9/15/2022 - sean7711 Likes this wine:

One of the best wines I've had all year. Only needed a decant of 30 minutes. Minor tasting notes since I am just doing this TN on Monday after drinking a few days ago.

Definitely not for fans of old world Napa - this is jammy, grape juice levels of fruit forward, but so so good. Could have drank another bottle on the spot it was so gulp-able.

Will be reaching out to see I can get another 3 pack of this.

3/13/2018 - msuwine wrote:

This layered and graceful wine is drinking beautifully right now, though I think the best is yet to come. Cherry red in color, medium in body, evocative nose of boysenberry, gravel road, and fresh-split firewood, with a hint of fresh-cut flowers. Tastes of black cherry, mountain blueberry, gravel, and cedar, with a chalky finish that still carries some brambly tannins along with pleasantly toasted oak. Blend of 88% Cabernet Sauvignon and 12% Merlot. 14.7% alcohol. Decant at least an hour, if not two. Vineyard sources are 93.5% mountain (33.5% Spring, 25.5% Howell, 19% Veeder, and 15.5% Diamond) and 6.5% valley (5% Stag's Leap and 1.5% St. Helena).

This wine excels where Cardinale typically excels: a lovely integration of fruit, oak, and gravel, in a polished package that has enough rusticity to feel honest (whatever that means when it comes to fermented grapes). Carpenter's best wines don't go overboard in terms of ripeness or heaviness, but they deliver an incredible amount of intensity and class. In other words, this is a middle-weight boxer fighting - and winning - in the heavy-weight class. The only thing I don't love is the price, but the wine is compelling now - and will be even better in the future. I'll plan to open my next bottle in 2020, if I can bring myself to wait that long. 95+ for now, with real upside.