Community Tasting Notes 6

• Blackwa Likes this wine: 94 points

  October 15, 2023 - Smooth and delicious

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• Blackwa Likes this wine: 94 points

  April 10, 2023 - Drinking beautifully and will certainly improve with age. Well integrated tannins.

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• Rieslingfan wrote:

  October 27, 2020 - If you are planning to open a bottle of this, give it a very long decant. I went with four hours after a double decant, and it was barely sufficient. Even after that amount of time it was still tight, and only started to show itself a full two hours after I started sampling it, six hours after opening! When it did start to show its cards I got something that kept to a classical Bordeaux blend profile. It carried tart cassis fruit, a dusty, earthy undertone, and very well managed tannins. Even when it was still closed in it was not austere or painful. It was just shy, poking it’s nose out every once in a while, but refusing to come out and play. I finally put 1/3 of the bottle aside for 48 hours, and on revisiting it had developed greater palate presence and richness, adding a subtle cherry tone to the cassis fruit, and bringing a little more California sunshine to the mix. Overall it’s a classically styled wine, and I am all in on that.

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• msuwine wrote: 94 points

  October 25, 2020 - This Old World inspired Right Bank blend needs more time in bottle to hit its stride, but it has a savory and herbal charm that grows on you, especially after about three hours of air, with spicy and pure fruit that should blossom in another 2-4 years. In the vintages since 2010 (probably my favorite), the Firebelle has been alternatively intriguing and frustrating to me, but this is easily my favorite of the last few years (and in a weak vintage, no less!). This savory Merlot-based blend knows what it is, and it delivers with class.
  
  Medium red in color and medium in body, the wine offers evocative aromas of eucalyptus, gravel, sour cherry, cloves, and saddle leather. The flavors are similarly Old World, with notes of raspberry, pomegranate, pencil lead, blood orange, and bay leaf, followed by a dry and crunchy finish with bright acidity (think Tignanello more than Duckhorn). Blend of 70% Merlot and 30% Cabernet Sauvignon. 14.4% alcohol.
  
  I drank this next to a 2016 St. Emillion, which shared a lot in common with the Larkmead: each had an elegant, grainy, and dry profile, with the Firebelle offering a touch more fullness and sweetness. Unlike so many 2017 Napa wines, though, the Larkmead didn’t reach towards something concocted, but instead embraced the middle-weight, grainy, and spicy elements of the vintage. The result is an integrated and intriguing wine that isn’t for everybody, but is incredibly tasty - an Old World Merlot with a hint of Napa (and not the other way around). 94+ for now, with upside in 2022 or later.

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• Sonoma-W Likes this wine: 92 points

  October 4, 2020 - Definitely merlot based. Somewhat austere at first -- like it needs more age -- great charcoal and berries.

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Pro Reviews 3

Wine Definition

• Vintage 2017
• Type Red
• Producer Larkmead Vineyards
• Varietal Red Bordeaux Blend
• Designation Firebelle
• Vineyard n/a
• Country USA
• Region California
• SubRegion Napa Valley
• Appellation Napa Valley

Community Holdings

• Pending Delivery 6 (1%)
• In Cellars 730 (77%)
• Consumed 206 (22%)

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