3/3/2024 - fencerdan Likes this wine:

Still deep colored with a pink rim. Big legs too. Deep dark fruit on the nose, but also some leather and casis.. really enjoyable now. Nice long positive finish as well. But I think it's still developing.

2/9/2024 - Livininparidise Likes this wine:

4th and final bottle, still delicious. Drank with garlicy Italian food. Hard to pick up some of the nuances. Great nose and flavor. Sorry to see it go, but bring on the next!

9/6/2023 - Mark1npt Likes this wine:

My first of a few in the cellar. Decanted one hour then back into the bottle to take to HMCs for dinner.

Nose of dark red cab fruit with some florals like violets and/or rose petals on it. Palate of slightly tart bright red fruit to start but after the hour decant it displays soft, integrated dark red fruit. Velour-like in its feel. Drank exceptionally well after the one hour decant and for about 2-3 hours overall before it started to back up and fall apart just a bit. 93 in hours 2-3, 90 with sort of one dimensional dark fruit by the end of the bottle later in the evening. I think this one, even though it's nicely balanced and integrated now with a short decant, begs for a couple more years of aging. Potential of 94, maybe 95 with time?

9/17/2023 - wine-enthusiast Likes this wine:

Way to early to really rate this wine. Deep fruit that is gorgeous and medium bodied currently. Needs time..

11/12/2023 - brianschool Likes this wine:

Update 1.5 years later. Simply outstanding juice. More pronounced fruit now than before, a complex and satisfying finish. Great juice!

2/12/2023 - anstruletz Likes this wine:

Absolutely average in every way. Not a bad wine, but nothing exciting going on here.

9/23/2023 - Mark1npt Likes this wine:

Impulse buy this afternoon at Costco knowing I had my homemade sauce and linguine waiting at home for dinner. $19.89/bottle.

Pnp into the glass. Dark garnet with a nose of black fruit, brown dirt, sauteed herbs in brown butter.

Palate is a bit simple and black fruited to start but improves quickly over an hour of air. 89-90 at the outset. The wine is smooth and silky and a pleasant surprise as Alicante Bouschet (65%) is not my fav grape, but I guess the added Trincadeira (20%) and Aragonez (15%) round it out nicely. This is a $20 bottle that drinks like a $30-40/bottle. Paired very well with the meat sauce and meatballs and really paired well with the loaded garlic bread. Those grapes set off against the garlic perfectly. Great qpr buy. 92 after half a bottle. The other half under a Repour stopper on the counter, to try over the next week.

addendum: last splashes in the glass for 2+ hours had a distinct smokey/burnt ember flavor. No doubt from the barrel toast, but not appreciated early on, til the wine soaked up more air.

Addendum: finished the other half of the bottle the next night (tonight). As usual, the Repour stopper preserved the wine perfectly. Well worth the $1.50 investment in the disposable product. Over another hour or two of air the wine gained another point or two due to increased weight and glide. So now a 93+. The only down thought was just a hint of dark plummy-ness which is my least fav fruit profile, but still the quality of the wine is quite nice. Might be drinking like a $50 bottle tonight but I think that's its max.

8/12/2023 - blaine Likes this wine:

This is just amazing value! As a longtime list member of the rumored producer of this wine, to my palate it certainly lives up to the rumored source. Just a baby, you can cellar this for 10 years and be very happy with the result, provided Cam's corks hold up that long. Certainly lots of fruit, but 5 years in it's starting to round out. This is my third bottle I think, and each has been better than the last. Impeccably balanced, just the right amount of oak, finish is consistent with producer's house style. I got the same price as Deegie below, $11.58 on sale...maybe the greatest qpr cab purchase of my life!

6/18/2023 - Steve Simmons Likes this wine:

Needed a quick bittle to open. First time serving upon PnP. Did great. Mixed fruit aromaitics and some spice. Acid kept it fresh. One of the better bottles of this we have had. Had broad appeal.

4/26/2023 - Rbhan12 Likes this wine:

Decanted for an hour, back to bottle and followed. Allegedly Staglin Family Vineyard .

Nose is phenomenal. Sweet black cherries, classic Rutherford dust, subtle cinnamon, red currants and raspberry jam. Very inviting but doesn't come off as overripe. Palate is medium full bodied. Darker plums, supple but dusty tannins, a little tinge of acid, and fresh raspberries. Finish is a rerun of the nose--rich dark fruits, dust, but with a kiss of something fresh and medicinal towards the end.

