6/27/2018 - Yack Man Likes this wine:

Great wine, as noted before, ripe dark fruit, a hint of plums, currents, blackberries, and a dusting of coco with some time under its belt. A real nice Cab for the money.

1/3/2018 - blarmston Likes this wine:

Similar notes to my previous experience back a couple weeks ago.

Simply put- one of the best $65 wines I've ever had.

This would compete with offerings 3X this price...

10/16/2017 - Griffeyfan04 Likes this wine:

This is what I am talking about. Pure class with velvety tannins and blue fruits abound with a hint of vanilla oak. Dense yet soft. Can’t wait to drink my remaining bottles with a good decant or a few more years to evolve

6/29/2017 - csimm wrote:

2015 Myriad & Quivet lineup (Carter Cellars (Envy Wines) - Calistoga): Unbelievable showing for such a young wine. The first sip forces you to stop what you’re doing, take a breath, sit back in your chair, and smile (at least that’s what I did). It commands your attention, but not by grabbing ahold of you. The Empyrean is all about a seemingly effortless production of flavors. It’s the siren in the scarlet dress who saunters by you without saying a word. You can't help but be transfixed on where this wine is taking you. And how effortlessly it takes you on its journey is what is the most interesting part of this wine’s delivery. Completely enveloping core purple and red fruit, with a youthful but regal frame; a majestic and suave sashay of flavors that finishes with a remarkable smoothness.

This is truly the GIII version of the 2015 Myriad Crane Elysian. In a near-identical display of sophistication and finesse as the Elysian, this Empyrean carries all of the luxurious polish of the Elysian, but while still retaining the concentration of what the GIII site has to offer.

The noticeable difference between the standard GIII and the Empyrean is absolutely in the delivery. The GIII is all about core fruit power and concentration. It rushes up on you and inundates the palate with wonderful a** kicking fruit and authority. The Empyrean carries that GIII intensity, but delivers it in a more focused and finessed fashion. It is as if it has a more purposeful methodology, a more cerebral yet sensual way of stimulating the palate. The glide on the Empyrean is extraordinary, with not a rough edge to be found.

This is not simply a best barrel reserve version of the standard GIII, but rather from different, cooler blocks from the GIII site. This may partially account for the beautiful control and poise this wine offers. Many folks will adore this wine, especially those who find the powerful fruit of the GIII to sometimes be too consuming and intense. The Empyrean epitomizes the contrasting symphony between control and opulence. I love both the standard GIII and this Empyrean equally, but for different reasons. If you want bold power and intensity and feel like watching Robocop in 4K Ultra HD, reach for the GIII. If it’s a Fred Astaire night and you find yourself wearing a tux, then it’s a night for the Empyrean.

Squirrel away the few bottles you might have been able to get your lucky little hands on and leave them alone for another year+. 99+ points.

6/11/2017 - Badmonkey wrote:

My father brought over this bottle. Once again, dark blue and black fruit - blueberry, blackberry, and currants. Really smooth mid-palate coupled with a beautiful purity and solid depth - this bottle showed a little more depth/complexity than the last bottle a couple months ago. Nice full flavors of dark blue berries. Fairly long/deep finish. Really drinking quite well now. I'm still inclined to lay the other bottles down a little longer as recommended by the winemaker but I was really impressed with this bottle at this stage. 96 points might be too low.

6/5/2017 - Badmonkey wrote:

A friend brought this over for the Cavs/Golden State game. Dark blue/black fruit with a touch of red - blueberry, blackberry, currants, and a little dark raspberry. Really smooth mid-palate (seamless transition from beginning to end), however, the fruit came across rather light. Solid finish but not overly long nor deep. Decanted for one hour and drank over another three. Not much improvement with time. I believe this wine is likely in a transition phase. Barrel tasted this wine last May just before bottling and I thought it showed extremely well - just a notch below the 2014 Myriad G3 and 2014 Myriad Beckstoffer Dr Crane Elysian. Although all three have softened/lightened-up over the past year which is no surprise, the Kenefick has clearly lightened-up the most. Going to continue laying my other bottles down for another 6 months or so as recommended by the winemaker - hopefully it fills-out some.

