Community Tasting Note
-
Cailles wrote: 97 points
May 19, 2022 - Scarecrow - Complete Vertical 2003-2019 + 2x PNV: Non blind. Not decanted. It is obvious, why Scarecrow has the status it has. This is truly one of the very best Napa wines. A few observations: 1) The absolute highlight in almost all vintages is Scarecrow’s ability to combine aromatic density and intensity with absolute weightlessness. Very, very few Napa Valley wines achieve that kind of weightlessness - other than Harlan, probably no other wine that consistently over the vintages. More recent vintages are of course a touch less weightless (due to their youth) but are as light and airy as any wine in the respective vintage. 2) The wines have a lot of substance with a flavor profile with lots of red berries and floral notes complementing the dark Cabernet fruits, always lots of earthy minerality and some herbs and sensuous, luxurious oaky notes reminding me of Cheval Blanc. 3) While probably Bordeaux-esque for Napa standards in its appearance, it is still distinctively a Napa wine. In the early years, I even found a touch too much ripeness and some alcohol heat in the wines which doesn’t seem to be an issue in the vintages of this decade. 4) These wines all are great to drink, only the structured vintages of 2010, 2013 as well as the 2016 were not really open for business and would have needed decanting. All others showed great right out of the bottle.
TN: This 2019 was pure magic and together with the 2013 the wine of the tasting for me. While it is obviously young, it shows so incredibly elegant and light, already a prefect balance, superb freshness and the finest tannins imaginable. The ripeness is kept well in checks which allows for many other more subtle aroma layers to shine through and render this wine highly complex, despite its youth. All the signature aromas are there on the nose and palate with the whole fruit spectrum from dark to blue and bright red fruit, floral notes, luxurious oak notes, sensual toast and coffee notes, earthy, herbal and minerality aromas. From start to finish greatness in the bottle and for sure contender for perfection.
Decanting: Not decanted, needs no decanting.4 people found this helpful 4,276 views
3 Comments
-
bsumoba commented:
6/14/22, 8:49 AM - Hi Cailles. Great TN. Just curious if you would decant if one were to open one soon. I want to give the 19' the best chance at showing its stuff.
-
Cailles commented:
6/14/22, 10:33 AM - Difficult to say. Every bottle is different. This bottle didn't need any decanting. Showed great right out of the gate. If you are just two to drink the wine and have time to follow it over a long time, it's worth it to follow it and experience all the stages the wine will go through. If not it probably needs a bit of air. I would open and taste it a few hours before the dinner. If it's closed you still can decant it otherwise decant it when dinner starts and follow it.
-
bsumoba commented:
6/15/22, 9:40 AM - Thanks Cailles. I do plan on pulling the cork a few hours before and maybe do a quick double decant back into bottle to give it some air.