6/7/22, 11:24 AM - Too funny csimm! Glad you added in a PS that you liked it. One of my Bevan reviews confused some people who weren't sure if I liked it or not so I should have done the same. Bought my allocation today as well, Mark.
6/7/22, 1:31 PM - Csimm, I agree that a Bevan Mega Monster at the right time and place is special because not many Napa Vineyards can do it as well and there's nothing like it anywhere else in the world. Well, Barossa has a few Mega monsters that I love too, and likewise there's nothing like those anywhere else in the world. I always say it's nice to have choices.
6/7/22, 3:36 PM - Rusden Black Guts is one, especially if you can find the 2005, 2006, or 2007 which have aged really well.
5/22/22, 3:50 PM - Nice note Badmonkey, think I'll grab this vintage from the cellar tonight.
1/30/22, 6:12 AM - Hi #1, it's a brand that was made by Rudd and sold in the Oakville Grocery Store. After Rudd died they sold off all of them and that's when I bought them. A new company bought the name in 2016 but I don't know anything about their production or their wines. I doubt the 2013-2015's are available anywhere because it was only sold through the one store in Oakville. l had the same problem looking around for the 2013 Trespass Cab. My tasting notes are just to let other holders know its current state.
11/19/21, 9:34 PM - Thanks WB, I was like a kid in a candy store jumping from left bank to right bank and across the various appellations. At the end of the night I could see that a pattern had emerged in my preferences. Sampling 39 wines in a number of hours lets one zoom out and get a bigger picture of at least Right Bank/Left Bank preference instead of trying to figure it out wine by wine. It's only a snapshot in time but it was interesting.
11/20/21, 5:02 AM - #1, I feel exactly the same way as you about Bordeaux wines! At this point in my life I'm nearing the time where I would be buying some Bordeaux wines for my kids instead of me, so it's nice to find some wines with accessibility now or in the near future. It seems that some Bordeaux winemakers are modifying their approach to allow early access, which causes stuck-pig squeals from some traditionalists but for me it's nice when I can find such a wine. Let me know how you like the Domaine de Chevalier Rouge. I overheard good things said about the Domaine de Chevalier Blanc, too, if that's of interest to you.
11/18/21, 6:00 AM - Great review! I have the 2017 and 2018 in the cellar but haven't tried either one. Now I'm really curious and have a green light thanks to your review.
11/18/21, 6:27 AM - So many memes come to mind, most of them inappropriate! But the wine...! :)
11/18/21, 7:00 AM - Nope, you weren't inappropriate, it's the memes that, well, I'm looking forward to trying this wine. lol
7/28/21, 5:36 AM - This 2013 is back again at Vivino (last time?) for 59.99. I still believe the 2013 takes top honors vs. the 2014, and both are great.
7/28/21, 8:43 AM - Mark, lol -- your deep cellar gives you the best of all worlds -- selectively jump on current deals or just cruise on aged gems from your cellar. Nice work, my friend!
7/28/21, 8:49 AM - Cab -- like you, I laid down a lot of the 2013 Reserve and also their T5 (especially 2013 T5). The performance of the 2013 T5 over the 2014 T5 is pretty noticeable and I see that translate in to their respective Reserve bottles, too. But like I said, they're both really good. Mark -- do you really think the 2013 can go another 10 years? I don't have that sort of experience with Napa Cabs.
7/28/21, 9:15 AM - I got my T5s directly from Hartwell on sale at $140 which gave me the chance to taste them for a much better price than the $225 list. They're a bit deeper and fuller than the Reserve, but no way they're ~3x better based on the deeply discounted Reserve price. Get a T5 to try one out, sure, but I'd spend most of my "Hartwell" budget for the Reserve.
7/28/21, 9:36 AM - Cab, I just picked up a few 2014 Merlots from Hartwell today on Vivino because, well, because it's a Hartwell... brand loyalty... ironically given to a brand that's no longer being produced, lol.
7/28/21, 9:50 AM - Interesting, CAB, as I live in Michigan. Who was selling it?