1/22/2017 - Cristal2000 Likes this wine:

Picked this up on Last Bottle for $59. Rich purple/ruby in the glass. Notes of smoked meat, charcoal, forest floor and blueberries. In many ways, the bouquet reminded me more of a Syrah than a Cab. Medium bodied with nicely integrated sweet tannins, its spicy on the pallet with a nice mix of fruit and earthy elements. Not a ton of depth and the finish is not very long, but still quite pleasant to drink if a tad sweet. Needs a decent decant to show its best. Still young and has time.

11/16/2016 - csimm wrote:

I gotta honestly say I don't know how anyone is drinking this right now without some SERIOUS airtime. PnP was like drinking cranberry juice. An hour in the decanter did next to nothing in terms of opening up anything beyond a wound up ball of acidic red fruit-ish tonalities. Bitter cranberry, pomegranate, tart red currant, unripe boysenberry. After 30 minutes, my palate was still numb. Back in the bottle it went for the next day. No way to accurately rate it right now except to say it is waaay too young to be messing with right now. This was even more clamped down than a Roy Piper (which is predominantly Moulds) I had a while back. Such the temper-tantrum toddler this Becklyn was.

We shall see what tomorrow brings, but for now, I'd say 2018++ before I mess with this again.

RECAP & DAY 2: The exact treatment this received the first day was PnP and into a decanter for 30 minutes. Vigorous swirling in the decanter at 54 degrees. About a 2 oz pour to make the aforementioned assessment - ultimately on the first day there was next to no change in flavor after the brief decant. Back in bottle, corked for 24 hours at 54 degrees.

Now at DAY 2 this monster was starting to show its much more considerate side. Notes of red and purple berry fruit, especially a red raspberry flavor. Not really any black fruit here (possibly faint black currant, but more on the red currant side of things). Also dominated by brambly fruit flavors of huckleberry and boysenberry, which added interest, with almost a mountain fruit quality about it. The faintest hint of violets?

A little bit of sweetness and bitterness competing on the back end (still obvious signs of its youth), but night and day in terms of accessibility compared to day one. The extreme tartness has subsided considerably, with more of a "pleasant" clamp on the palate from the finish (again, blame youth) but managed to frame out the fruit nicely. The candied dark red licorice sweetness was fairly delicate and reminded me a little of a better version of the sweetness I get from a young Quivet.

Once it warmed up to a cool room temperature (63 degrees) in the glass, it started to grab my attention more. It started to move from a 90-91 point wine into a 92-94 point wine. I was trying to pay specific attention to the progression of this wine in open air over the course of the next 4 hours. More and more air locked this into a 92-94+ point wine for me at the moment. I still saved a bit in the bottle for day 3, so we shall see how that goes.

DAY 3: Fairly shut down at this point. The viscosity has thickened and the fruit deepened some, but it is a little muted now. Time to leave the remaining bottles alone for another 2 years in my opinion. I'll revisit in late 2018. Still shows promise. 93++ points.

9/2/2016 - Cristal2000 Likes this wine:

Coravin pour with about 30min of air in the glass. Complex nose of tobacco, graphite, boysenberry and blackberry. Fairly red fruit profile, forward, medium bodied, with a decent amount of tannic backbone and spine. Flavors alternating between fairly sweet red fruit and more earthy notes. The finish is lacking a bit in length, despite the tannins being sweet and fine. A little disjointed at the moment, and could probably use a lengthy decant if enjoying early. I think this wine will take a little while to come around, but could evolve nicely. Fruit is a little red for my tastes overall, and seems to reflect a bit of a cooler more southern Napa Valley profile. First time with Becklyn and although I enjoyed it, based on this one experience I'd have to say I think I enjoy Myriad quite a bit more based on vineyard sources.

8/22/2016 - csimm wrote:

Quick impromptu tasting with Mike Smith during a pick-up of my Carter/Myriad/Quivet wines. This was poured via Coravin and allowed just a little time for air with some swirling in the glass.

Well, there's not a lot I can really add to the conversation that hasn't already been detailed by the spot-on notes of Bluegoose, Yack Man, Cristal, and AG Everett. I pretty much share the same sentiments about this GIII. (But I'll still blather-on a bit about this wine...)

