3/21/2024 - AGELVIS Likes this wine:

One hour double decant, followed by a two hour slow ox. Very deep dark ruby magenta color. Eucalyptus, iron, blackberry, anise, stewed strawberry, hickory-laced chocolate, dandelion, and subtle peony. Very smooth, dry, slightly dusty palate. Super fine, lasting, mouth filling acidity. Full, plush tannins on the long finish.

Wine of the weekend. Perfectly integrated and very complex. Big thank you to JimAronson for bringing this to share at Mark1NPT’s place. This may have been the wine of the weekend (and there was very stiff competition).

3/4/2024 - Mark1npt Likes this wine:

Brought to the table tonight by Jim Aronson after a 1 hour slow ox in the bottle. Light/medium garnet in the glass. Some orange bricking noticeable as you swirl the glass, and it seemed like as it got more air over 3 hours a little more orange became evident in the glass.

Nose of smoky/meaty elements., later on a hint of....root beer and leather?

Palate of still surprisingly silky fruit, primarily black prunes, but not stewed fruit. I hate stewed fruit! HMC noted the wine had almost a Madeira-like quality to it on the palate. Maybe a bit of balsamic? Very well made and still surprisingly complex all around given its age at 34 years. The first of these I've ever had and while I'm not the biggest Syrah or CDP guy, it was quite enjoyable and certainly a treat to experience it. I was torn between a score of 94 and 95 in my notebook and did not check on CT to see what its average score was before posting this note. Good to know I'm in the ballpark as I am in no way a CDP expert. Thanks for the great experience with this bottle, Jim!

2/2/2024 - Jimaronson Likes this wine:

Drinking much better now and the score has increased. A bit hot on the finish, but it is a zinfandel so that's ok. There is sweet fruit behind the tannins and suggest a minimum 3 hour decant. Probably a decant up to 5 hours would work and I would suggest a taste at 3 hours. Dark cherry with smooth mid palate even thought it is high in spice. Have it with something that can hold up to a strong wine.

2/2/2024 - Serge Birbrair wrote:

good to the last drop

1/31/2024 - Jimaronson Likes this wine:

The wine is dense, full bodied, sweet blue and black fruit, silky, and a two minute finish. What a wine! The vineyard is one of my favorites and David Abreu did wonders with his version over the years. Now, it is being made by TRB under Maybach and that is just terrific. It is time to open one if you have a couple of bottles.

1/30/2024 - Mark1npt Likes this wine:

James' 2nd wine for tonight, decanted 3 hours then served to us blind.

Dark purple in the glass, weighty, and shimmering. Regal nose, (whatever that is?) it just felt and smelled 'classy'. Black cherry fruit and vanilla.

Palate was dense with blackberry, and a smooth rounded feel and complex and l-o-n-g finish. Reminded me of a Harlan Estate I recently had the good fortune to partake in. 96-97 most of the evening, turned blacker near the end and was JUST OK at 93........

11/13/2023 - Mark1npt Likes this wine:

Pulled this one by mistake to take to my brother's (I meant to pull a '14 or '16) and enjoyed over two nights, the 2nd night after having put a Repour stopper into it from the night before.

Dark purple in the glass, standard nose notes of dark fruit, graphite, and quite bit of oak. The 2nd night the oak receded a good bit and the wine softened a bit. The fruit turned decidedly blacker the 2nd night as well. Black plum, it seemed. Enjoyed by Matt more the 2nd night than the first, maybe 92-93 first night and 94 the 2nd? Long, long time ahead for this one. It has a slight 'muddied' feel to it and needs more years to clarify itself.

12/19/2023 - Mark1npt Likes this wine:

An interesting wine......picked up at a NJ wine shop about 18 months ago. Do not know how it was stored but it was in their refrigerated room when I picked it up. This was almost clear light red cherry fruit juice early on. Gained weight and the fruit darkened over 3 hours.

2 hour decant followed by a quadruple splash decant due to its not being ready for our event tonight. Tight, tannic, and black from that point on. It drank best at hours 3-6 of air. I'm still finishing a glass now at almost 8 hours of air. This comes across as black fruited and almost St. Estephe in nature rather than St. Julien black. Same rustic/rough taste profile/nose early on, as an '03 Cos but not the complexity or higher class that the Cos delivers in '03. I liked it but the barnyard present on opening continues even to hour 8....some like that, some don't. Don't get me wrong, this is very nice.....I love the graphite, I love the increased intensity of the fruit and the depth of it.....but, maybe a 94 would be tops for me? I might like to see what this one is like in 10 more years, but this was my only bottle.......