7/28/21, 10:07 AM - Thanks Cab, I sorta figured it was them as they're pretty active nationally by posting inventory on wine-searcher, etc.. Good folks there, a family run place where I stop in once in a while but never saw Hartwell on their floor. They have a bunch of wine upstairs in storage that is by request only, must be up there.
7/28/21, 10:17 AM - Red Wagon is another good place to find back vintages of some favorites. You know Michigan well!
7/28/21, 10:28 AM - Cab, thanks for the tip on Celani, will put it on my radar. Seems like I've had one at a restaurant but I know I've never bought any.
7/18/21, 5:15 PM - Thanks Mark, it's an interesting Super Tuscan blend from Napa. Some 2013's are still "on hold" but this one's surely ready.
7/18/21, 5:22 PM - It's hard to describe the effect that the small amount of Sangiovese adds to this wine... first analogy that comes to mind is the roundness that Merlot gives Right Bank blends. It's the chill version of a Cloudys Cab, and really good!
7/18/21, 5:38 PM - <...looking behind me...> Who're you bowing to? I'm just a wee beastie wine drinker posting my nonsense in front of God and Country for all to see. But if you try it, you might like it!
7/27/21, 2:56 PM - Thanks #1, and I wholeheartedly agree on Cloudy's being their best.
7/27/21, 4:44 PM - Yeah the special thing about Cloudy's is that it has such energy and balanced acidity to go with its earthiness and minerality. It's got a tension that is very uncommon in Napa.
7/1/21, 7:49 AM - Hi Mark - obviously I was also tempted and picked up 4 bottles on the chance this big conglomerate's higher end product would be a deal. It's good but at around $100 there are lots of other wines I would rate higher. 2015 as a vintage is really coming into a sweet spot right now and the immediate consumption aspect also helped me decide to buy them. If you lived closer we'd pop open a bottle and you could try it and decide for yourself! And it wouldn't stop there...
7/1/21, 8:02 AM - I'd say you made a good call on this one. Save up, 'cause Michigan has beautiful parks Carol won't want to miss!
7/1/21, 10:02 AM - Lol, exactly right on Whitmer, and bringing wine here is like bringing coal to Newcastle, no need, plus Carol will be less suspicious! ;)
7/22/21, 6:26 AM - It's surprising to me how much inventory is being released in various markets (not just Vivino) because this is supposed to be from only the "best" barrels. I guess if you're a big conglomerate like Sterling you have a lot of "best" barrels because you have a sh*tload of regular barrels.
7/18/21, 10:15 PM - I don't have any MM 2013's, but I can see there's a 2016 MM Dr. Crane in my near future... just 'cause, well just 'cause it's a MM and it's time to take its pulse again... and because it's a lonely place high up on the pedestal, with others always gunnin' for ya... which gives me reason to check in on it. BTW, I have no MM before 2015 so nothing to add here, sorry 'bout that. Well, I might add that I love Trespass!
7/18/21, 9:54 PM - The 2018 Turley Zinfandel Ueberroth Vineyard has a lot of promise. Stange that the 2016 Hayne is not ready/disappointing while their 2018 Ueberroth is currently coiled but unwinds into a good place in a few hours... based on vintages usually it's the opposite. For me the Ueberroth of any vintage is the pinnacle of their Zins... wonder why? Maybe old vines...
7/18/21, 9:44 PM - Second the Hartwell love, and Vivino is simply a great enabler... just do it and thank me later, lol, what everyone is saying!
7/16/21, 1:58 PM - Nice note, I just opened one and got the plum and lactic creaminess right away. Your other notes caught my eye, too.
6/21/21, 10:04 AM - Bad, #1, & Nick -- I was also surprised that it was good at PNP which is unlike most of the other 2018's I've tried to date. It's also encouraging that the 2019 is being compared to either '15 or '16 (both great vintages) with their release and therefore purchasing decision imminent.
