March 12, 2024 - This is a fabulous Cabernet Sauvignon blend from Napa Valley.
Dark ruby in color with a brick rim.
Full bodied and smooth.
Dry and fruity on the palate with medium acidity.
Showing blackberries, black currants, plums, cooked cherries, cedar, leather, vanilla, licorice, spices, chocolates, tobacco, herbs, earth, light vegetables, coffee and black pepper.
Long finish with fine grained tannins and tangy raspberries.
This 23 year old is elegant and powerful. Rich and extracted, with a nice mouthfeel.
Good by itself as a sipping wine. Well balanced with great complexity. I just love these Napa Bordeaux blends.
Robert Parker 98 points. Wine Enthusiasts 94 points.
A great quality wine that will continue to age nicely in the next 10 to 15 years.
A blend of of 83% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Cabernet Franc, 5% Merlot and 3% Petit Verdot.
14.1% alcohol by volume.
96 points.
$400.
February 26, 2024 - Consumed over 3 hours, no decant just nat. ox.
Very closed off nose and palate at first, but similar to other Dominus with bottle age that I have experienced, came to life after just 20 minutes in the glass.
Silky tannins and bright red fruit combined with feint hints of graphite disguised by an almost weightless mouthfeel. As the bottle oxidized and warmed up, notes of allspice and clover were detected.
This will hold another 5 at least, but can't imagine it will ever be in a better place than it is right now.
October 29, 2023 - Magnum format. Iron fisted and closed. Needed major decanting and didn’t really open up after about 3 hours of decanting. Dark fruits and big tannins.
October 24, 2023 - Very good wine, but did not hold up to an All Star lineup. More alcohol and less balance than the 1994 Dominus, but still rich and enjoyable.
September 24, 2023 - superb balance here of fruit and structure, though the alcohol showed. Blackberries and blueberries, delicious. This has shed it's puppy fat and is in the process of maturing into a beautiful wine - not shut down but in transition. Medium plus weight, great fruit intensity. Long with some complexity coming through. Can drink now but I think will improve with a further 5 years.
August 2, 2023 - Prior to opening, mid-neck bottle level noted (excellent for the bottle age). Cork noted to be solidly in place, removed intact via Durand. Purple tinged cork edge with no evidence of seepage noted upon inspection following cork removal. Initial aroma of black cherry from bottle. Double decanted (with expectation of sediment) - and of concern - absolutely no sediment present (after 22 years?). Wine was given about 60 minutes of time (after the double decant) before pouring. In glass - color opaque dark garnet to purple. Initial nose in glass, was of dark fruit with a mild paint thinner quality (uh-oh!); this morphed over 30 minutes to a nose of dark cherry/plum with a very interesting and dominant secondary/tertiary focused note of spearmint/menthol (a trace of that paint thinner note was still present). Medium to full bodied mouthfeel with sense of sweet black cherry/plum on the palate leading into ending finish with a touch of anise and mild drying tannins. Medium to long length of finish. Over several hours the mint notes faded on the nose - nose remained primary dark fruit and now with notes of sweet licorice (almost a strawberry nuance) along with tobacco. Overall, this was excellent.
July 4, 2023 - Decanted about 45 minutes. This was a slightly off bottle, showing a bit of a tainted nose and also some drying tannins. I will not rate this and consider it flawed.
March 10, 2023 - Tasted blind. Ripe and extracted cassis fruit, but cool in style and well balanced with sweet dimensions from liquorish and gingerbread and minerality. Youthful and still somewhat wild palate. As is always the case with older Dominus vintages, in the blind tasting this was unanimously placed in Left Bank Bordeaux. Of all the 20+ year-old Dominus wines, this was the least favourite so far and also in the vintage context couldn’t quite shine as the likes of Shafer Hillside, Phelps Insignia or Colgin Cariad.
February 9, 2023 - Long decant. Super wine.
February 3, 2023 - Drank alongside the 2006. The 2001 was leaner and lighter, more subtle and nuanced. They almost seemed different stylistically. The 2006 was bigger, much fruitier, more structure, a bit more complexity.