I liked this a lot. It has solid depth approachable complexity, classic flavors without being overripe or draped in annoying RS. I agree the structure isn't massive and I'm hesitant to cellar for 15-20 years as Cam's release notes suggest. I think this will drink beautifully for at least 4-6 years, at which point we all can reevaluate longevity. Either way it shakes out, I am more than happy to be proven wrong, as this does drink very nicely now.

As far as price, I have no doubts a winery would charge $100+ for this. It is outstanding quality and from prime real estate. I'm not sure I'm a buyer at $100, but I'm drinking DN wine so I'm looking for a steal!

Drinks beautifully now with a 1h decant, I would go back to bottle after that (don't think it needs too much air). Will do well for 4-6 years at minimum. 91-92ish quality.

Day 2: half the bottle in the fridge overnight. Nicely integrated with a touch more dusty savory character showing. Slightly more acid and tannins showing today too. Lovely wine that is showing beautifully now and has more to give with time.

4/19/2023 - LCHammer Likes this wine:

Way different (and better) than my last bottle in Dec. Put it thru an aerator and had more of a cab profile than the spiciness of the previous bottle. A great drinker but I hold to my opinion that it does not have long term aging potential. However I'll be happy to drink the rest of mine in the next 1-2 years. IMO this is a $40-$50 wine.

4/17/2023 - Justinwine wrote:

Off night for this wine.

3/31/2023 - Mark1npt Likes this wine:

By far and away, the WOTN of the 3 samples from tonight for all 4 tasters. Right from the get go, the beautiful and very identifiable MHopper nose is just great. The weight in the mouth is the best of the 3 and the palate follows along with the great nose as well. This is a def buy, even for a '20. All 4 tasters agreed on that.

3/27/2023 - vbulkin wrote:

Very nice, approaching it's prime. The nose is deep and complex, the mouth is pleasant but a little behind. Very pleasant overall, huge QPR.

2/20/2023 - fingers Likes this wine:

Notes after following for two days open. It was ready after a few minutes of air and it held steady with little development from there. Dark, inky violet color with clear, quick legs and no sediment. Bright, herbal-driven nose supported with some sweet cherries and sea mist. Light to medium body and medium+ acidity, along with a sheet of volcanic minerality across the palate. Crunchy apple, cherry, watermelon, a hint of blueberry. Wonderfully clean and pure expression. 5+11+17+8= 91

8/1/2022 - Mark1npt Likes this wine:

Been almost 9 months since my last bottle and glad to see this is still drinking so well. Just accept that my review of my last bottle of 12/11/21 still stands with the advice now that 3 hours of air with cork removed from bottle, no full decant, and enjoying over 2 hours with food thereafter, is heaven. The combination of deep black currant fruit and perfectly balanced acidity is really propelling the ending now with this one. In fact the ending is probably better than the last bottle.

2/9/2023 - Mark1npt wrote:

Thought I had already gone through what few '17 Napa cabs I had, but found this one way in the back of the chiller today, so why not? Italian on the menu for dinner tonight so it should work. Pnp'd into a decanter with a dark magenta color and a big, beautiful mountain cab nose of fruit and graphite with some briary nuance to it. Sampled 15 min in, and the tannins peeled a few layers of skin cells off every square centimeter of the walls on the inside of my mouth. Man, they are big. Some of the rawest tannins I've ever had in a wine. Very weird. Maybe an 85 to start? Hard tannins can be a result of the many heat spikes of the '17 vintage in Napa that summer. It could be the result of many other things, as well. Sampled again another hour later and it's just more of the same. By hour 2, we finally see some calming down starting to occur. But not a lot. The fruit is very good and high quality, a mix of blue, red and black. There's good weight in the mouth but OMG, the tannins! 3 hours in and we're forced to eat dinner. Tannins are still out of balance/overdone but with the acidity of the Italian sauce/food it actually works somewhat. The texture in the mouth is a little smoother. More briar and forest floor on the nose. Cherry and blackberry fruit with decent energy, but still, the tannins reign. On the bright side, there's no evidence of any smoke taint from the fires of '17 in this one. 89-90 now as the rich, high quality Veeder fruit is helping this wine. Still, some left in the glass. Will report back and update the score should any new evidence come to light, at the end of the night.

Addendum: 4 hours in, we both have a small glass left. My glass had more riveting cassis and dark fruit and was sweet and smooth. Carol's glass was back to square 1, with mouth puckering cardboard like tannins. I don't remember which glass was the final pour from the bottle, but it must have been hers. There was virtually no sediment to speak of, from the bottle. Yet, one gets the feeling that whatever was in the last glass needed some egg white fining to remove all these hard tannin compounds. What a strange bottle. After having consumed thousands of bottles of wine in my lifetime, I can't ever remember a bottle that behaved as erratically as this one did. It has to be an 'outlier'. Changing my rating to 'Neutral' and not scoring.....this is clearly some kind of abnormal bottle, even for a '17.