5/4/21, 7:39 PM - Agreed Mark, there's no way I see this getting to a 97. It did seem more accessible than most 2018's at opening, which I guess is another way of saying that I'm predisposed to expect all 2018's to be tight and closed right now, and exceeding expectations is therefore a low bar to cross. It improved by a couple of points after 4 hours and the comparison to Becklyn et. al. is appropriate -- and these drinkable NV wines have their place and time :) I don't subscribe to any reviewers and had no prior knowledge of this wine before it was brought to my attention in an email blast, but if I had bought it thinking it was going to be a 97 I'd really be disappointed.
5/4/21, 9:47 PM - Cheers Mark, and on to the next bottle... that for me tonight is a 2016 Carter Three Kings, TN already posted... and there's always another one!
5/5/21, 4:46 AM - Mark, the '17 vintage is like a black hole in my cellar but drinking Carters early is usually a great plan!
5/5/21, 4:32 AM - By 4 hours it was very smooth and full but still in a primary way. It's my first bottle so I can't comment on how it's changed since being released, but it is delicious now. Well, I've previously opened another bottle but I didn't post a review. That was in late Feb. 2020 and it was when I realized I couldn't taste anything so I stopped posting tasting notes for the following few months. Ugh.
4/26/21, 9:26 PM - Go for it, Mark! And there's no worries about bottle shock because mine got here on Wednesday, where I promptly threw them in the pickup and drove 3 hours North to my cabin, left half there and drove back 3 hours today and then popped one open lol! I'm interested in your take as it's new to both of us.
3/2/21, 12:09 PM - LIOF, Cristal et. al., appreciated your comments and musings on this Crane and VV in general. I maxed out my VV allocation in 2019 because they quit removing the BBS barrels from the SVD wines (I got an M7 instead), because the 2020 VV is lost, and because Patrice and Samantha are excellent, quality folks that care deeply about their product. I didn't get their new label, though, which will wait until I have a chance to visit VV and try it out. Regarding the Realm/VV comparison, while they've both had pretty serious price creep year-over-year, the Vice Versa incredible purity of fruit in vintage after vintage continues to propel it to the top rung of Napa Cabs. I dropped Realm after 2016 because they don't deliver that same fruit purity for their increasingly higher prices, and it seems that price increases from them (or new wines with astronomical prices) are locked in for the long haul, come good or bad vintages. Realm has sunk such a boatload of capital into their new cellar and the purchase of the remaining Hartwell vineyard that it's inevitable.
1/24/21, 6:40 PM - Hi Ryan, I haven't had a bottle since my note in June 2020 and was hoping it'd fill out a bit and gain some mid-palate depth over the past 7 months. Sorry to hear it's still underperforming, although I have only a single bottle left. I've found most of the '17s are somewhat hollow. 2017 was a weird year in Napa that I generally take a pass on, although certain winemakers delivered quality despite the late heat, fires, loss of power, etc..
1/25/21, 4:22 PM - Sadly yes, 2020 was a disaster. 2019 is also iffy and those wines will need to be carefully chosen. Great plan to buy recent vintages! Go heavy on '13, '15, '16, and '18 with '16 being the top vintage in my experience. '15 is catching up, though!
12/20/20, 5:48 PM - Thanks Badmonkey for your early review of this wine. I laid in eight on that basis, first time ordering from Becklyn. I had one a few nights ago, and though I haven't yet reviewed it, I agree that it's dark, smooth, has nice energy, and is currently drinking well. The quality fruit is pretty pure for the price.
12/13/20, 8:12 PM - I have one open tonight (decanting for 3 hours now) and love the energy in this bottle (nod to Mark's TN.) AGELVIS, great TN, you're calling it out right... coffee, blackberry, firm tannins, accessible though! Glad I laid in a half case.
12/13/20, 9:34 PM - Hi Mark, 39 is what I paid, I didn't get it from the winery. Silencieux and Scout's Honor always show up at a good price in the secondary/wholesale market. I remain on the Venge mailing list for their Family Reserve.
12/13/20, 10:15 PM - I like Kirk's wines pretty much across the board and have visited the Venge winery, and I buy a lot of wine he makes from B Cellars, Trespass, Janzen Cloudy's, Marauder, and Macauley, and I'm sure I'm forgetting a few, so I don't feel bad saving a buck here and there. I'm helping to put his kids through college, and I don't even know if he has kids, lol!