For me, the GIII was a kick in the pants from the very first sip. The nose got me just before it hit the palate; then, a rush of vibrant (and slightly coiled-up) red, blue, and black fruit flavors. Kicking out blackberry, red and black currant, red and black raspberry liqueur, blueberry, some bitter dark chocolate, wet blue-grey slate, licorice/anise, and a little tinge of vanilla and alcohol on the finish.

Though amazingly approachable considering the lack of initial air this wine had, I actually found it to have more structure than any of the young GIIIs I've had in the past (Myriad or otherwise). In fact, it was the beautiful spine this wine had (cradling all of those coiled-up fruit flavors) that really elevated the overall experience of this GIII for me. It had a lock-and-loaded feeling about it - which I like, as though another year or two in bottle would catapult this wine into really exploding-out its core fruit and spice flavors in an amazing way.

Served after the 2014 Myriad Napa Cabernet, which was noteworthy itself; however, after having the GIII, it was a little hard to remember the standard Cabernet. Both were great, but the GIII was an awesome freight train of flavors and coiled-up intensity. And with a sub-$100 price tag, it's not even worth debating what a find this wine is.

I would hold until mid-2017. I personally am not worried about the 2014 GIII's fruit get muddled in any way in the near future, as I found this to be amazingly structured. That said, I hope to be able to better evaluate this wine at another time at home with some proper air time, following it throughout the day to see how it opens up.

95-97 point potential for me on the GIII. Great stuff!

8/10/2016 - Yack Man Likes this wine:

Attractive nose, dark fruit, blackberry, cassis and blueberry, excellent character, depth, and refinement. A very nicely constructed, beautiful, sleek, yet powerful Cab. Unlike its 2013 brother, this Las Piedras will benefit with bottle age but can be enjoyed now with an nice decant. Two Thumbs up Mike. 96+ Points.

7/31/2016 - Silveradoup wrote:

So much sulfur on the nose, it is all you can smell. Hugely flawed

5/27/2016 - csimm wrote:

Very similar to my CT notes from 11/7/2015 except I do agree with others that the intensity has shifted a bit, but not much (in my opinion). I was still very much drawn to the core fruit and depth this wine had; there was a decent spine and verve to hold the flavors together nicely. I thought it had the energy to carry it through the three hours we were drinking it. I personally did not experience it as having lost significant or notable flavor. (I had the 2012 version recently, and it indeed had rounded-out quite a bit, losing just a bit of that wow factor for me).

Based on others' previous notes, I did not decant this 2013 GIII throughout the whole bottle. I was concerned that too much air might cause it to lose that "punch" too early. It was a PnP, small pours in the glass, and the remaining bottle was stored at 54 degrees in the interim as we sipped and refilled our glasses throughout the evening. This seemed to be a good form of service for this wine at present. It didn't get too much air all at once, but it was just enough in the glass to allow the fruit to emerge while still holding a good frame.

True to form, GIII fruit isn't exactly known for it's tightly knit, coiled-up profile. I frequently experience it as a more rounded, plush style in general (though Mike Smith really brings out some nice power that I don't always experience in GIII fruit). Roy Piper had recently mentioned to me that fruit from GIII can come off "structureless" (which is why he adds Moulds Vineyard to his wine to tighten it up). Anyway, I just thought that was interesting given the string of notes on this particular wine.

I actually think it is drinking really nicely now. Cruises in that 93-95 point range for my preference. For me, I'll be drinking these sooner than later (along with the 2013 Myraid standard Cabernet), while the Cranes and Twins rest for a bit.

9/18/2015 - Yack Man Likes this wine:

Delicious! It is too bad that the cost of their standard Napa Cabernet is at the $125 price point. I have 4 bottles left and I will enjoy them. There are Cabs out there that are just as good (or better) for less money. I have enjoyed these wines, but they have priced themselves out of my league at this time. Too bad. WS gives this vintage 86 Points? I don't like the price gouge, but this wine is one of best Napa Valley Cab's I have tasted from them. I'll say it once more, too bad Larkmead..... Arrivederci!

2/16/2014 - Rktekt3 wrote:

I actually scored this a 92. But i want to make up for the guy who rated it an 80.