9/21/2022 - wcf1946 Likes this wine:

Decent pop n'pour everyday Cab. Good QPR at $15 from Costco. Medium body and short finish, subtle tannins. Nothing special. Probably will not improve but will drink well over the next 5-7 years. Forget about the outrageous 94 score from Suckling. I don't know where this guy is coming from. He's probably being paid a fortune for putting his deceptive labels on wines. Most of the wines he gives mid-90's scores to are actually pretty good, just scored 8-10 points higher than they really should be.

12/19/2022 - vbulkin Likes this wine:

Excellent wine. Not a fruit bomb, but very new world cab. Intense with a lot of interplay on taste and nose. Will improve and smooth out over the next few years.

12/3/2022 - ziavino wrote:

It's hard not to consider the price ($19) here, as it easily drinks like a $40+ bottle. Ripe and unctuous, with notes of sweet black currant, blackberry, oak, milk chocolate, and tobacco leaf throughout. It's better integrated than I'd expected, save for a touch of heat that lingers on the medium finish. Terrific value.

11/6/2022 - yelnak wrote:

One of my go to from CH. big aged black fruit prunes cassis blueberry with medium light tannins and subtle acidity long finish. Bought 2 cases originally Wish I’d gotten more.

11/8/2022 - Mark1npt Likes this wine:

2.5 years since having my last bottle of this gifted to us by CC, himself. That bottle was an easy 96. Took me 2.5 years but I finally found a 3 pack of this at auction a couple of months ago and decided to pop one tableside at dinner tonight with good friends who have 25 years of experience drinking these wines from CC. Co-incidentally, they brought an '18 of this same wine to dinner table tonight, too!

Right from the pnp, this one is ready to go and it only improved over the next 45-60 min til it was gone shortly after our apps arrived. Perfectly integrated on all fronts and perfectly balanced. Smooth, yet powerful with some nice secondary components. This bottle has obviously been well stored, however the cork still came out in 2 pieces for our server. This is still quite dark, it's silky and did I say, smooth? Earns the same score as the last bottle and dare I say as I hold the other two, it may yet improve another point going forward as it further evolves? This is why wine is so much fun........and so enjoyable. Thank you again CC for making such a beauty.

9/3/2022 - Dobrie10 Likes this wine:

Medium garnet in the glass. PNP = tightly wound, fresh red fruit, concentrated tart raspberry, cassis, a bit of green, and a wall of tannin. The bones are there, but it’s young and needs a lot of air if drinking now, but will show better in a few more years.

90 min decant: nose is a bit more subdued and the oak shines through, but not in a negative way. Entry and mid palate have really come together — still quite forward and a semi-wall of tannin, but a fine wine, no doubt. Floral bouquet and a basket of fresh red fruit.

This wine could have probably used a 3 hour decant, but impatience got the better of us. This is a wine to check back in 5 years — needs bottle time to come together and mellow. Likely 2 point upside in 5 years.

Edit: we had ~6oz left in the decanter at the 3 hour mark and it’s gorgeous.

4+12+17+8

7/13/2022 - Mark1npt Likes this wine:

This is NOT your mother's Grenache! Bears no resemblance to any Grenache I've ever had. Big as many a Cali cab or an Outpost zin.....(big sale item at our local Costco $14 and change a bottle. Tremendous qpr here. Drinks like a $50-80+ Cali bottle). Only bought one bottle to try today and bazoom! Opened at 2pm....big juicy, ripe dark berry fruit. High alc and high acidity. Pretty over the top all the way around. Over the course of 2 hours it settles in, under better control, and it's a very, very good wine for this price point. Last glass going down slowly now after being open 6-7 hours to air. It feels as though the heat is rising once again. Still, this is from France? No! This has Cali big fruit bang written all through it. This isn't multi layered, but it's juicy and good. Cali red drinkers will love this, but right now I'd drink it in hours 2-4.......wow.

6/6/2022 - Mark1npt wrote:

What a shame......out of probably 100 bottles of Myriad, my first 'corked' bottle. A textbook example.

5/28/2022 - Stoic Warrior Likes this wine:

2nd bottle from case. Double decanted and in-glass aeration for 1 hour+. No sediment. Much improved over last year, although still a relatively light and acidic profile. Raspberry notes on the nose and herbaceous notes along with bitter cherries on the palate. Some tannin noted but well integrated. Tobacco leaf, pepper and spice faintly present. A medium length but still slightly acidic finish. Will improve. Next bottle 2024.