11/29/20, 10:14 PM - LOL, welcome to the cult of Trespass lovers. First the Cab, then the Cab Franc, and before you know it the Rendezvous will be the next crave (Cab Franc/Cab Sauv). I bought a case of that! Such big wines from just 5 acres, although those acres sit right next to Beckstoffer's Dr. Crane. Actually I haven't had the pure Cab Franc, so thanks for this note!
11/27/20, 10:34 AM - Black Friday sale is on at the winery, $157 for every T5 including the 2013. Library wine on sale!
11/27/20, 10:55 AM - Sure is, I loaded up, and $1 shipping, too. Too bad the 2012 t5 is sold out, would have liked trying that one.
11/27/20, 4:05 PM - Haven't had the 2016 t5 but I heard that Realm has recently acquired the top of Wappo Hill in a second land purchase from Hartwell which is the source for the t5. The Hartwell Estate Reserve never got fruit from this part of the vineyard, only the t5. I'm quite sure (without any confirmation) that a future Realm Estate wine from this top spot will be among the most expensive wines of their offerings, so the 2016 t5 might be worth checking out now. For reference, the $350+ Realm Moonracer comes from the side of Wappo Hill, the same place as did the Hartwell Estate Reserve.
11/26/20, 11:57 PM - Thanks #1 for the early read on this new offering from Bevan!
11/25/20, 9:19 AM - Yes, hold for now. I wouldn't have opened this bottle if not for my bottle shock test. Whether (lack of) bottle shock or evolution was responsible, it's good to know the wine is moving in the right direction!
10/29/20, 11:15 PM - Nice review, it's so fine to find a great wine! It already earned a 100 from me.
11/3/20, 1:57 PM - I hit the road 2 days ago to Utah, Colorado, and Arizona to escape the craziness and go hike out in the wilderness. I took 4 bottles that drink above their price and wouldn't care so much if the airline lost them in the baggage: '16 VV Le Petit Vice, '15 GB Crane El Coco, '13 Hartwell Reserve, and a '16 Macauley Old Vine Zin. El Coco's gone, so think it'll be the Hartwell tonight.
11/3/20, 2:06 PM - Sedona starting Saturday, anywhere near you? What fun it would be to meet!
11/3/20, 2:08 PM - BTW, I'm leaving cell phone range in a few minutes, cruising outta Moab for CO... will contact you offline .
10/14/20, 8:02 PM - Nice note! My shipment is also en route and given your review it'll be hard to delay opening one quickly upon arrival. Is bottle shock really a thing?
10/14/20, 8:31 PM - Mark -- bottle shock like Sasquatch, ha, that's what I think, too. I've always waited a month or so and think it's high time to do a little science here by opening this LPV the day after arrival, having overnight-ed it in the cellar. Ya, it's not really science, it's my rebel streak that always questions the status quo and the "experts".
10/14/20, 9:25 PM - Sasquatch, bottle shock, Nessie from the Loch, and what a true Scotsman wears under his kilt, it's all a big mystery! I'll open one on day 1 and then another 1 month later, stay tuned.
10/15/20, 8:01 AM - Mark, the Dec. arrival makes it even harder for you to wait as the CT reviews during Nov. build up!Rob, like you, I've always waited a month or so to open. Although the results of one experiment won't settle the issue, I'm skeptical about the need to wait. And since skepticism is the basis of the scientific method, maybe it's science after all!Ah, Coravin, another topic! I have one, and haven't used it in over two years. The original capsule is still in it! After a few uses I thought it affected the taste too much. To be clear, I found the taste at re-opening to be "flat", though it seemed to recover somewhat after a half-hour. I switched to using resealable 375 ml glass bottles that I fully fill and cap immediately after popping the cork if I expect that the whole bottle will not be consumed. I can wholeheartedly vouch for this method of preserving the taste for weeks at least based upon a couple of years of experience. I know there are many ways folks use a Coravin, small sampling being one I can think of, so I'm not knocking the general Coravin concept. I'm just throwing my solution out there in case others have questioned the results after using a Coravin.
