Community Tasting Notes 7

• bendb Likes this wine: 92 points

  November 24, 2023 - Decanted for 4-5 hours after standing upright for a few days; there was a bunch of fine sediment, which surprised me.
  
  This is a remarkable wine! The nose is immediately interesting, with vivid strawberries and lilacs and baking spices, and maybe something a little vegetal too.
  
  On the palate, the green note is a little more prominent, along with cedar, pencil shavings, and oh those tannins. This is definitely young, even seven years after bottling. The finish is moderately long, and a little drying. This would hold up nicely with steak or lamb, but I'm drinking it on its own and it holds up fine in solo mode, too.
  
  I like it, though more for the nose than the palate right now. Let's see how it does tomorrow.
  
  Day 2:
  
  Mostly the same. The tannins have receded a bit, as has the floral nose. On the palate, the same foresty notes are a little more pronounced. I don't want to call the flavors "minty" or "piney", because they aren't, but those are impressions that I have.
  
  Tonight I drank this with a ribeye, and indeed the two go really nicely together. Beautiful wine.

  Comments (1)

• JustBreathe680 Likes this wine: 93 points

  April 21, 2023 - Double Decanted for 20 hours with the cork returned to the bottle for the duration of the DD while the bottle was stored at 55 degrees at an angle in a display craddle. There was no sediment detected. I typically don't DD for this extended period of time but circumstances called for me to prepare the bottle the night before.
  
  The bottle was consumed over 2 days. Day 1 the wine was consumed at 55 degrees out of a Conterno Sensory stem. The bottle was stored overnight in a Eurocave WineBar 2.0 at 61 degrees. Day 2 the wine was consumed out of a Grassl 1855 at 61 degrees.
  
  Day 1 of consumption showed slightly better than Day 2. Day 1 the first sip was a little thin with a predominant presence of green bell pepper. I consumed half the bottle slowly and over the course of the night and it gained weight and lost quite a bit of the pyrazines leaving the wine with delicate red and black cherries, boysenberry, blackberry, brown spices, cocoa and some earthiness. The bell pepper that remained on the palate was pleasant and not off putting, as it faded into the background. The acidity was medium to medium(+) with medium tannins. Day 2 was much of the same as day 1 but was a little more tanic and acidic. The wine was medium bodied and complex but not balanced at this time.
  
  The wine is in the very early drinking window but has potential to become better balanced with medium to long-term cellaring. I have 1 bottle left that is at an offsite storage facility that I will leave there at least until 2026+. It may truly hit its stride at 12-15 years beyond vintage. If I don't have restraint and decide to pop the cork with only a couple more years of cellaring, I would DD 8-12 hours and pour the wine in the decanter for 45-60 minutes prior to serving. I also preferred the Conterno Sensory stem over the Grassl 1855 and would be my go to glass while this wine is still young.
  
  My score over the extended tasting was 92-94
  
  Cabenet Sauvignon from Monteclllo Vineyard, Moon Mountain District, Sonoma County, 13.7% ABV. Only 49 cases made of this wine.

  Comment

• agbanker Likes this wine: 92 points

  February 17, 2023 - Decanted for 5 hours. Nice medium ruby color no bricking on the rim. Aromas of green pepper, black pepper and cherry. Full mouthfeel with medium tannins and a bit more acid than most CA cabs, which is a good thing for food pairings. Flavors of dark cherry and graphite. This reminds me of a decent bottle of Bordeaux. Good long finish. This is an old school style wine that is refreshing to see from CA. Still has a good 10 years of life left.

  2 people found this helpful Comments (3)

• Asull2k wrote: 88 points

  February 11, 2023 - Double decanted and tried at 4 hrs, 24 hrs, and 48+ hrs. Lost a little pyrazine at 24 hrs but they returned by 48 hrs. Deep ruby and maroon color. Green pepper and a little blackberry on the nose. Soil, green pepper/herb, white pepper, hint of red cassis, tart cherry, and overripe/watery blackberry and ~32 sec finish. Strong acid driven core. Hard to say if this could be good with a LOT more aging (5+ more years?) or if it is a fluke, as the 2017 was much better in my book and I was not pleased with lack of improvement despite significant aeration.

  Comment

• jviz wrote: 92 points

  July 1, 2022 - PnP on a Saturday night with friends. Initially a little closed but air does some lovely things for the wine. This bottle showed less pyrazine than my last. A little closed up front but as it crosses the midpalate, all of a sudden you have these lovely classic cabernet notes. Cassis and candied red cherry, some fine herbs. It’s got great acidity for cabernet as well. Eager to see where these go with time.

  Comment

Pro Reviews 1

Wine Definition

• Vintage 2016
• Type Red
• Producer Beta
• Varietal Cabernet Sauvignon
• Designation n/a
• Vineyard Montecillo Vineyard
• Country USA
• Region California
• SubRegion Sonoma County
• Appellation Moon Mountain District

Community Holdings

• Pending Delivery 0 (0%)
• In Cellars 245 (87%)
• Consumed 37 (13%)

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