11/9/2021 - der Schmecker Likes this wine:

Whoa! A beast of a wine. Think huge black bull, sweating in the mid-day sun, hoofs raising dust as it paws the ground, snot spraying from its nose, as it gets ready to charge. Not for the faint of heart. A sipper for sure in that a small pour is plenty. Tasted better on day two. Once I knew what to expect, I liked it.

8/13/2021 - SCM Fan Likes this wine:

Double decanted 3 hours before serving, placed back in cool cellar. Poured glass 15 mins prior to steak dinner. In the glass, dark crimson. Nose has some new oak- not offensive. Taste: Black cherry, lavender cassis. No petite verdot (which I prefer)- tastes like 100% Cabernet that Cam called out in tasting note. Acidity and tannins balance this wine well.

Thought I would get to try it over 2 nights, but NOOO, Wifey wanted a glass, then a 2nd and dammit a 3rd glass. Oh well. Why you should buy de Negoce wines by the case. For a young 2019 Cabernet, this has a wonderful life ahead of it. Those that purchased this at original $13 price should be pinching themselves. This wine is a home run. It should be priced $70 for this quality and region as Cameron states. Score has potential to go up 2-3 points with 3-5 years in bottle.

10/13/2021 - ewhite wrote:

Just capturing the original tasting note from the LastBottle release:

“In 2018 many prodigious Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon’s were produced but not many of them touch the quality and value as the Collide Cabernet Sauvignon. Intense and deeply pitched aromas of dark and red fruits comingle with a mineral essence and classic Cabernet Sauvignon berries that are ripe and evoke a sense of freshness. The palate is loaded with dark cherry, boysenberry and cigar box tobacco that spike on the front-end. Framed by perfectly ripened tannins that give a sense of grip without being overbearing, this wine finishes with a long lingering finish that has a viscosity that coats the mouth and begs for another sip. Drink within the next few years with a short decant or age for 10-15 years to allow it to gain more secondary notes and hidden complexities.”

10/3/2021 - Dibbs Likes this wine:

This is the quintessential Las Cases that everyone complains about not being ready yet and having the structure over finesse.
The wine isn't at its prime yet but starting to get there. It was drunk over a 5-6 hour period and it got better for the first 2 hours or so and kept at a plateau for the rest of the night. It paired really well with food. As DJHammond notes that this is a more intellectual wine rather than a hedonistic experience like the 1990. This wine isn't sexy, it is just impressive as hell. The volume and length of the wine are mindboggling at almost 40 years of age. This is built for another 20 years easy and it is only going to get better from here but the peak is still at least 5-10 years away.

10/3/2021 - LCHammer Does not like this wine:

Very tightly wound upon opening but I detected the presence of some dark fruit that I believed would come forward with air. Not so. Got less tannic after a few hours but did remained disjointed/sour. Next day no better. No rating because I'm wishfully thinking that this was a bad bottle. If not, I purchased an undrinkable case of wine. I'll try one again soon to verify my hypothesis.

4/1/2019 - Colpete wrote:

It is a perfectly adequate wine. It is fine. But I don’t get giving it 88or 90 points. It is nothing special. Very ordinary. Good for a quick Tuesday dinner, but I wouldn’t serve it to company, unless I didn’t like them very much. But it won’t work for Tuesday because it won’t Coravin properly due to the fake plastic cork. So you have to kill a whole bottle of mediocre wine, and who wants that?

Cameron Hughes gives unexpected values, but mediocrities as well. This guy is mediocre.

9/26/2021 - Haggis wrote:

I continue to be puzzled/baffled by the wide bottle variation. Some are quite drinkable, while others are a scrambled, oaky, hot mess. This one is somewhere in between. It was quite pleasant upon opening, with expressive dark fruit, cocoa, bramble, and a good dollop of tannin. On day 2, it was much smoother, with some of the heat blown off. Today (day 3), it is mostly alcohol and tannin with muted fruit. Messy. 90pts for day 1; 89 for day 2; 84 for day 3.

9/16/2021 - SanCarlosRunner Does not like this wine:

Hot, syrup, oak. Poured out.

9/5/2021 - Mark1npt Likes this wine:

My final wine of the event.....decanted 2 hours. Dark blue/black fruit, classic nose, tons of depth. The very best of the Spence wines. One of the smoother '16s you'll find, if you can find it. This was my only bottle. Extremely well balanced and begging for more years, this should go quite a while. How I wish I had more....unfortunately, the last of it was poured out before I could re-taste. Rats!