10/15/20, 8:35 AM - Mark, I didn't know there was a smaller needle available, that's interesting. I'm sure my needle is the "standard" larger one. Does the smaller needle work well on artificial corks as well as natural? Rob, ha, pop the cork and drain the bottle, that's the way!Another issue for me is that a Coravin won't work on my Aussie bottles with screw tops but 375 ml glass bottles do, labelled with washable "chalk" pens that write on glass. Winery labels are certainly nice to look at in many cases, but there's something special and fun about seeing a small bottle with "2012 Dunns HM" scribbled on it in the cellar. Don't know why!
10/24/20, 11:05 AM - OK, received this wine yesterday... so the first step in the bottle shock test starts today. I'll post a TN. I don't expect it'll prove anything really as there are too many uncontrolled variables. It's all for fun with a small potential for something of interest to emerge in a month or so.
10/28/20, 9:41 PM - What I found coming out of the bottle seemed very different from the bottle you had... and different from what I was expecting, too, as I bought a case of these. It's killing me to wait for a month to try another one.
10/25/20, 1:53 AM - Hi Mark, I wonder how much it'll change in a month from now when I try it again. You'll probably have your shipment by then.It had a really rough ride in the truck -- none of the bottles broke but all 4 Styrofoam corners were blown out and cracked off at the base of the bottles and I can't recall seeing that ever before -- thus a good candidate for bottle shock. :/
10/25/20, 10:07 PM - Agreed, jenmermaidia, seems like a lot less care is being taken in shipping recently, and also delivery times have stretched out with guaranteed transit times for ground not being honored. With all the online ordering I expect our wine has had various home gym barbell sets and lawn tractors stacked on top of it in trailers stuffed to the gills.Mark all good questions that I can't answer (and lol on the initials BS, that's my preconceived notion!) If this wine outperforms in a month from now it would raise the credibility of bottle shock in my mind. Certainly 1 month isn't long enough for the wine to improve much based on time in bottle alone. Badmonkey said Leah told him some of the 2018's will need a couple of years to fill out.
10/11/20, 6:31 PM - Delicious, yes, this wine stunned me!
10/7/20, 4:17 PM - Thanks Rich! The better the wine, the more offbeat my notes get, and drinking this 2012 Dunn Howell Mtn struck me as the perfect opposite of many Napa wines where "more cowbell" would fit right in, lol.I took a peek at your tasting notes and appreciated your coverage of, among other varietals, Zins and Petit Syrahs since good ones don't get enough love, IMO. Take care!
10/4/20, 6:48 PM - Good to read your review. I just picked up a couple of bottles of the '13, '14, and '15 T5 and was wondering about their current drinking windows. We've both enjoyed drinking the 2013 Estate Reserve but as of yet I've not had the T5.
10/4/20, 8:22 PM - Ya, we both picked up their special September offer. It was a no-brainer when I saw that the T5 vertical was paired with the 2013 Reserve instead of any of their other Reserve vintages. Thanks for sequencing my verticals MSU, 2013 first...
10/5/20, 9:53 AM - Sean, as I said, I jumped on the deal (2x) which works out to $85/Reserve and $140/T5. The 2013 Reserve is great and I was curious about their T5 but not enough to pay $225 so it was a nice opportunity to try the 3-year vertical. MSU -- I appreciate your posting of tasting notes on each of the three T5 vintages in the offering!
10/5/20, 11:03 AM - Equally unhelpful is that I also did the same as MSU plus added the 2018 Bevan Cab Franc which is intriguing to me. Good luck deciding!
10/4/20, 7:44 PM - Sean, thanks for posting that comment from Samantha. It launched me to search around for whatever 2016 was available on the secondary market, and I found a few magnums and regular bottles that are now in the cellar. This is a unicorn wine that drinks way above its price.
10/5/20, 10:12 AM - It'll be interesting to see how well Le Petit Vice ages since it was intended to be a loss-leader restaurant wine to introduce Vice Versa, and typically restaurant wines are meant to be accessible young and consumed pretty quickly after release. Not saying that's the case here, though, just wondering, and don't look to me for an answer since I won't be able to resist opening them!
