June 14, 2023 - Can't believe it has been 4.5 years since I last enjoyed this wine. What a beast of a wine. Can't believe this is the last one either....but it is. Roasted dark black fruit, black tar, mission figs. The middle adds a bitter dark chocolate, espresso bean and a hint of au jus. This is an incredibly balanced, structured wine. Finishes with a ton of roasted tannin and black pepper and baking spices. This is historically the darkest and most verbose wine in the Cimarossa lineup year by year. What a beautiful wine and still has a ton of life left. Drink or hold.
August 3, 2021 - Been too long since I’ve popped one of my favorite Howell Mtn producer wines. Their Ponente is my favorite, but Rian is pretty close.
Knowing this was 2013 + mountain fruit, I knew even at 8yrs this was going to be young, so I hoped an hour and a half double decant would help. It did, as this wine came and went in waves, but this really blossomed on day two. To me, these wines consistently show a red clay type character to them. It’s very dark fruit dominant on the nose, with charcoal, mocha, and herbal spice. On the palate the red clay comes out with added notes of char-grilled black cherry pie, dark chocolate, mineral core, and a savory tobacco leaf finish that popped up on day two. Dense on the mid palate but the finish has so much going on here. I’d hold for another 3yrs, but it’s pretty solid now if you can double decant for a few hours.
September 8, 2020 - (5/5) - Fantastic dark ruby color in the glass and shows virtually no signs of age at 7 years.
(13/15) - Aromas of dark fruit, blackberry, blueberry, wet stone, cinnamon and baking spices. This seems to even be a bit subdued at the moment as some 2013's are.
(18/20) - For a 2013 mountain wine, this is fantastic. Great mouthfeel. coats the palate with velvet like tannins and carries the dark fruit and spice effortlessly. Everything seems to be in harmony and I imagine may get even better with a handful more years in bottle.
(8/10) - Overall one of my favorites from Cimarossa. This and the Rive Di Cimarossa are fantastic and represent immense value mountain wines.
November 22, 2018 - Thanksgiving wine number 3. The first wine of the meal, decanted about 3 hours ahead of time. This is a blackberry and black licorice monster, with hints of blueberry and pie spice. Even despite decanting, the amount of tannin here is incredible. Young oak tannicity is very present on this wine. Turns dark and smoky to the middle and finish. Full bodied and definitely complemented a majority of foods here. But.... along comes Dyer to steal the show. I believe this wine will be a lot better in about five years. But, still not a bad showing whatsoever with a solid 94 presentation today.
April 9, 2017 - Over the top, big wine that will need some time to mellow. Double decant didn't tame it at all. Left it for a couple hours and still was a bit wild. Loved he nuances that this wine had and can't wait to see it in its teen age years. Buy this one up, you will be glad you did.
February 9, 2017 - Wild Blue Flax is the flower for this year. This wine is power and prestige. Heat-seeking missile after cork pop for about an hour. The initial impression is blackberry and cassis, vanilla, blueberry, and cinnamon spice. It was the better received wine of the night, and I think this is Parker's favorite over all the 2013 cabs. On day 2, this wine had mellowed out quite a bit, but still had excellent structure. The finish of this wine is dark fig and molasses on the finish that gave it a touch of sweet and apple spice. This is a 15 year ager/holder quite easily.