• Crunge commented:

  2/20/22, 3:58 AM - drmarc61, thanks for the note. I do enjoy Dunn, along with Keplinger Cab, Vineyard 29, and a number of others.

• Crunge commented:

  2/20/22, 4:05 AM - Quiet Lion, thanks for the comments. I'm not going to say I hate Bevan, but if either of these two wines I've tried is any indication, I don't like their style. While my wife didn't really enjoy the Ontogeny either, she really liked the EE. And like I said, some of the people I follow on here and respect like it, and you're one of those people.

• Crunge commented:

  2/20/22, 4:08 AM - NickRut, thanks for your note. In both Bevan wines I've had, the fruit was hidden by either oak (Ontogeny) or by whatever it was in the EE. I have one of each left and have no idea if I should hold them another 4+ years or just try to find someone to buy them.

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