10/4/20, 7:09 PM - I could drink Trespass every day and be happy (thanks Rob!) And lol at all the decanting religion breaking out all over CT in the reviews I've been seeing, and rightfully so! Air time can do good things to wine (yet sometimes not, YMMV.)
10/4/20, 7:56 PM - I always try to report decant time in my notes. There was a stretch there when I would pour half a bottle into the decanter and keep the other half (minus my glass full) in the bottle to see which worked out better over time. It made a difference in many cases. Usually the thinner mouthfeel wines did better decanting in the bottle, and the tannic beasts did better in the wide-based decanter. That's what I learned so I don't do that anymore, I just sip it PnP and guess which way to decant. CSIMM among others is a fan of decanting at cellar temps, but I usually do it at room temp. If a wine is unfocused or disjointed, then I'll cool it down to corral the lil' bugger.
10/4/20, 8:38 PM - Ya, if you're in a hurry to PnP then it's savvy to pick the right vintage/bottle. That's one of the best things about CT, all those folks reporting in about the current state of their wines. Many Napa wines do benefit from decanting. However, that said, I'm *really* sure you enjoyed those previous bottles so there's no looking back! Them's the rules.
10/4/20, 8:57 PM - I hate f***in' losing, too! lol
9/25/20, 7:36 AM - One would think I'd be drinking Lindstrom wines since I live in the Detroit area! This entry level wine was good enough that I have hopes their other offerings will be very good. The Black Aces I got are 2018 vintage so those have been released.
9/21/20, 1:05 PM - Wow, high score from you! Many will know Maayan Koschitzky from La Pelle as the assistant winemaker for Vice Versa but I just found out. I'm getting a few to check it out, thx!
9/22/20, 11:03 AM - No worries, I like great wines and styles from all around the planet, not just a particular style from Napa (though that Smith/TRB/Bevan style is always near the top IMO.) Anyone who takes a peek at my consumption list is going to see it ping pong all over the place from Italian Amarone to Barossa to Rioja to Stellenbosch in South Africa to Bordeaux. I try hard to be consistent in my tasting notes which is the only way anybody can develop trust over time (some might say consistently goofy, ya I can accept that lol.) Speaking of which, trusting your notes I found 4 of these 2016 La Pelle Reserves in NC yesterday and they're already on the truck! It's a new brand for me so I'm super excited to try one and post a note!
9/11/20, 5:57 PM - #1Wine, I use decanting to flex the drinking window a little bit, but the best way to understand how a wine is performing is reading the notes right here on CT from all the great contributors, yourself included!
9/11/20, 6:03 PM - Hi John, you guessed right, had to cancel many planned trips and my Round-the-World tickets sit in limbo with no itinerary booked, just "open". Once the snow starts flying here I'm heading out to CO/UT/AZ for some hiking and R&R. Guess I'll see you once OWC starts having tastings again, whenever that happens. Crazy world, enjoy good wine!
9/7/20, 6:03 PM - Thanks Nick, wine is fun for me (I'm not in the wine business) and as the wine gets better my reviews tend to get more goofy. I pity the international reader that tries to translate this one. Enjoy your remaining bottles!
8/22/20, 7:55 PM - Vivino. It comes off as brawny at first but smooths out after 2 hours.
8/23/20, 8:11 AM - Once in a while their email blast specials offer nice Napa cabs at good prices. Their website pricing is more average. I've taken advantage of good email deals on Drinkward Peschon, Von Strasser, Raymond, Paydirt Going for Broke, Delectus, Vine Cliff, Highlands, Alpha Omega, World's End, Elyse, Caspar, Rocca, Erikson & Caradin, Bello, Durant & Booth, and Beau Vigne to name a few. Wait, Paydirt is from Paso Robles, not Napa, but the '16s and '18s are amazingly good and will only set you back 19.99, that's a case buy right there.
