11/24/2020 - GQG wrote:

It's time to conclude the bottle shock test after letting this bottle sit a month in storage. Conclusion: well, this test, while interesting, didn't provide proof either way whether bottle shock is real or not. However, this bottle definitely outperformed last month's bottle, so there's a data point for y'all.

What I noticed the most now was that the perceived hollow mid-palate and lower acidity from last month's bottle have both really improved (5 hour decant both times) though it doesn't reach the high bar set by the 2016 LPV. The nose funk is still there, and if I had been tasting blind I would have guessed there was some Cab Franc blended in because of the herbal/sage notes... and the profile still seems different from a 100% Napa Cab Sauvignon from LPV. I'm looking forward to reading other CT notes on this wine.

11/21/2020 - WineBurrowingWombat Likes this wine:

Nose: [57°-62°] Ripe red and black fruits but with a bit of brightness, a touch of freshly shaved pencil, forest floor with a bit of vegetation like shrubs and grass. [64°] Purple flowers, buried ripe fruit and deep forest floor (this is after ~4.5 hrs).

Palate: [57°-62°] Slightly bright red fruits, a bit of cranberries, bitter minerals, a bit of heat and dry earth. [67°] Red fruits turn darker, deeper black earth and a bit of creaminess with plenty of time. The minerals are still there.

Attributes: Clear dark medium ruby. Dry with medium amounts of really fine grained but smooth tannin. Medium to medium-plus body with medium to medium-plus acidity. Decent finish of at about 12-14 seconds (for some reason got shorter with more time).

Thoughts: Probably too early to open at the moment (or maybe my bottle). I really hope it's just young, having a hard time putting itself together and needing a few years to grow and develop. There's some sort of pond aspect to this, along with the other bottles I've had recently, where it's like literally taking a sip of clean pond water, I don't know how I feel about that. Maybe once did this actually taste like something I enjoyed with an older vintage but I am keeping in mind that the older vintage has a few years on this one. The earth, fruit and minerals are still there but just may need time to really develop into something. Like the others in the Carter line up, might want to wait a few years before trying. 94-95 for my tasting tonight, not gonna put a score due to others reviews. It seems like it probably was just my bottle, $#!& maybe it's me.

Other notes: Bordeaux glass. Slow-ox'ed in bottle for the duration of consumption over 5 hours. Recommend to cellar for a few more years before opening.

9/20/2019 - Brett wrote:

A bit early to drink, but delicious just the same. Give it a couple more years.

8/20/2017 - Troon wrote:

Opened this bottle to see if it's worth the continued price increases. The wine has been in my cellar since release. I decanted it for two hours. It took another hour to really open up. There are still a lot of tannins, and I believe the wine has a good 10 years left in it. I got red and black fruit on the nose. I thought there was blue fruit on the palate once it started showing life. The finish was medium. The wine is really good. I'm just torn on it compared to other wines available at $125 for the current release. I also have the 2013 and 2014.

7/30/2017 - Shaun Mondavi wrote:

Now here we go! I've had like 5 bottles of this and they've been getting better each time. Not sure why the variation but this last one was delicious. Nose of blueberry, blackberry, chocolate covered raspberry and minerals. Fresh and really nice. I think the first bottle I has was either off or in a dumb phase.

6/3/2017 - Andres' Cellar wrote:

Part of an 08- 14 vertical

6/2/2017 - #1Winelover Likes this wine:

WOTN and it sure was an interesting tasting: Carter's '14 LPV, Chat du Pape '10 (100 points), Continuum '08 and a 1st growth Grand Cru Bordeaux from 1985. I listed these in order of preference for both of us (a good friend).

The Carter LPV needed 2 hours in a wide bodied decanter and it was just awesome. It tasted like a Carter/Mike Smith/Las Piedras Vineyard wine. 1st off, the bottle was very heavy :). 2nd, the wine was awesome. Typical LPV notes of dark purple and blue/red fruits, lots of minerality and charcoal and chocolate on the finish. Mike did a really nice job with this wine. It's 98 now, but it could go higher as it really needed more than 2 hours of a decant. It's ready, but will be better in a year or three. Enjoy it -- I am very confidant that you will!

11/21/2016 - #1Winelover wrote:

This was the best from my tastings, but still just ok -- for the price. It is a nice dark big boy, but not for the price. I don't know what happened at Larkmead, except they jacked the price up 30-50% and reduced the quality of the wine.