8/25/2021 - MK_Maxxable Likes this wine:

I took a chance on opening this shortly after receiving it and was pleasantly surprised. I aerated a glass and let it sit for a little bit prior to drinking. The aromas were strong & rich - spicy, tobacco, dark fruits - and mouth watering! Perfect for richer, more spicy foods. Long-ish finish and just a good everyday wine. Happy that this was drinkable immediately and happy to have a few more on hand.

8/9/2021 - wine-enthusiast wrote:

Nice red fruit and length on the palette. Medium light body. Not a top Diamond mtn wine but nice sipper. Was 30$ on wineaccess and thats top of the mark.

7/30/2021 - wine-enthusiast wrote:

Light bodied juicy upon opening, smooth and agreeable.

9/9/2016 - wine-enthusiast Likes this wine:

Costco has it for $ 14. Dark color, dark flowery nose. Medium bodied the wine is very nice. The finish is not long. After 3 hours the flavors fase. WS gave it 93 points. Thats way high.

7/2/2021 - Big Ted Red Likes this wine:

My last bottle, sadly. Great QPR. Rich, balanced and elegant. If you have any left. Pull one out. Probably not getting any better but a delightful bottle.

7/10/2021 - Cabfrancophile wrote:

Consistent with prior bottles. Opening after a fine AVA level PN, I don't find this holds its own, though indeed it is 1/2 to 1/3 the price. This bottle felt a bit angular as well--the components for balance were there, but they didn't harmonize.

Served a bit too cold, though, will try again on day 2.

Day 2: stored at cold cellar temp overnight. Better composed, comes across as a Pinot Noir emphatically, though the oak remains rather pronounced. Solid B+.

6/25/2021 - wine-enthusiast Likes this wine:

Decanted for an hour dark and perfumed. Medium bodied floral notes. Nice depth it is just coming around. Lots more to come, will be 90 plus

6/20/2021 - Cuellar's Cellar Likes this wine:

Fantastic vintage and bottle. Pouring nicely now, and has many years to come. Cheers

3/16/2021 - kingboo wrote:

You hit a home run if you purchased these cabs while in stock, especially considering the QPR. Very good wine.

5/25/2021 - mercurius wrote:

At peak now. Drink up.

5/18/2021 - Mark1npt Likes this wine:

Needed only an hour to hit its stride.....soft, feminine mouthfeel, gentle aging components of light garnet color and ever so subtle aged red fruit.....nose of pronounced sage/herbs....takes almost 3-4 hours to lessen. This is in a very good place right now. I don't see it getting any better from here. 93 bordering on a 94.....

5/2/2021 - djhammond Likes this wine:

This is In line with my note from nearly a year ago, but the last 10 months has seen further development. It is the later developer of the St Juliens from 2003 , but ahead of the St Estephes. The wine's youthful appearance is deceptive, as it is definitely open for business. I must contradict some other reviews in that this definitely needs a few hours in the decanter at this stage, and ideally time in the glass to enjoy it at its best. The nose is deeply aromatic with ripe cherry, blackcurrant and liquorice with cedar and vanilla notes. The tannin is far more pronounced on the palate than other St Julien siblings, but an exquisite balance makes it a real plus. Likewise the depth is excellent. My only reservation is the finish which is still a little green allowing harsher notes to dominate. However, it is lengthy and I feel that further aging will resolve this.

5/4/2021 - davidandrose Likes this wine:

Coravan’d glasses from this bottle earlier in the week to compare against a bottle I had already opened which I believed was corked/off.

(Note the first bottle was in fact bad, and the winery promptly agreed to replace.)
Black plum, medium dark cherries on the nose along with aged wood.

Tight grained, youthful wood front palate; Fruit comes across much brighter and softer than on the nose. Honestly I feel this was better on the first try a few days ago, but don’t want to get on one of my “death by Coravin” rants as I’d rather enjoy this lovely Tuesday evening. In any event, this can comfortably rest for a year or two to resolve, and as others note would benefit from more decanting than I’ve allowed tonite. Coming straight out of the bottle it’s not as approachable as Mt Veeders Cab franc or Merlot, or the related (and particularly enjoyable) La Jota Merlot.

4/20/2021 - Max S. Likes this wine:

WAY better than the last bottle, 8 months helped a ton. Tannins are rough, still needs a year or more likely two to settle down.

2/26/2021 - Cuellar's Cellar Likes this wine:

Fantastic wine. This wine is ready to drink today. Opens up nicely. No need to decant. Just open and enjoy. I great buy at my Costco. :)