April 12, 2023 - Drank over several days by Coravin then popping the cork to finish off. Decent effort for a '17 with very enjoyable aromatics of cedar, vanilla, cassis, and summer herbs. A pleasure to just stick your nose in there and whiff. Complex on the palate with cassis, plum, dark chocolate and mint on the finish. A bit lacking in body the main drawback with this wine.
September 17, 2021 - This is a gorgeous Cabernet Sauvignon from Napa Valley. Tasty and spicy. Delicious and extracted. A very typical Cabernet for the region, but oh so yummy.
Dry and full bodied with medium acidity and long legs.
Showing black fruits with cedar, vanilla, leather, earth, chocolates, tobacco, spices, graphite, dark coffee and peppercorn.
Very fruity on the palate and elegant. Well balanced with nice complexity.
Good right out of the bottle, and better with airtime (3 hours).
I've heard many people trash the 2017 vintage in California. So far I've not seen that to be true, and this is a great example of that.
This 4 year old is still very young, and would age nicely in the next 10 to 20 years.
Good by itself or with food. Will pair nicely with BBQ Meats. I paired it with grilled Lamb chops.
14.9% alcohol by volume.
95 points.
$190 (current vintage).
September 11, 2021 - saturated purple
Intoxicating cassis/blackberry brandy nose.
Massive extraction of super ripe cabernet fruit. black berry jam, cassis and morello cherries. tannins are cloaked by the massive fruit. Just a hint of minerality and barrel treatment. Super long mouthcoating finish with a bit of raciness which seems to be a hallmark of 2017 Napa cabs
really delicious.
93-94
August 18, 2020 - This wine started out very muted and suppressed which is highly unusual for a Carter Cab, but with some air, the wine slowly started to come around but no where near to what I would have expected, disappointing to say the least. Day 2 there was life here, it showed much better. Decent dark fruit extraction but not as pronounced as I remembered with earlier tastings. The wine was medium to full bodied, dark ripe berry fruit, black, blueberry, dark cherry and some plum with some oak. Day one repressed with very little nuance 90-91 points. Day 2 there was significant improvement with more variations present. I would wait on this one, it seems to be on an journey at this point. 93-95 Points
April 27, 2020 - Opened as the last wine by Mark1NPT after a wonderful steak meal and several very good and interesting wines. Felt it was course and slightly jammy compared to the Arkenstone gems we had prior. Fruit was best on opening then seemed to fade to black. My palette was fairly fatigued toward the end and Carters are always made in a much more fruit forward style, but in the end I just wasn't impressed. Once again 2017-- bah humbug.
April 26, 2020 - 94......but only for the first hour it was open. Bright red/blue fruit, a little electricity involved. Mouthwateringly good. Second hour it grows darker in the fruit and tannic backround. Def comes down a few notches. It's becoming increasingly difficult to score these '17s as they have very short windows in which they are really good and big, wide windows in which they are pretty average at best and not worth the money.
addendum: Had about 1 nice glass left in the bottle last night so put the cork back in and tried it this evening. Anyone who knows me knows I almost never keep a wine for a second night but I was very curious.....nose a bit muted red raspberry, acidity seems in line and the 'texture' of the wine itself has changed. It's more silky with better glide and a certain unctiousness to the fruit. No off putting bitterness to the fruit and it doesn't seem as dark as it had shown toward the end of last night's session. Also, it is not nearly as tannic as it had finished last night as. I have more than half a glass left in the bottle so will re-check again tomorrow night for a 3rd nights report. I might actually gve it a point more toinght, 95.
3rd night (which is a personal record for me) Nose almost non-existant now, but the fruit, the glide and quite stated elegance is improved. More red fruit again, like on night 2. But things are in balance, nothing overbearing, it's pretty dang smooth at this point. Again, I'd give it a 95 but it's climbing toward a 96. It's all gone now so I can't try night #4.
June 23, 2019 - The 2017 La Bam Beckstoffer Las Piedras has gaining some traction on its brother the La Verdad for this vintage, it is a pretty impressive Cab. Another massive, extracted, full bodied Cabernet that is loaded with black berry, dark cherry and dark ripe fruit. There's also elements of coca, spice and some oak. The wine has a beautiful nose, excellent balance and a really nice finish. I typically skip this one in favor of the La Verdad... not this time. 96-97 Points at this stage.
June 10, 2019 - Up the PCH; 6/4/2019-6/16/2019 (Santa Barbara, Santa Ynez, Paso Robles, Napa, and Willamette): Again, Cristal/Csimm nailing it on the tasting notes and outlook. I actually wrote down "wild, untamed" when tasting last week, but I think this one shows more promise than the Fortuna/Weitz 2017s. 93 for now, 95+ for later.
June 8, 2019 - 2017 Carter Wines (Envy Wines): As per usual, this is a more linear expression of the LPV site when compared with Verdad. The fruit seems a bit redder and more acidic than 2015/2016. There is a solid frame supporting flavors of red cherry, cassis, tilled soil and tobacco. More medium than full bodied this time around, the alcohol still needs to resolve and like many of these 2017's, it needs some time in bottle. Look for this to show better in another 6 months. 93+
June 8, 2019 - 2017 Carter (Carter Cellars (Envy Wines) - Calistoga): Much like the Fortuna, but indeed richer and more intense mid-palate, the Bam karate kicks out a “Kiai!” (“Hi-yah” for the uninitiated) of red and black cherry fruit that thrusts across the palate with unsettled power. A bit more controlled than the Fortuna, but less focused than the Verdad, the Bam skirts over the mid-palate with abandon and sprints to a higher-toned finish. Rides high on the back end, with the red cherry notes repeating. In it’s current “I just got bottled so I’m a little wild” state, the Bam is all about fruit and vanillin alcohol, with any sense of minerality not yet ready to come to the party. Hold until 2023.