12/19/2023 - Mark1npt Likes this wine:

Quadruple splash decanted after 2 hours of full decant as it just seemed too tight and too black for our tasting tonight. That helped, bigly.

Had a sweet spot of hours 3-6 for drinking at that point. Great nose of classic Napa fruit, florals, forest floor, etc. This is my very first Ovid ever, and I'm a big Cab Franc guy so......early on there's definitely some herbaceous notes, maybe even a little green pepper in the background? This leaves by hours 3-4. Weight is medium plus, balance is quite good at that point. I would like a tad more sweetness to the dark red/black fruit. This is more classically made and not a Napa fruit bomb, per se. This is nice now, yet I feel it's not yet where it needs to be. I will hold my remaining 2 bottles for another couple years to see where they end up. This is very well made and very high quality. How could it not be better in the future? But with 8 hours of air tonight, it gets worse. Just black ballpoint pen ink....88-89 then.

12/19/2023 - Mark1npt Likes this wine:

I've never had a Maya before....much thanks to JimAronson for bringing this to our tasting tonight. I forget what his exact decant/airtime was for this bottle....but this was WOTN early on.

We enjoyed this bottle over about 4 hours of airtime. The nose was the best early on. It reeked of graphite, florals and dark red fruit. Not jammy, very similar to their Estate Cab in mouthfeel, fruit profile, structure, etc. I like this wine a lot, BUT......not sure the cost makes the purchase worthwhile when compared against their Estate Cab. The nose develops a sweeter caramel/pine needle note after 5 hours open, but the acidity becomes more pronounced as well. I would hope this would be better.....40% left in the bottle under a Repour stopper to try over the next few days. Thanks, Jim! I'll add an addendum later on should it warrant one! 96-97 beginning of the night.....94 by the end as it currently stands.

addendum: pulled the Repour stopper the 2nd night and gave the remaining 34% of the bottle a good 2 hours more of air. In essence, it comes back into better balance and feels more rich and rounded and is back up to the 96 that it started out at last night before going downhill a couple of points through that evening. In a really good spot now. Solid 96 which is great for an off/difficult year.

5/8/2023 - Mark1npt Likes this wine:

Last second get together with the HMCs before flying off to see Mr/Mrs Agelvis and a mini-palooza over the next 3 days.

Not sure of the air time in the decanter, but don't think it was very long. This wine is so rich at the pnp, that my ever evolving palate gets taken aback slightly to start. It's a beautiful nose, rich in many ways. The palate, too. But it's sooo big and over the top, that I find I'm liking this one more after an hour+ of air as it settles into merely 'a great wine'. So powerful, so rich, decadent to a great extent and in my younger years and less formed palate it's probably a 99-100 for me. Now, it's 'just' a 97 pushing for a 98, lol.....great wine, wish I had some bottles of it, but yet wouldn't want to have an entire cellar full of it....does that make sense to anybody? Thanks for opening, Jimbo, def a treat!

7/15/2023 - Mark1npt Likes this wine:

First one of these in quite a while.....

A pnp for later in our night as we binge 'Drops of God' with the HMCs. Any wine geek who has not seen this series needs to tune in....immediately. Done exceptionally well. Make sure your closed caption is on for all the dialogue.

Dark, opaque purple in the glass.

Nose of classic and fragrant VHR dark red/black fruit. There's a certain barrel note and fruit note that is unmistakable for VHR. Nice spice component from the barrel, too. The weight in the mouth early on feels like VHR Lite, however after about 3-4 hours of air in the bottle it fills out, gains weight and no longer feels so much like a younger brother. Cassis and violets on the nose rich dark berry fruit, almost liqueur like as it crosses the tongue. Very mild astringency noted on the back end but overall, excellent richness and balance to this wine. Hard to believe it's a 'second'. 93 early on given its lighter weight initially, but easily a 94-95 later in the evening.

10/1/2022 - LiteItOnFire Likes this wine:

Ok so been heavy on Old World and about to have an Epic Piedmont dinner next week so… let’s go big or go home and boy did this deliver the ultimate guilty pleasure.

