2/3/2023 - Hawkeye_Addict Likes this wine:

I like this wine, although it seems further along than it should be for a 2015. Lots of secondary notes already. Mushroom and compost for sure. Blue fruits on the palate with strong tannins. The tannins alone will carry this for another decade. Cheers!

1/29/2023 - MK9786 wrote:

Cork in terrible shape in both bottles: dry and crumbly. Recent order with Wine Access.

Update: Good customer service, replacements are being sent.

11/13/2022 - eschaefer Likes this wine:

What a pleasurable young Napa cab. Big and you g it was hedonistic. Purple black with a dark fruit core. Medium bodied actually. Not overweight, which was nice. Aromas of smoke, black fruit and mint. Super great texture and body. Very silky. I drink a lot of old cali cabs but I was happy to drink this young un. Highly recommended.

1/9/2022 - Jeff Leve wrote:

Earthy, floral, herbal, and already displaying loads of sweet, fresh, ripe, cherries and kirsch, with purity, elegance and lift, this refined wine is going to be delicious with only a modicum of aging. The wine is made from 100% old vine Grenache. Drink from 2024 - 2037

7/9/2022 - ASMB Likes this wine:

Definitely needs more time... A lot more time.

6/12/2022 - Libbidog Likes this wine:

One hour decant. It's perfect. Exceptional, juicy black fruit. Vanilla, spicy, dusty earth, cigar box. Multi-minute finish. Complexity is off the charts. For my taste in Cali cab, it gets no better. Life and wine are good!

3/20/2022 - msuwine wrote:

This ripe and dense Cabernet needs another few years to open up, but it has all the youthful signs of the full, savory, and earthy characteristics that make the Maiden one of the best “second” wines in the Valley (and no doubt one of the most expensive). Similar to an Abreu Rothwell Hyde I tasted recently, this 2018 is more brooding and grainy than many others of this vintage (albeit ones I tasted more than six months ago, so this all could be timing - the moving target of vinous analytics). Anyway, this wine is very good now and should become great later - and I would recommend opening it later (i.e., 2024).

Dark red in color and medium in body, the wine offers aromas of blackberry, pencil lead, leather, and tapenade. The flavors are precise but raw (like a thoughtful sermon passionately delivered), with notes of boysenberry, cocoa powder, dried thyme, and crushed gravel, with a grippy and earthy finish (read: not sweet, definitely tannic). 14.5% alcohol. This was more harsh and less integrated than a (stunning) 2014 Maiden tasted on the same evening, but the 2018 was undoubtedly made of the same ilk (perhaps with a bit more punch. Bottom line, this is a classy and delicious wine that needs - and will reward - time. Decant at least three hours if drinking now, but ideally wait another few years. 94+ at the moment.

12/31/2021 - partymonk Likes this wine:

Dark purple in color. PnP. Beautiful nose, all the bdx earth/tobacco/cedar box, dark fruit, still a bit closed, easily agebale for another 20+ years. Palate was quite similar- great structure, well smooth tannins, medium finish.

12/17/2021 - WineKnut Likes this wine:

Purplish garnet with no sediment in bottle. Medium slow legs.

Nose is well on it's way. Dusty, vanilla, tobacco, leather, thyme, fig and baked cherry. A bit hot at first, but faded with a little air.

Palate is similarly developed. A hint more red fruited, but still confirming nose.

Finish is super long. Offering up a huge lingering graphite, well... experience is the only word I can come up with.

Really enjoyed this tonight. Perhaps a bit rustic, but really tasty. Maybe not for the long haul. The fruit is definitely heading into the background.

Updated in comments.

8/30/2021 - msuwine wrote:

Midnight in Oakville: This wine shows what a restrained hand can do in a generous vintage - and the results are remarkable. Similarly purple in color and full in body to the Carter OG, the Maiden offers more pure aromas of black cherry, fresh embers, anise, and bay leaf. The flavors are similarly generous without being sweet (read: unencumbered by oak or extraction), including notes of boysenberry, camphor, peppercorn, and trail dust, with a silky and integrated finish. 14.8% alcohol.

This is even better than when I tasted it 18 months ago (2/20 - 95 points), with more class and integration. This was in the same realm as a 2016 Abreu Madrona I had a few nights ago, with less intensity but just the same amount of class. 96+ at the moment, with upside in 2023 or later. The best Maiden I've tasted since the 2013, this wine is only going to get better.

8/19/2021 - Hawkeye_Addict Likes this wine:

Still has some youth to it. Tannins are still very present. Agree with the comment below that it is Bordeaux like. Pencil shavings, cigar box, forest floor. Has a cedar chest old car smell that I enjoy. Not a ton of fruit left on the palate, but it hasn’t gone completely tertiary. Dark fruit for sure of what’s left. Enjoyable with my ribeye. Enjoy!

