September 27, 2023 - 94 points +
This wine can age a decade more easily; and maybe you should aim to do so. Very pure fruit, mostly in the dark red profile. Mouth watering acidity to hold everything in place. Long finish with very pure fruit and some bordeaux essence with lead pencil, tar and cigar box. A little too sweet for my ultimate balance but I believe in a few years it will be 95-96 points. Great wine, wish I had more.
June 25, 2023 - Beautiful wine from an amazing producer. Still needs time but was showing strength in note. Pencil shavings and tobacco/cigar. Nice finish
November 14, 2020 - Same notes apply.
November 13, 2020 - PnP and then in the decanter for three hours, tasted throughout. No question it’s a well made wine but at $165 it just misses the mark for me. Starts off a bit too astringent (from wood or alcohol), I don’t mind either, enjoy them actually, luckily it slowly fades over the decant but never goes away entirely.
A mild attack (would be a higher score if a bit stronger), cassis but not syrupy, nice middle, black cherry, followed by a medium finish. Within the cassis and dark cherry, there are plenty of herbal, tobacco and spice to keep everything nice. Why is my rating out of line with others- I feel like this wine is high quality but lacks the complexity I would have expected from a wine of high pedigree parts. Feels like the ‘better parts’ were middle of the road vs top of the line.
Where does this leave us/me, I feel like a winery has two choices, kill it with top barrels in a blended wine or pull out the best barrels, have killer single vineyard offerings and a second label of the blend for ~$100. I will open the Petit to see how that compares. I could be judging this to harshly however I consider price ranges and what’s available. I love Vice Versa wines, especially the single vineyard (regular and BBS) its just an internal struggle at the $175 price point for a blended offering where the best barrels are pulled for Mag 7, the next best are pulled for BBS, next best pulled for single vineyards and then the rest for this blend. I feel like this should be at the $100 Ontogeny price point to make it a great buy. My two cents.
March 21, 2020 - This outstanding 2015 is playing the white keys, the black keys, and the cracks right now! It's playing with everything it's got.
Blueberry, dark cherry, and spice with an incredibly long finish that has shed its tartness in favor of a completely balanced and smooth delivery. I love trying all sorts of wines from the world over, but when I open a Vice Versa, it's like coming home.
February 8, 2020 - Ranks right up there with the elite wines of Napa. Double decant and about 1 to 2 hours later I was drinking a beautifully balanced wine. Dark fruit, dark chocolate and a hint of herbaceous notes. Enjoy now with a decant and I am sure this has the stuffing to evolve over time.
December 14, 2019 - After a long week (60 hrs, on two continents), a well deserved wine for Saturday night. Open for business immediately, this wine was well worth the $150 price tag paid. I have a few SVD VV wines, so I can't wait to open those, but the standard NV bottle is a knockout.
October 6, 2019 - Beautiful! Red fruit/dark cherry, soft tannin. Lively bouquet. Really really good. 1 hr decant.
September 1, 2019 - This 2015 VV continues to improve and delight as it matures. The youthful sweetness has now mostly resolved. Right from the attack, the pure and finessed layers of dark cherry, blueberry, and spice really shine. Still a bit tart on the very lengthy finish which I found adds to the mouth-watering experience.
It's open for business, and currently not in any sort of "shut-down" phase -- PnP is fine -- and after an hour decant it really starts gliding across the palate.
April 20, 2019 - This 2015 vintage is coming along nicely and catching up to the drinkability of the superb 2014 Vice Versa Napa Cabernet.
After a 2 hour decant, the nose is a delightful amalgam of blueberry and menthol while the elegant and full mid-palate has filled out with tart cherry, wonderfully fine-grained and silky tannins, and a minerality that keeps everything well grounded. Waves of spice and chocolate undulate on the finish for over 45 seconds. Velvety smooth and delicious!