2018 Revana block 6- their best wine hands down. More on that wine under that tasting note.

2016 Realm Absurd- I was a big fan of realm years ago and have become jaded as of late due to a number of issues from lower quality/massive sourcing which is inherent in exponential growth as well as other more mundane back office items- anywho… this wine is on point and firing on all cylinders.Tremendous concentration yet wonderful balance and oak integration. Big round opulence and pure sexy beast yet not manipulating obscurity as found in other higher end wines that over extract into oblivion. This wine rocks- from the first sip to the last and has enough gobs of cassis and blackberries to fill Goldilocks basket for ever. Big upfront fruit stays big and strong even with hours in the glass/decanter until the dark damp earth takes over and showcases its Naughty side - coffee, dark chocolate and pure forbidden(ness). Long finish to round out the greatness. Tasted on PNP. Two hours in decanter at cellar temp. Not overly structured (as expected) but is highly concentrated but in a good way. Take that info as you would like especially if only one bottle remaining :)

2018 Scarlet

2012 Montez Cote Rotie

7/9/2023 - Mark1npt Likes this wine:

First bottle of a 3-pack purchased last year. Decanted for 2-3 hours before going back into the bottle to transport to Chops for dinner with Gabriel and Linda visiting from Miami. Pnp into the decanter revealed a room filling nose of deep, dark perfumed fruit.

At the restaurant, the color is dark purple and opaque in the glass with the same nose, just a little less strength to it. The fruit is dense, dark and deep in layers and quite silky/refined. Excellent integration overall with great balance. Not a thing out of place. This is a classy Napa blend of 76% cab, 17% merlot and 7% cab franc. Hard to say it was a deal at $279/bottle. I have plenty of 95-96 pt wines that cost half that much. I would definitely not buy this one at the current prices around $350/bottle. This one is so strong and so well put together it can easily go for another 25 years for those that like their Napa cab blends really well aged.

7/7/2023 - Mark1npt Likes this wine:

Pnp'd a glass of this one 9 days ago before heading out West on our "CT Summer Tour" meeting up with Decanting Queen and Agelvis in UT and visiting in CO with WineGuyDelMar...I immediately put a RePour stopper into the bottle and left the bottle in the fridge til today. Love that 'pop' when you remove this stopper. Tells me the wine will be exactly where it was when I last left the bottle, with no degradation of the wine. The notes below ARE exactly the same for our first glass 9 days ago and the second half of the bottle today. Hint: I left the wine in the glass for about 45 min to allow it to rise to room temp from its severely chilled state, but also to give the wine a chance to 're-oxidize'. The RePour stopper is so good at removing oxygen from the bottle that it sometimes strips the wine, too. After 45 min, it tasted as if it had just been opened exactly the same as 9 days earlier.

Walala is one of my fav Sojourn Pinots because it's a tad different....generally, more brooding, more dark. All the requisite notes on the nose and palate: Black tea, a little clove, vanilla and red (usually strawberry/raspberry) fruit. There is also a slight herbal note to the Walala. Just a beautiful style of Pinot as all these Sojourn are, for me.....beautiful chalky minerality and perfectly balanced acidity here, too. Borders on a 94 for me.

This was my longest RePour trial to date with a wine and also my first with a Pinot as most of them have been with Cabs up til now. It passed with flying colors!

7/3/2023 - HowellMountainCru Likes this wine:

Tonight, I'm watching the new Apple series - Drops of God and I wanted to drink a wine I had never tasted while I watched. I selected this 19 MH from Janzen. A little sorry Mark and Carol are not with me to enjoy this experience.

This wine Is dark and dense as you would expect. I smell leather, earth, moss, vanilla, raspberry, cherry with a fairly strong lift of alcohol.

I taste cocoa dust, green tea, dark cherry a sweet note of butterscotch after about an hour in the glass. Just a little of that MH red bloody meat note in the back of the palette.

Mouthfeel is dry and dusty, Tannins still slightly young. Full bodied and mouth coating. Good acid which leads to a nice finish.