7/15/2021 - chapulin Likes this wine:

This is a Wine Access NDA cabernet; these wines tend to be very hit or miss. The quality heavily depends on whether the wine was made by the NDA winemaker or by the Wine Access (or contracted) winemaker, and it's almost impossible to know which. The description suggests that this is a declassified wine from Kinsman Eades, though of course it's impossible to know for sure. But context aside, this Howell Mountain wine was pretty incredible. Blackberry-like fruits dominate at this early stage, and the oak is very prominent. Tannins are very fine-grained, and the wine shows little evolution after being open 24 hours. Given this was $40, it would be very difficult to think of a better AVA-labelled wine at this price. I bought 2 bottles and regret not buying more. Of all the Wine Access NDA Napa cabernets I've had, this is by far the best

6/18/2021 - LiteItOnFire Likes this wine:

Starting drinking 1hr in last glass 3 hours. What a wonderful wine, thoroughly enjoyed, and while might not be perfect spot it is in a very good drinking window. For sure has sediment and decanting needs but when it opens up it explodes from the glass with ripe plum, black currants, in ripe blackberry, blueberry, boat load of red fruits, tremendous lift, cigar, earth, coffe grinds, and a super long voluptuous finish. What a great wine with depth and pleasure to go around. So good. 94 - 95

6/12/2021 - jviz wrote:

Very much alive and drinking great. This wine had a few people confused for Bordeaux. Very sappy and balanced, with red fruits and some spearmint. Fully resolved. I have yet to taste an 84 from Napa that disappoints. Thanks Tmud

6/15/2021 - Hawkeye_Addict Likes this wine:

Awesome QPR. Easy drinker that prevents me from raiding my cellar.

3/29/2021 - Hawkeye_Addict Likes this wine:

Fruitier and juicer than I anticipated. Color is more than of Cabernet than Rioja. Most Rioja I’ve had is lighter in color with dusty tannins, and very vegetal. This was way different in a good way. Definitely had the old world minerality I love. Very balanced on the palate with refined tannins and acidity. Good now but also could hold for another 10 years or more.

2/27/2021 - Francois Le Mouel Likes this wine:

I had such a blast with my first bottle that I couldn't resist and opened a second bottle (of course, just to confirm my first impression...strictly for academic reasons;))

Very consistent with my first note. I would just add: "...notes of incense; like Sally Field in the Flying Nun throwing a party at the convent..." This wine is like a mini-wheat, it has a very serious side, as well as a fun side.

12/11/2020 - NostraBacchus Likes this wine:

100% Cabernet Sauvignon from Mount Veeder. Wow, this is really good, the sheer class and sophistication is really amazing. Deep dark red berries, black cherries, notes of new leather, some tobacco, graphite, a touch of scorched minerality, some espresso roast. It's medium-full bodied, but seems lighter on its feet, while at the same time has incredible mid-palate persistence. There is high tannin that is excellent quality and high acidity providing tons of freshness and brightens up the overall appearance. Long finish with excellent complexion building up. There is an almost creamy mouthfeel to it which is really intriguing, as other people have commented. This has depth without weight, something only the best wines in the world achieve. Wow.
This is built for the long term...

8/1/2020 - vintage1949 Likes this wine:

A high quality Bordeaux wine that is drinkable in four years? Impossible. A 2016 Bordeaux wine that shows off its class in 2020. Incredible. A 2016 Pauillac with a nose that is what some may call beguiling. Intriguing.

Someone here with the name of Mark and another CTer wanted me to open one bottle of a six pack of Chateau Pontet-Canet. Thought it would be a tannic waste. Wow was I wrong.

Let’s start with the nose. Pouring a small amount into a Riedel glass and letting it sit for a little over an hour allowed the fruit to blossom. I was expecting a tight as a drum nose-maybe bitter not scents that revealed the quality of the vintage. I was greeted by a warm blanket of cassis, cigar box, black fruit, and tobacco.

This warm blanket coated the tongue with the presentation of the nose causing one to smile. No hole in the middle here but a mouth filling, cascading offering of what I consider true Pauillac flavors.

In time I think layers of complexity will form creating an even bigger smile on my face. I guess that Mark guy and another friend were correct. Now it is time to sit back and dream of the flavors to come. Dave

12/19/2020 - Hawkeye_Addict Likes this wine:

Smooth in the mouth. Moderate tannin. Pretty typical Cabernet on the nose and palate. Feels like it has the potential to be special in a couple years. Leather, dark fruit and rose petal.