January 21, 2023 - Good from the pnp before dinner but I liked it better as the night wore on. Solid fruit, intense, dark red and black. It's a rich cab nose with red licorice (twizzlers) earthy black soil, burnt caramel and some cassis. While I liked this one early, I really liked it as the night wore on and more air was in play.....if I hadn't finished this one so early in the 4th quarter of the Eagles wipeout of the Giants, it may have even gained another point.
January 21, 2023 - PNP. Deep dark magenta core. Dark raspberry and bitter chocolate. Very smooth, dry palate, with pixelated acidity. Very firm tannins on the longish finish.
Beautiful, fragrant nose. It was my third bottle in quick succession, so I took terrible notes. The score is real. This was provided by Mark1NPT at his home where I’m kicking off an extended wine weekend. Someone’s got to do it. ;)
September 25, 2022 - Pnp'd into a decanter at 2pm while watching the Eagles grind Carson Wentz and the Redskins into the ground.....sampled all throughout the game....
Initial impressions? 91-93 with nice ripe, sweet powerful fruit but a tad thin in the mouth and a general feeling of a lot of heat on the backend. Stated alc on the bottle is 15.1% but it 'feels' like more. Knowing that by law in CA, you can be off by up to 1.5%, I'm not surprised if it's actually more.
2-3 hours in and this one turns......for the better, now a 94-95. exact notes are quite difficult to come by as Carol is cooking some spicy Tuscan chicken dish for dinner and the garlic and spice aromas out of the kitchen are messing with my olfactory sense. Dark magenta in the glass I get red, blue and black berries, some slight floral component and maybe a hint of graphite with some mossy forest floor. All I know for sure is the fruit deepens and expands. The wine puts on weight with dense, sweet cassis showing up in spades. The mouth feel changes to this silky, soft powdered graphite glide in the mouth, but in no way is this wine feminine in any way. It's much too powerful as more acidic backbone emerges as a touch of the previously noted early alc backs off. This is surely way over the top for any Francophile but yet will float any big, powerful Cali cab drinker's boat to the heavens.
Hours 4-5 brings even more of the great cassis and depth of fruit. Intense blackberry compote and a hint of chocolate shows up. Some of the soft silkiness leaves, but the concentration of fruit takes center stage. Still a tad hot and acidic but that just elongates the ending. I really don't want this bottle to end but I'm down to the last glass, now. Gave Carol a sip and she remarks at how much the wine has changed for the better from the pnp, this afternoon.
Hour 6 sees a little more blackening to the fruit, a lot more chocolate emerging on the palate and a touch more acidity noted. This one has been a fun ride.......
July 1, 2022 - Opened this after trip back from Bergen to Oslo. And wow what a wine this time around vs last time when I opened. It filled up, gained some weight. Scrumptious notes of roasted plums, cigar box, lit tobacco, sandalwood and vanilla bean. Medium plus bodied, smooth delivery with right balance of power and finesse. Great finish! A solid 95-96!
May 21, 2022 - Had to go to an old reliable when another wine wasn’t ready. Love this vintage especially at the $95 close-out price. Dark ruby fruit - currants, blackberry, dark cherry, and blueberry. Smooth mid-palate with a nice purity and solid depth/concentration but a little lighter profile than around a year and a half ago. However, the tannins are incorporated quite well. Nice vibrant/rich flavors of dark berries, spice/licorice, cassis, and a mineral/graphite component. Fairly long finish. Popped/poured but drank out of a decanter for a couple hours. Improved a little with time but drinking quite well right away. Once again, a nice vintage of this wine. 100% cab.
May 9, 2022 - Silky smooth cab. I double decanted and had it in the decanter for an hour. Rebottled the wine and served it at the restaurant an hour later. The two hours were enough to open the wine. Blueberry, sweet fruit, and fine finish. Drinking nicely. Medium weight fruit and ample tannins should keep the wine at its peak for a few years.
March 31, 2022 - Second bottle at an Italian restaurant in San Diego, so short decant. Was most aromatic and expressive with the first glass. Medium in weight, intense blue and black fruits with a long mid body of leather, cedar and tobacco, with the same profile Lingering on the palate.. sweet tannins. Reminded me of a ‘i1 Silver Oak Bonnie’s vineyard.
Considerably lighter than many Napa peers, I would not be surprised if this is at it’s peak
January 14, 2022 - Amazing cab. Silky smooth after quick decant. Just keeps getting better
November 21, 2021 - Pre-dinner bottle.....needed 30 min to open up in the glass. We were only going to have one glass before dinner but the bottle was gone with 3 of us drinking, very quickly. This is deep, dark, succulent fruit with wonderful acidity and still resolving tannins. All gone by 90 min open to air. A real pleasurable bottle......you can hold these for quite a while if you want, or you can drink them now. Your choice.
September 16, 2021 - Going on a 3 plus hour decant and sip. Excellent nose. Great succulent fruits. Worn leather. Mint/pepperMint note is outstanding!
With time notes of vanilla custard and spiced cake emerged.
Palate not as fruit forward as the nose I thought. Excellent earthiness and minerality, adding red licorice candy!
Nice finish.
Wifey and I loved the nose - phenomenal
She felt some strange nuances on the palate
I thought it was fine but it lacked a little power and has a lot of pure elegance.
Maybe I was just expecting something there wasn’t.
As per Badmonkey’s advice, we left a glass and a half in the bottle to try tomorrow.
I won’t touch my 2 remaining bottles for a while!
Cheers