Wine is very good to excellent now but IMO has not peaked. Enjoy now with a proper decant or hold for a year or two and see if it develops further. 94 HMC

6/18/2023 - Mark1npt Likes this wine:

Carol and I (coming off a sinus infection) were craving a big red the other night, and me hoping I could taste it? We each poured off a third of the bottle to enjoy throughout the evening during/after dinner 2 nights ago and put the remaining third of the bottle under a RePour stopper in the cellar, to take to HMC's so he could try it at dinner, last night. I took only a small sip off it last night to confirm once again, that the RePour stopper had done its job and preserved the wine in its entirety from the night before. My notes on this are from the first night but are completely identical to the 2nd night's sample. I had mistakenly told HMC this was the Sleeping Lady Vineyard wine as I had pulled both from the cellar the night before, having a hard time deciding which one to open, but this was in fact, MHopper, my personal fav vineyard from Napa.......

Darkest of dark, opaque purple in the glass, with a classic Napa cab nose. The wine was enjoyed over about 4 hours that night and delivered everything in a big way. A 94 at its earliest drinking. The weight and glide in the mouth was big and sexy. The fruit dense, multi colored and multi layered. The nose impeccably matched to the fruit and proportioned/balanced perfectly on all fronts. Acidity and tannins about as easily seamless as one could expect. Hard to believe this is an '18 as well as it's drinking compared to so many others out there right now that are still not ready. An easy 97-98 for this bottle and though I only had a small sip at HMC's last night, it was easily the WOTN. MHopper keeps letting me know, this is where I want my ashes scattered one day......

6/2/2023 - Decanting Queen Likes this wine:

Always my favorite of the Sojourn PN lineup. Rich complex fruit, this is not PN as we normally drink it. A cab lovers Pinot!

6/8/2023 - J weezy wrote:

98 points. I tasted a 2012 vintage and loved it. Done some research and found that 2005 was a top vintage and proceeded to purchase about 15 bottles.. I had 3 in 6 months and was left disappointed each time as I found the 2012 better and the 2005 lacking. I decided I needed to try a different approach, I had been drinking them from the cellar slightly chilled and decanted 1 hour. This time I moved the bottle from the fridge to the cupboard 24 hours early and decantered 4 hours - it made a world of difference. Drinking a warmer version and well decanted pape clement. Maybe this is typical of Bordeaux wines ?? Delicious

5/21/2023 - Mark1npt Likes this wine:

Mistakenly pulled this one from the cellar for our trip, thinking it was an Ontogeny. Guess I should wear my reading glasses more often??? Shared with 40 year long friends/classmate at dinner in Lakeland with steak and the fixins'. Right from the pnp this one is fantastic. Needs no decant but drinks exceptionally well over 2 hours til it's gone. Dark red/black fruit that is smooth with a wine that is tremendously well balanced. I had to look twice to see what I was drinking! A fantastic wine in a great place. Do I want this one to age another 10 years? I don't think so. It's in a resolved and very good spot right now where it is.

5/8/2023 - AGELVIS Likes this wine:

Three and a half hour decant. Nearly opaque electric magenta color. Blackberry, dark raspberry, almond muffin, linen, and subtle fennel and graphite. Satiny, tongue drying, full bodied palate, with somewhat cottony acidity. Firm, modestly grippy, yet simultaneously plush tannins on the long finish.

There’s lots of upside, but this guy is still drinking tight. It also became a bit pruney over an hour of drinking. Needs at least another year in the cellar.

5/8/2023 - HowellMountainCru Likes this wine:

Just a wow wine. Right out of the bottle intense, viscous huge and overwhelmingly fruit forward. After an hour or two it settles down into a awesome modern Napa cult legend. I've recently had a few really fantastic realm wines and this one IMO blows those away.

One of the more intense concentrated wines I've had this year and my favorite wine of 2023 so far. Great expressive nose, huge fruit forward all the way through, huge weight, over the top glide and a decent finish. Yet balanced and not sappy or cloying. really just a great experience for the Big Napa Cab drinkers. 97 after one hour but probably a bit higher with a decent decant.

5/7/2023 - Cailles wrote:

Bordeaux 2003 – 20 Years On – 33 Reds: All wines tasted blind, not decanted (some wines would have needed it). Observations: 1) 2003 is not a good vintage. The wines don’t have the depth and elegance of good years. But I was positively surprised, that while it’s clearly a hot year, there are less overripe, over-extracted and prematurely dying wines than in 09/10. Still, there is no comparison to how Chateauxs handle hot years today. 2) Compared to five other vintage retrospectives, the 2003 came in last place (lower average score than 2011), with just Chateau Margaux reaching a group score above 95pts. 3) Margaux wines showed best, with the typical immediate charm, while St. Estephe and Pauillac have potential but will need more time (and/or would have needed more air). 4) Right bank wines did not show as good with some alcohol showing and a few wines being on a downhill path. I would not chase 2003 right banks.

