Big scale wine, strong oak, pineapple, mildly corked.

Really complex “natural wine” nose displaying sweet yellow fruit, apricot preserve, orange marmalade, SQN Roussanne, acacia honey, smoked meat and sweet spices. Beautifully balanced palate, concentrated sweet yellow fruit, rich and opulent, good acidity, medium mineral and a long apricot preserve and honey driven finish. The finish is bone dry due to the tannins. According to Mark, mostly Chardonnay with a long period of skin contact. Really fascinating and enjoyable wine.

Medium expressive oak dominant nose, yellow tropical fruit and pepper. Surprisingly, medium concentration, tropical fruit, lacking acidity and mineral, and a medium finish with noticeable oak at the end. Lacking intensity and concentration of the 12 Aubert. As the result, the oak note gets really amplified.

Medium expressive nose displaying pure white fruit, pear, white peach, lemon, a hint of candied orange peel, spicy spices, beeswax and steely mineral. Beautifully integrated focused palate, nicely layered concentrated pear fruit, good purity, slightly lacking acidity, steely mineral and a long clean and cool white fruit driven finish with a hint of heat at the end. The lack of acidity is compensated by the strong steely mineral. This remains very youthful and fresh. Very nice showing.

This wine brings back a lot of fond memories of drinking with Robert Callahan and the old crew, over twenty years ago. Bright yellow color. Classic Baumard nose displaying candied lemon, lemon peel, smoke meat, wet sox, burn sugar, oyster jus and oyster shell. Beautifully integrated palate, very precise and harmonious, medium acidity, steely mineral and a medium to long candied citrus driven finish with oyster shell at the end. I and Jim love it and others place at the bottom which is not surprising. This is a classic Baumard Savennieres.

Expressive focused nose displaying ripe yellow tropical fruit, pineapple, passion fruit, fresh apple with a pinch of cinnamon, lemon curd, pine needle, spicy spices and limestone. Excellent concentration, concentrated ripe yellow fruit, bright acidity, strong mineral and a long concentrated yellow fruit driven finish. Mark mentions no heat on the nose but in the palate and I agree. It has calmed down a bit and the oak/sesame component is not as pronounced.

Classic Cali cab nose displaying cremes de cassis, blackberry, ink, dark bitter chocolate, lead pencil, lavender and crushed rock. Excellent concentration, layers upon layers of crème de cassis, silky and precise, bright acidity, strong mineral, a hint of slightly coarse tannins and a long concentrated pure black fruit driven finish with lavender and lead pencil at the end. There is a hint of bitterness at the end. It is very youthful and structured wine, reminds me the 07 Dunn Howell Mountain a bit. Hopefully it will develop like the 01.

Perfectly mature yet youthful nose displaying perfectly ripe black fruit, crushed blackberry and blueberry, blackberry jelly, a hint of plum wild flowers, lead pencil, a hint of cedar and earth. Beautifully integrated youthful palate, nicely layered black fruit, silky and polished, bright acidity, earthy mineral, fine tannins and a long sweet fresh black fruit driven finish with lead pencil at the end. Drinking beautifully in a very youthful way.

This has developed beautifully. Really sexy Napa cult nose displaying crème de cassis, blackberry jam, violet, milk chocolate, violet, vanilla, cedar, a hint of leather, dark spices, lead pencil and earth. The oak is very strong and seems to be heavily toasted. Exceptional concentration, layers upon layers of cassis, silky and round, bright acidity, still noticeable fine tannins, and a long opulent black fruit driven finish. It is a sexy opulent wine. If you are a fan of cult cab, you outta try a bottle. It is drinking so well that I don’t see a point of waiting.

Expressive nose displaying crème de cassis, crushed blackberry, a hint of plum, lavender, lead pencil, cedar and limestone dust. Beautifully integrated youthful palate, slightly lean pure black fruit, silky and polished, slightly lean, bright acidity, strong mineral presence, silky tannins and a long clean finish with lead pencil and lavender at the end. A nice contrast to the 05 as this is a classic Napa cab.

Expressive youthful nose displaying pure black fruit with a hint of red, crushed blackberry and blueberry, red currant, violet, ink, lead pencil, cocoa powder and cedar. Fully integrated harmonious palate, nicely layered pure black fruit, silky and polished, slightly lean, perfect amount of acidity and mineral, and a long pure black fruit finish with lead pencil and cedar at the end. This is surprisingly lean. Some love the balance and others are disappointed by the lack of opulent fruit. I am liking it.

Big scale black fruit driven wine. There is a slight hint of TCA. Some think the bottle is off but not TCA tainted.

Explosive nose displaying crème de cassis, blackberry liqueur, black cherry, caramel, vanilla, flower and limestone dust and a hint of lead pencil. Unbelievable concentration, layers upon layers of intense ripe black fruit, unctuous, 10W-40, bright acidity, strong mineral, very fine tannins and never ending finish. This is a monster scale Napa cult.

Served blind to others as RJ showed me the wine before wrapping. Beautiful clearly red with yellow brown rim. Fully mature nose displaying very ripe red fruit, cherry, cherry liqueur, sous bois, smoke meat, ash, animal and earth. Fully integrated palate, subtle sweet red fruit, lean and fluid, bright acidity, fully resolved tannins and a medium to long subtle cherry fruit driven finish with ash and animal at the end. This reminds me the 81 Torres Gran Coronas Reserva Reserva a bit but even subtler fruit. Most guess as old school Cab. Mark gets the vintage right but wrong continent. I imagine this would have been extremely ripe and almost unpleasant in the first ten to twenty years. This is a classic Musar.

Perfectly mature expressive nose displaying slightly dry yellow and red fruit, apricot, dry apricot, peach, orange peel, red tea, burnt sugar, honey, sweet spices and mineral. Fully integrated palate, very finely layered concentrated sweet yellow fruit, silky and weightless, medium acidity and a long sweet dry yellow fruit driven finish with burnt sugar and tea at the end. This is a very youthful bottle. I thought it was a bit hot when I had in 2012. Excellent showing and I am not a big fan of Gewurztraminer.