6/4/2021 - Vinomnivore wrote:

PNP - sweet and a little hot smells a little off in a large bdx glass (sour?). Some promising elements of mint, tea with the dark fruit. Will check back in after more time.

8/6/2021 - #1Winelover Likes this wine:

I haven't tried this since the winery was sold to a bunch of marketing people who jacked up the price threefold. Same wine. Same vineyard. Same Winemaker and three times the price. They must think most of us consumers are just stupid. The label is ugly and kind of creepy. Why anyone would put a jellyfish on the label, is, well, you know. Anyway, onto the wine...

The wine is excellent! Dark brooding colors of black and purple, plum and blackberry fruit, smooth and silky tannins with an impressive finish. Not much mineral as I prefer, but I am traveling and this is drinking quite well at the moment.

2014 is not one of my favorite years, but this wine is solid and stands out in a crowd.

8/4/2020 - msuwine wrote:

This is one of the greatest Napa Cabernets I have ever tasted, with mind-blowing concentration, depth, and balance. I loved the 2010 Thorevilos, but the 2009 achieves an additional level of originality and complexity. Yup, this is a wine that inspires adjectives, but for good reason: it's fantastic.

Dark purple in color and full in body, the wine offers an explosive nose of graphite, coffee bean, dried rosemary, and sour cherry - the kind of aromas that, like turtles, go all the way down. The flavors, too, come in layers, with notes of cardamon, dark chocolate, boysenberry, and graphite, with grainy and integrated tannins. The mid-palate is the opposite of thin, with an incredible mixture of spice and fruit that tells you this a wine built to grow, not fade, with time. Blend of 58% Cabernet Sauvignon, 28% Cabernet Franc, 10% Petit Verdot, and 4% Merlot. 14.5% alcohol.

I know Abreu is the opposite of an under-the-radar bargain, but this wine is the vinous equivalent of Ella Fitzgerald singing a classic from the Gershwin songbook - it is so beautiful and original, that you forget that anyone else has ever sung the song. This needs a few more years to settle down and enter the tippity top of its drinking window (technical term), but this wine is already knocking on the door of perfection. It shows the ability of Grimes and Abreu to achieve fulsome ripeness, while still maintaining freshness, complexity, and elegance. There are so many high-end Napa wines that taste great - but great in a similar way - and this wine stands on its own terms. Simply put, the 2009 Thorevilos is remarkable.

2/27/2020 - t_moderne wrote:

This was a Falltacular auction purchase, and paired with the 2006 Alpine Hillsides.
Dark ruby color.
Nose offers wisp of wood smoke, with red berries and herbs.
Light, fresh vibrant wine. Bright red berries, hint of forest floor, with a fresh orange peel note on the finish. Light, elegant with bright, tangy fruit. Has a slight sweetness to it from the ripe red berries.
Delicious.

6/21/2019 - Vinomnivore Likes this wine:

Excellent buy from K&L in the $30 range - a steal for mature cab of good quality. Defiantly some heavy and stale funk upon opening—blows off after two or so hours and this bottle became progressively more fresh and vibrant with time from there.

12/12/2017 - MC2 Wines wrote:

Acker BYO 2017 (Tribeca Grille): A bit off the beaten path. This was very much your old aged Cali. Get some balsamic quality to it. Some leather. Fruit more faded. Hear the Pinot from same year was rocking. Would say this was more fun (esp because birth year for one of us).

2/2/2019 - Vinomnivore Likes this wine:

Elegant and burly, sweet and savory. Dark fruit, game, leather, spice, floral/violet notes, a touch of white pepper plenty of acid on the finish. Extremely smooth for its age.

1/29/2019 - europat55 wrote:

Fresh and lively. Much better than the previous bottle I had a few months ago!

1/19/2019 - Ortiz Brown Does not like this wine:

Peach and caramel on the nose with some oak. On the palate there’s a slight creaminess with peach, pineapple, tropical fruit notes, and some oak. Minerality on the finish. What most disappointed us about the wine was the near absence of any acidity, resulting in a wine that was flat and lifeless. That's surprising in light of others' notes. Did we get a bad bottle?

11/17/2018 - Vinomnivore wrote:

The first glass was the best. Became quite flat after 30 min. Would have rated much higher for the first glass.

1/14/2018 - Badmonkey wrote:

Picked-up a bottle in the secondary market after enjoying the 2012 vintage and also in light of Parker's 97+ rating. Dark black fruit - blackberry, dark currants, and some plum. Smooth mid-palate coupled with solid depth/concentration. Nice flavors of dark berries, plum, and some spice/licorice. Fairly rich and a little sweet - as some others have noted some zin like qualities. Fairly long finish. Decanted for one hour and drank over another three. Improved a little with time but drinking well after the decant. A really nice wine but a lot of tough competition at the new price point. I miss the days when I could buy older vintages of this wine at Costco for around $50. 100% cab.

3/8/2018 - MAXIMUM SATISFACTION wrote:

Decanted 1 hour then back into the bottle for 2-3 more. Roasted, stewed, and pruned all around with a undoubtably dark character. Tasty and structured but lacking freshness representing a definitive stylistic departure from other years. Young but designed to enjoy immediately or 10 years from now.

1/24/2017 - jsteach Likes this wine:

One-of-a-kind spectacular Coco & coffee notes on the nose on the palette . soft berry fruit.

10/26/2017 - oldwines Does not like this wine:

This wine...is a puzzlement to me....clearly a Parker favorite (100 points) but I tasted this at a Fairchild wine event in NYC and as several of us tasted it we all looked at each other with raised eyebrows. The Finish described by Robert Parker in his note as "the staggering finish of more than a minute" was almost nonexistent. In my mind this would be a good $20-30 bottle of wine but bore no resemblance to 100 points and for the money is a waste. For me it is out of balance super fruity (red and blue), it did have a pretty strong anise flavor to both the palate and nose, but with little structure and while smooth and rich did not exhibit the distinction others have noted. I will readily admit to not liking this style of "Cult Cab" as a rule but in comparison to the Fairchild "Stones" wines this was not in the same league. It seemed to me to be falling apart and hardly likely to last the 25-35 years Parker thinks.

10/9/2016 - Seb Frefranc Likes this wine:

Great stuff. Intensive yellow colour. Apple juice like. Nose opens up with air. Nuts, honey, spices. Minerality. Elegant texture on the palate. Some cream. Again this nice minerality paired with honey and spices.

2/25/2016 - VeniceCalif wrote:

Decanted 1 hr. ahead. Medium cherry color, with orange flashes. Nice nose of red berries with very pleasant floral notes; fragrant. Light-bodied and flavorful on the palate, resembling a pinot noir. Finishes fast. I recommend ignoring the tasting notes on the winery website. This is a very attractive wine, and when you consider the QPR, it's a wonderful wine for this price. Think light-bodied red with moderate acid balance and good aromas. Completely useful.