TN: Ripe, dark red and blue fruit on the nose, some toasty notes too. Quite inviting, medium expressive. On the palate there is some red and blue fruit, not enough sweetness, quite a bit of minerality with slightly drying tannins and a high freshness. The wines seemed a bit disjointed. I’ve had this wine twice before and it showed much better (93 and 96pts). Going back to the notes it shows that this would have needed a lot of air to come together which it didn’t get in this tasting. Hence, this low 90pts rating.

Decanting: This needs a few hours in the decanter.

Group average: 90.3 pts
Group rank: Shared 21st out of 29 reds

5/4/2023 - Mark1npt Likes this wine:

JAronson's 1st wine of the night. Cork pulled 2 months ago and a glass poured off. Open to air for awhile before he put the cork back in and loaded it with argon via the coravin. Cork pulled for the event tonight. Cranberry fruit and sweet tart on the nose. A hint of sage that blows off quickly. Then a hint of sweet 3M Scotch tape shows up! A little orange rind, tobacco and tea later on. This is predominantly red fruited and it lacks the requisite spicebox/pepper/black fruit to represent the varietal properly. Maybe it was affected by the initial opening 2 months ago? I don't know. It's well made, no doubt there, but the palate throws one off. 91 for the winemaking, 85 for the palate, averages it out to an 88-89 for me.

4/11/2023 - HowellMountainCru Likes this wine:

Micro ox'd this in a cooler for 18 hours prior to serving out of a decanter for a prime rib dinner for Marknpt1 and spouse. Big and juicy, full of lush black fruit. Notes of fruit and French oak dominate. Super well-structured, just a bit tannic at first but opens well and drinks great after a few hours. Still hasn't reached its prime IMO 95 HMC

4/8/2023 - sh6k Likes this wine:

Took a bit to open up — was all pepper and tannins at first — but after that had big dark fruits and a great anise backbone that was fun and added interest. Loved it

3/29/2023 - Jimaronson Likes this wine:

Came around after 90 minutes. At first overwhelming vanilla and sweetness with creamy palate. After the wine settled down it lost the big vanilla attributes and exhibited primarily blueberry fruit. A little bit of bubble gum. Fruit forward california cab. Very soft finish. Enjoyed the wine for its texture, sweetness, full body style, and soft structure. Is this different than other Missouri Hopper 2018 wines? Is the maker that different assuming the same terroir from other producers?

3/24/2023 - Mark1npt Likes this wine:

Final bottle of the '17 chard in the cellar. Pnp'd last night as we each wanted a glass. Dark gold in the glass, banana and lemon on the nose.....pineapple and lemon cream on the palate. Oak, vanilla and more citrus on the ending. The 'energy' or acidity does seem to be lacking a bit, some hollow moments present in this bottle. 90-91 the first night. Put the cork back in and into the fridge and finished it tonight, the 2nd night. Same color, same nose with a hint of green apple as well, now. Serving it at a colder temp on a 2nd night seems to improve this wine. It is more firm, more 'together' and more pleasing with fewer hollow moments. 93 the 2nd night so averaging out this bottle to a 92.

2/10/2023 - sirpat00 wrote:

Double-decanted. No longer decant needed. Aging notes are notably present already with mushroom, earth and leather, sous-bois and foliage. Broad array of fruit: blueberry, cherry, black currant. Complements of pencil shavings, iodine and hints of sweet spice. Over time more grassy and herbal elements emerge. Overall nice versatility. The palate is fresh with a cooler type of fruit fruit, but still juicy with nice acidity, good balance and well-integrated tannin. But the mid-palate lacked presence and the finish was rather abrupt unfortunately.

1/29/2023 - Jimaronson wrote:

I popped the cork and decanted for an hour. The wine was pleasant with red fruits and a full bodied nose. As a zinfandel it was rustic, but drinking bold for a while. After two hours it shut down and was saying the I robbed the crib. I left some in a glass and 24 hours later tried the wine. It was flabby and lost it's fruit. The bottle had been left from the prior day with argon from the corivan and I decided to try it again and then recork the bottle. The wine was open for 1/2 hour and it is why I gave it a 91. Otherwise, the wine is an 85 right now and don't touch it. I think the bottle has a future, but it is 5 years out.