7/5/20, 1:16 PM - M, thanks for your notes as well. I've been sitting on a few of these without trying one, and when the 2018 Quivet offering came around recently I had to decide between Pellet and Kenefick. I considered Kenefick in part based on your notes on the 2016.
7/5/20, 2:48 PM - I picked up both the 2018 Pellet and 2018 LPV hoping that 2018 turns out similarly to 2016. Like you, I went in heavier on the LPV. Quivet is a great value out of LPV.
7/5/20, 4:06 PM - M, very true what you say! I was in Napa in November 2018 and grapes around Envy and other places were still on the vine! Lots of hang time and no rush to pick for reasons other than ripeness vs sugar content (and fewer traffic jams on the crush pad!) A rising tide floats all boats and that's what makes the Quivet LPV such a great value, as you say, in a good year without needing the center blocks/old blocks.
6/25/20, 5:52 PM - Surprising to me also that the 2013 didn't perform well with a few hours of air. I just brought in a case of the 2013/2014 Reserve (6 each) "on sale" based on previous experience with the 2013 Reserve. Have not tried a 2013 from the latest shipment but have tried the 2014 and I will say that, while good, it's not at the 2013 level. And that 2014 Reserve is better than the 2014 Moonracer which was from the regular Estate bottling! Maybe you had an off bottle. dunno.
6/11/20, 12:03 PM - OG, I think you nicely captured the essence of the wine. I thought the finish was good, as was the attack, it was the mid-palate that seemed to disappear quickly. Every Bevan wine I've had has delivered some yum factor. My 91 is still pretty high praise but this wine is not inexpensive and has to compete at its price point against all vintages, not just to other 2017's. Hey Mark, just a thought -- I'll sometimes sort all my reviews by score and then go down the list thinking if I would trade this wine for the next one on the list. When I feel like it's a good trade, I've got a general idea of where my score falls. Would you trade this wine for most of your other 94 scores? Interesting test as it puts "skin in the game", lol!
5/16/20, 9:13 PM - Was waiting to hear what you thought :)Looks like the 2018 "no drama" growing season is forming the basis for some really good wines!
5/14/20, 7:24 AM - I've never heard that a "regular" bottling was ever made. As I understand it, Durant & Booth was a brand name created by Leslie Rudd exclusively for sale in his Oakville Grocery Store at the corner of Oakville Cross and 29 in Napa. Rudd also owned the Durant & Booth house next door where the wines were also offered. After he passed away in 2018, the inventory was wholesaled out on Vivino which is where I got the 2012, 2013, and 2015 Reserves along with fantastic Durant & Booth 2013 and 2015 Cuvées (especially the 2013!) and some 2016 Durant & Booth Pinot Noir as well. Rudd also offered several more expensive Oakville Estate Proprietary Reds bottled under his name. My guess is that the D&B Reserves and Cuvées are "second labels" from Rudd's Oakville Estate. I haven't tried any of Rudd's "first label" wines but CT'ers seem to really like them with some years of age on them. I can attest to this wine's gaining of complexity and integration over time as my notes have reported. The Durant & Booth brand name (and house/Grocery store) was sold in 2018 and seems to still be offered online but I'm not sure of the winemaker or vineyard source for vintages later than 2016.
5/10/20, 6:31 PM - Really like hearing of Zins like this. Never tried Hartford but I recognize the tasting note lol!
3/29/20, 2:46 PM - Nice note! Been sitting on these and will try one based on your comments.
3/30/20, 4:27 AM - Staying put for a while. Cancelled a two month long trip to Asia and South America already this year (I would have been in Patagonia right now trying some of Mendoza's best...) Stay healthy!
3/6/20, 4:23 PM - I got a couple of the 2016's early, back in October 2018 (thanks to you) and they were superb. They're gone now, but I reloaded on the 2016's with a couple of cases coming this month. I could drink a '14, '15, or '16 every night and be happy. Never did get to try the '13 of which I know you think well.I had a little fun with my "musical" review as I had already posted a descriptive review. Trying to get Trespass some attention lol!
