Community Tasting Notes 1

• Juliansi Likes this wine: 91 points

  October 14, 2023 - Coincidentally.. One in a trio of 2016s at our recent Napa cult wines dinner in Stoked. This joined DQ's BOND Vecina and my Continuum Proprietary Red.
  
  Mika had boldly done a full flask decant for over 3 hours prior to dinner, yet this was both so powerful and concentrated, but balanced at the same time. How impressive that this shows such elegance and finesse even when it is so young.
  
  Aromatics of dried herbs with earth and mineral notes, developing to roasted dark coffee. Loved the nose!
  
  Blackberry jam and those hints of graphite and dark chocolate create such a sophisticated mid-palate. Silky soft tannins, medium acidity and such a long finish, of over 40 seconds.
  
  Blend of predominately Cab with Merlot, Cab Franc, and Petit Verdot too. Thanks to brother Mika for hand-carrying this all the way back from the Valley, wonderful...
  
  The story of Bob Levy and his winemaking career goes back to the mid-1970s at Cuvaison. In the early 1980s, he became both the winemaker as well as the general manager of legendary Rombauer. He then moved to Merryvale, where he met his future business partner, Real Estate Developer and mogul.. Bill Harlan.
  
  Bob would of course became Harlan Estate’s founding winemaker and Director of Winegrowing. He went on to be appointed Director of Winegrowing for all of the Harlan Family Domain properties, including BOND ESTATES, Promontory, and The Napa Valley Reserve.
  
  He has since handed over these responsibilities to the next generation; however, he continues to oversee the HARLAN family winegrowing teams and properties. Bob has in fact worked with over 100 unique hillside cabernet vineyard sites in Napa Valley during his career!
  
  Levy & McClellan was founded in 1999 by Bob and his wife, Martha McClellan.
  
  They capitalised on Bob’s profound experiences in the vineyard to select a prime location to plant a vineyard with specific ideas not previously done. His philosophies included producing a wine that would share the structure of a hillside cabernet while preserving the terroir’s character and providing a pleasurable experience through the finish with soft tannins.
  
  Martha is of course also a talented winemaker, crafting wines at Sloan Estate, Checkerboard Vineyards, and Vineyard 7 & 8.
  
  Dinner with Mika (Thanks for this special bottle), JY, Lydia, R, LMC and DQ too.
  Stoked, Kuala Lumpur
  14 Oct 2023

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Wine Definition

• Vintage 2016
• Type Red
• Producer Levy & McClellan
• Varietal Cabernet Sauvignon
• Designation Ampersand
• Vineyard n/a
• Country USA
• Region California
• SubRegion Napa Valley
• Appellation Napa Valley

Community Holdings

• Pending Delivery 0 (0%)
• In Cellars 165 (86%)
• Consumed 27 (14%)

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