1/26/2023 - Mark1npt Likes this wine:

2nd WOTN, to me. Brought by JimAronson to this evening's festivities. There is no way this is a young Bdx....it's too fresh and new and good! 2.5 hour decant makes it sing right now. A clean wine with black fruit, it's balanced and smooth. There's a graphite/briar nose which sings, too. This adds to the string lately of young-ish Bdx ('15s, '16s, '19s) that have been such a pleasure to drink young. Thanks for bringing, James!

Addendum: tasted again with a late lunch, with more cheese and salami.....both nose and palate have moved toward Bdx now. The energy of the fruit which was almost Cali-like last night has calmed down after another 15+ hours in the bottle under cork, no gas or vacuum. Maybe a 92 now?

Addendum #2: 3rd day at lunch after having been sealed in small glass bottle in the fridge the last 2 days. As it warmed up a bit, beautiful lead pencil emerged on the nose, more of a slippery, silky graphite than yesterday. The fruit initially appeared redder and slightly tart but after an hour of air it was dark cherry/blackberry and smooth and with an elegance and power it had lost yesterday, weird. Some nice chalky minerality shows up, too. Now? An easy 95, again!

1/16/2023 - Keith Levenberg Likes this wine:

Latest and potentially greatest of a magnificent string of Calon vintages perhaps only broken by the somewhat extreme 2018. I note William Kelley has a question mark next to this one on account of finding it pretty extreme itself with an ABV pushing 15%. All I can say is that I didn't notice a trace of it, and, quite the contrary, found this miraculously finessed. All the textbook flavors for Calon are here, with vivid red berry fruits, pencil shavings, cigar box, and gravel, and it's gentle and satiny to toss around in the mouth. The equalizer dials are set flawlessly - everything that should be here is here but nothing sticks out. It's one of the most well-composed 2019s I've had to date and also one of the most expressive.

1/10/2023 - Mark1npt Likes this wine:

Not sure of the air time for this one. My #8 WOTN tonight. Some graphite, old leaves, lots of tart cherry on the palate, it seems just a tad out of balance but that might be a factor of the air time? Wish we had more time to check this one out but it's getting late! Still, very enjoyable for any Bdx lover.

1/10/2023 - Mark1npt Likes this wine:

Opened tableside by J as he arrived late to tonight's event. Admittedly, it suffered from lack of air time. Yet, it still came on as #4 WOTN for me personally. Lots of barnyard up front at the beginning, it burned off as time went along. Red fruit to start but gained weight and darkened a bit in the glass as time wore on. Red fruited palate, an aged Cardinal red to the glass. Some cigar box, too.

1/10/2023 - Mark1npt Likes this wine:

92 this night for me but I wonder if it's only because it didn't get the perfect air time? Graphite on the nose, a very tart, breakfast cherry. Very bright acidity throughout. Still, tart is the predominate feature here with this one.

Addendum: a small amount left in bottle under cork for the 2nd day. This one seems a few points better today, so changing my original score now, maybe a 94-95. A tad more astringent but the fruit is bigger and rounder and less tart the 2nd day. A very nice wine! I can't remember which one of the guys brought this one to the dance, but thanks!

12/30/2022 - jgreco Does not like this wine:

It’s all oak

11/30/2022 - Mark1npt Likes this wine:

Decanted 30 min and enjoyed over the next 2-3 hours. First hour this is a beauty. Soft, feminine mouth feel. Red fruited. Just a hint of aged fruit on the nose and palate. Hard to peg as a Materium at first, due to the aging. Tends toward red, but not stewed, plum. Younger vintages can easily be picked out of a lineup by our group. This is very well integrated on all fronts, no harsh edges. About 90 min in, it seems to drop off a bit and weaken, but another hour of air and it seems stronger, again? Weird. But good. Glad to have this aged one to compare against all our modern, younger vintages, between the 3 of us.......a learning lesson!

