December 8, 2023 - 1 hour decant great bottle
November 11, 2023 - Took 3.5 hr to finally crack open but wow when it did! Nose was absolutely flawless, palate had a slight bit of booziness, insert standard BTK notes here plus a little berry liqueur, Luxardo cherry. A reversed seared Ribeye certainly helped bring this out! Good, no Great wine!
June 18, 2023 - Decanted 90 minutes before service - not even close to enough air time. In the glass, deep youthful purple-tinged red. On the nose, a blast of blueberries and currants, with a secondary note of dark chocolate. On the palate, a wave of pure berry fruit, plums, and currants, with tannins that begin slowly and build to a round, massive wall on the finish. You can get pleasure from this wine now, especially if you enjoy that To-Kalon fruit, but those tannins are going to keep the real pleasure under wraps for at least another 5-10 years.
April 23, 2023 - Powerful with nice grip. Aging beautifully
January 12, 2023 - This bottle was amazing, and in the company of others opened tonight, held its own against some pretty heavy hitters. Was a Luxury Cab night at Ruth's Chris and this '12 CCS was up next too '12, '13, '14 Scarecrows, 2001 Abreu Thorevilos, '18 MacDonald, '14 Hundred Acre Wraith, 2014 Masseto, '14 Tor Black Magic, with a few champagnes and and an '05 Marcassin to open it up.
The CCS was paired next to the '01 Abreu and just had more 'going on', had great black and blue fruit structure with a solid mid palate and a finish that just kept going, I scored the night with the '13 Scarecrow 1st, '12 Scarecrow 2nd, and 3rd with the MacDonald - and the CCS was my 4th of the night.
All in all an amazing night of great friends, amazing wine and good food, so very humbled and blessed to be included.
The '12 CCS is not showing any signs of age, and think this beauty will to continue on its path of greatness, not sure if its getting any better as it is, IMHO seemingly to be fully integrated and beautiful, so no rush to drink them as a definite treat, but also no rush think these are easily in the drinking window for another 10 years +!!
January 6, 2023 - This wine is at its peak right now. Beautiful showing. Two hour decant. A finish that goes on for at least a minute. Red fruit, menthol and anise. Held up to a ribeye easily. Truly enjoyable
December 31, 2022 - Underwhelmed. Decanted 2 hours as suggested. Nice wine. Fruity, almost light. Resembles a Bordeaux. Got better at hour 5 but still not worth the price tag. Lesson learned - always decant a Schrader at least 6 hours
November 24, 2022 - Smooth, delicious, hidden tannins that came out after an hour or so. Ready to drink but definitely decant for 1-2 hours. Rating may have been higher given the changes that were occurring.
October 25, 2022 - Excellent after a 45 minute decant. Notable for a creamy texture along with bright red to mostly blue fruit, spice, and a long finish. Opened for K’s birthday and a big hit with friends. Seemed to be at its best until 2 hours after opening when the creaminess began to give way to a slightly more tannic profile. p.s I’ve never rated a wine above 97. I think the 2012 CCS is the real deal, but I can’t dismiss the influence of a wonderful evening with a most happy wife.
October 15, 2022 - Fantastic out of the gate, rich blue and red fruits with baking spices throughout. I noted in my previous note which is still true today, the complexity is lacking for such a well reviewed wine. Very good and no disappointment, but I’d expect more for a Parker 100 pt wine.