3/7/20, 5:52 AM - Ya, I thought about that so I had my fun on the 2014 instead of the 2016. Their prices are creeping up lately.... :(
3/23/20, 8:23 PM - Hi Rob, word travels fast! I'm getting the 2017 to try; if there's any other surprises, well woo-wee!I know Sewickley well, BTW, and the Allegheny CC. Extended family and I lived there for years.
3/24/20, 4:31 AM - Congrats on the big win, especially these days! Donny called me yesterday to arrange shipping and we ended up talking for a while and catching up on some previous history, and that's where your name came up as introducing me to Trespass (thanks again for that!) As you say, once things get back to normal I'd jump at the chance to meet and open up some favorites (and try the 2013 Trespass!)
3/25/20, 8:03 AM - Southeast part of Michigan.
3/22/20, 5:45 PM - Hi Patrice, I'm happy you saw my note and appreciate your taking the time to respond. With a billion people now at home, kinda made sense to drink a wine I felt like coming home to. I'm no musician and my tasting notes can get exuberant and emotional at times to the point that I can imagine there are some readers yelling at their computers for me to just stick to the facts, lol. Oh well, wines such as yours are emotional which brings it out in me. Given the string of bad luck and hard times in Napa for growers and producers, I'm glad to learn that you and Samantha have received some good vibes here all the way from Michigan, and deservedly so! Cheers and good health!
3/19/20, 11:10 PM - I had the same flawed experience with one bottle of this vintage last year. Mattie made it right and I've had no problems with any bottles after that one.
3/20/20, 6:53 PM - One bottle a month for the next 3-1/2 years... and said that way, I'm guessing it'll more likely play out over a shorter time period. Why not, it's just so good!
3/20/20, 8:24 PM - A nice gesture! On the other hand, you could give her a beautifully labelled but empty bottle much earlier... <whistling, acting innocently>
3/19/20, 9:36 PM - Lol, vivid and calibrated images!
3/19/20, 6:17 AM - Hi COWL, I hope your adult children will appreciate the sacrifice you'll have made if they get their hands on some of this vintage. The time is right to rebel and join me and the 2%'ers in popping one open! Hurry, though, or you'll have to join the 3%'ers! I look forward to your tasting note.
3/19/20, 9:14 AM - When you eventually get your OWC, it wouldn't be a crime to pry it open and try one. There's always the possibility that the wine's movement along its arc will put it in some sort of shutdown phase, though. Hopefully other rebels on CT will be tracking it. Stay healthy!
3/5/20, 12:18 AM - Hi CS, I enjoyed this wine quite a lot but it took 6 hours of air to get there. I think the few times our reviews have diverged as much as they did on this wine have either involved really acidic wines or long decant times. I enjoy wines with higher levels of acidity far more than the opposite, but when coupled with strongly drying tannins (which then becomes puckering) that does put me off, though I didn't get that with this wine. I for one would pay good money to read your review of a 2004 Rusden Black Guts. Now that's a charming, acidic wine!
3/5/20, 10:43 AM - Hi TL, I didn't mean to overemphasize the acidic profile here as it's not at all out of line for a Bdx wine meant to go the distance. It was an attempt to understand how CS and I came to such different conclusions when I'm typically not that far off in how I perceive a given wine. It also makes me wonder about what makes my own palate happy. As an aside, I can eat habanero peppers by the bite, but find the technically much milder jalapeno pepper often is bitter and seemingly just as hot to me. There's an aspect of individual perception when it comes to the structure of a wine at play that's hard to quantify. Age is also a factor (how many cognac or brandy drinkers do you know under 50?) I like primary, both elegant and hedonistic, and I like well aged secondary and tertiary flavors, although I don't often get the opportunity to try great examples of such wines. CS, agree no $20 Napa wine is made with this care, and there are many better choices to enjoy right now. At hour 6, though, the wine gave me a glimpse of where it's headed that I enjoyed. One down for science, and I'm gonna let the rest of my bottles sleep.
3/5/20, 11:07 AM - Ya CS, here's hoping! We can all agree that the best outcome is that everyone posts their real experiences on CT without fear or favor.
3/5/20, 6:20 PM - .....on the way to dumpster fires! lol
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