11/14/2022 - Mark1npt Likes this wine:

Decanted for an hour or so by our host Jim Aronson tonight. Right from the pour into the glass, this one excels. The nose is regal. I gave it a 99 based on that alone, in the first 15 minutes! The color in the glass belies the 32 years of age, as it is still quite dark. What an amazing wine. I am truly blessed to be able to drink this one. It is classic Bdx in every sense of the word. It is so pure and clean and structured. It grows a tad darker and thicker overall with more time to air which detracts only so slightly from its peak, to a 96-97. Thanks so much for opening this one, James....it was a beauty and very appreciated.

11/6/2022 - Jimaronson Likes this wine:

Had this bottle at a local restaurant along with a 2018 Maybach Materium. While the Materium was wonderful and fruit abound, the Myriad was more intense and classically structured. I slow oxed both for an hour before dinner. Both wines were open when I popped the cork. The group preferred the Myriad. A great combination showed off the winemaking styles. The others never had a wine like the Materium so my guess is that they gravitated to the more Myriad style. It is easy to give both wines a 96 to 97 depending on your preference. I’ll go with 98 on the Myriad and 97 on the Materium. I wish I had bought more as this was my only bottle.

9/29/2022 - Mark1npt Likes this wine:

Pnp'd after the hurricane....waited for it to come around, the nose was better than the palate. It was at best a 92-93 after a couple of hours but we drank it with HMC anyway. Poured the last 8 oz into a glass bottle with screw cap and placed it into the fridge for 48 hours. HMC and I split the last of it last night.....after it warmed to room temp and opened up after an hour or so, it really blossomed. Both the nose and palate displayed beautiful, dense, deep quality fruit, nice aromatics and a very good mouth feel. Easily in the 96-97 camp with the last glass.

7/10/2022 - Jimaronson Likes this wine:

This wine needed 48 hours of decanting before it opened up. I would suggest the minimum of 2 days. The wine was then put back in the bottle after the second day and served during the third day evening. It was compared to a 2012 Schraeder LPV and a 2008 Abreu Capella. The Schrader was a 97 and smoother than the Fait Main, but that is expected since it is 7 years older.

The Fair Main had a beautiful mouth feel. It was vibrant and had black and red fruit. It had some spices on the back end and some thought it had a creaminess to it which suggested young oak The wine was jammy and lip smacking.

This is a great wine and at this time it is closed. Upon opening the wine it had a black, inky taste to it. It's unbelievable what a 48 hour decant can do. If anyone opens this wine and thinks that a three to four hour decant is going to do it they are going to be disappointed.

The purpose of the group tasting was to compare a 2019 with a 2012 and 2008. Unfortunately, the Abreu wine was passed its maturity. The Schrader was perfect.

7/10/2022 - Jimaronson wrote:

The wine is past its prime. It exhibited barnyard, horse hoof, red and black fruits, and was slightly jammy. In comparison to 2019 Fait Main (see Cellar Tracker note) the Abreu wine was disappointing. Some in the group thought the fruit was drying out and wasn't sweet. One even thought it was Italian in style. Another person thought it was an 82 Bordeaux that was over the hill. Tannins were dusty. I would suggest that the wine is at most decanted for 30 minutes and then consumed over the next hour and a half. It could be that the capella wine really needed to be consumed earlier and other Abreu's wines are more lasting. I know the other scores in Cellar Tracker are higher, but maybe I had an off bottle. I did buy it on release and it is been in a 95 degree cellar since the beginning.

6/12/2022 - Decanting Queen Likes this wine:

Decided to experiment with Mark1npt’s wine prep for this even though it goes against my usual decanting ways. The idea is to put a glass, no decant, recork, repeat over 2 days. So you are basically slow oxing as you go.
I will say there was some merit to this approach for this particular bottlr. It did improve very nicely over the course of the evening. If I were to re-do, I would tweak this by pouring the first two glasses into a mini decanter and waiting 90 min before drinking. Then doing the cork recork trick for the remainder of the bottle.
The first glass on pnp had a lovely nose of mostly red fruits, spices and violets. But the alcohol made me feel like I’d be better off doing a tequila shot. Not at all integrated. Luckily the tannins were silky and at no point did I feel like they were too much.
After about 30 min the alcohol seemed less noticeable or offensive and remained that way for the next few glasses of the evening.
Fruit became more dominant and riper with each glass (and time slow ox), some savory notes and very chocolatey by the end of the evening.
One thing I noticed was that on the oalate there was an initial burst of fruit, which then disappeared to a sour and saline sensation, and then reappeared on the finish. This mid palate salinity acidity was what kept this wine from being really great for me? Maybe this is acid out of balance?
As far as scores, I would give this a 90 at the beginning of the evening, climbing to a 93 at its most velvety chocolatey berry phase at the last glass of day 1.
I wish that day 2 could have picked up where it left off, but alas not quite as good as last night. Still very good, but the sour saline mid- palate really interferes with the enjoyment.
I will leave my last 2 bottles alone and hope for better integration in a few years.
As for Mark’s technique, I like it and will try again on my next young wine, with the slight modification for the first glasses

