Community Tasting Notes 3

• msuwine wrote: 97 points

  June 21, 2020 - This ripe and nuanced Cabernet is incredible - so rich, so earthy, so integrated. Garnet in color and full in body, the wine offers captivating aromas of boysenberry, graphite, bay leaf, and peppercorn. If the aromas are savory, the flavors are fulsome, with notes of blueberry pie, sour cherry, trail dust, and anise, with a layered and lingering finish that has some graininess (but the kind you expect - and want - from LPV).
  
  I didn’t taste this next to the regular LPV bottling, so I can’t say much as to its positioning with regards to the VV LPV. That said, tonight this blew away a 2014 Abreu Rothwell Hyde, a wine I have loved in the past. 97+ for now, with upside in another few years.

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• #1Winelover Likes this wine: 98 points

  October 6, 2017 - Tasted through a fantastic lineup of Vice Versa wines with my good friend Chris, and The Bretons on their patio with magnificent views of the valley floor on one side and The Mayacamas Mountains on the other side. Very fortunate to be offered barrel samples of the '16 Las Piedras, '16 Crane and '16 To-Kalon. Additionally, tasted the '15 Napa Cab, a '14 To-Kalon, and a side-by-side tasting of their '14 Las Piedras versus (no pun intended) '14 Las Piedras BBS. Finished it off with the '08 Michel Gonet Champagne. The '15s were just bottled, they were going through bottle shock and therefore, were unavailable to taste. I'm guessing that the '15 NV was bottled earlier.
  
  The LPV BBS is a step above their "regular" bottling (if you want to call something so amazing - regular). Dark purple to the rim and dripping with spectacular black and blue fruit, deeply concentrated but not over the top. The LPV BBS was also open for business! Typical Las Piedras notes of rock, scorched earth with graphite and chocolate on the finish. A finish that goes on and on and you hope it never stops. Well integrated tannins and it just has that something special wine lovers enjoy so much when you can find it.
  
  I will rate the other bottles later, but keep your eyes out for the '16 LPV. That was amazing and I'm sure that it will merit a 100 point score when it is eventually reviewed.

  Comments (2)

• csimm wrote: 97 points

  October 3, 2017 - Vice Versa (Saint Helena): Served side-by-side with the “standard” 2014 VV LPV. This BBS ratchets up the concentration and drive ever slightly when compared to its secondary counterpart. Carrying much of the same black and red fruit notes and conjoined minerality, the BBS’s core exhibited some deeper and more intense tonalities that provided it with a stronger drive; the subsequent finish came off a little longer and more fanned out than that of the standard LPV. Of course this is splitting hairs, as both the LPV and LPV BBS were extraordinary examples of LPV in the 2014 vintage.
  
  I personally would not say that the BBS was elevated so much that it was on a totally different playing field than the regular offering. Instead, I found that everything about the LPV was simply a notch or two up in the BBS, especially the overall breadth of the concentration. Drinking beautifully now, but would do well to sit for another year. This is a very special wine in the 2014 vintage that offers more balance and seamlessness than how many other overly flamboyant Napa Cabernets turned out.
  
  As mentioned in my tasting note on the standard LPV, what I especially love about VV’s LPVs (both the standard and the BBS) is that they lead with the fruit first, and then use the minerality to come up behind and perfectly frame it out. This BBS reminded me of a darker version of a 2014 Carter LPV, which I also very much admire. 96-97+ points for the BBS. I suppose it’s prudent to advise holding on from driking these right away, but with it drinking so well now, it’ll be hard for folks to keep their hands off of it.

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Pro Reviews 1

Wine Definition

• Vintage 2014
• Type Red
• Producer Vice Versa
• Varietal Cabernet Sauvignon
• Designation BBS
• Vineyard Beckstoffer Las Piedras Vineyard
• Country USA
• Region California
• SubRegion Napa Valley
• Appellation St. Helena

Community Holdings

• Pending Delivery 0 (0%)
• In Cellars 95 (79%)
• Consumed 26 (21%)

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