6/4/2022 - Zephyr83 wrote:

This is a below average Schrader offering in my opinion. Black fruit and charcoal, kind of chalky on the finish. I am not an expert but own and have consumed a lot of Schrader over the past 10 years. Drink now.

5/31/2022 - otto60 Likes this wine:

Double decant into the cleaned bottle for 2hrs
Dark saturated ruby
Dark fruit
Very very good balance
Little wood
Great, quite 89 like
I like

5/20/2022 - Mark1npt Likes this wine:

First bottle of this in almost 3 years....very hard to believe how fast that time has gone. Decanted for one hour then back in bottle before taking to HMCs for dinner. Slow ox'd there with cork out for another 3 hours. A bit tight/tannic starting out, but the air time really helped it along. Still very juicy/primary fruit. Nice color, weight and mouth feel. Nicely balanced with the air time. Toward the end, HMC felt the classic Mt. Veeder blueberry was coming out more. Close to a 95 for me at that point.

5/14/2022 - Mark1npt Likes this wine:

You know.....I tried to give this one every benefit of a doubt.

Had a bottle with HMC, Aronson and my son Andrew, just a few weeks ago, (a 96 if I remember correctly) and was a little underwhelmed with it. Is this really a 100 pt wine? Was planning on holding my last bottle for a few years to see if it EVER got to that point. Was planning to bring a NV on this trip, but packed this one instead. After having a '16 Arkenstone yesterday that was every bit of a 98 pt wine. I decided to open this one today and treated this one exactly the same today. Afterall, they are both '16s and both off of Howell Mtn. One costs $195 and the other $175.

I treated this True cab the exact same way as the Arkenstone yesterday. Popped the cork in the morning and started in drinking about 4pm after a 6+ hour slow ox and it was probably at its best 96. Cont'd trying it out til finishing as I write this note at 10pm with a total of 12 hours of air and it's a bitter fruited 92. At NO time through the day or evening, did this wine even begin to get close to the Arkenstone. It lacked nose and taste profile as well as complexity/layers. In fact, I feel this bottle was a good 1-2 points LESS than the bottle I had a few weeks ago. Disappointing to say the least. Disappointing because it's a TRB wine first off, secondly disappointing because it's a '16 and more troubling yet because it's supposed to be a 100 pointer. Based on these last two bottles, I just don't see any way it gets there.......not even close.

5/8/2022 - TheDKALife Likes this wine:

Mother’s Day delight! Decanted for 2.5 hours. Needed more. Cotton candy nose. Followed by berries. After 3 hours decant it was ready to drink. Brought a nice brown sugar balance to the lamb chops. Nice complimentary tannins for a long finish. After 4 hours it peaked and was on its ways down. Cheers!

5/1/2022 - kr522 wrote:

When I bought this on release I was immediately disappointed in the early comparisons with other 09s….I found it massive and contrived. I haven’t had this in years and wanted to check in. Unfortunately it still drinks as a burly, rustic wine lacking any kind of finesse. I hope one day in the distant future it’s character changes but I think it is what it is

4/12/2022 - sirpat00 wrote:

Tasted blind. This boasts of Napa-esque sexiness and richness with a splash of Cheval Blanc. An aromatic bombardment of chocolate, mocha, caramel, eucalyptus, baking spices and dried vanilla beans accompanying a concentrated fruit of blue and red berries. Round and vibrant acidity with an incredibly soft texture and velvety tannins. Round and harmonious from attack to finish with nicely resonating oak notes and fresh fruit. The manifold layers and high level of precision help build an intriguing decadence. That said, while complexity was clearly there, I would have enjoyed a bit more versatility. Very early days here of course, but surprisingly open.