December 2, 2023 - Wow. Total stunner. Thanksgiving dinner bottle. A beautiful cabernet in all ways!
July 4, 2023 - Only a 30 minute decant but this wine was humming. Nicely balanced from the initial sip all the way through to the finish. It will age great but it's drinkable anytime with some air. Dark fruit with a touch of chocolate and spice. Utterly delicious.
November 13, 2022 - Some Special Wines with a New Friend....well, sort of new! (Jason's House): First, this was drank on the 12th, but using this date for putting together a tasting story...this was opened with an 18 Anjea (Kinsman) and an 18 Impensata...all three wines were compliments of Marvin, who graciously provided these wines because I asked him to bring some of Nigel's wines, and specifically a Rhad (this wine) because I wanted to taste it with some air and enjoy a glass over a long period of time to follow its development.
Well, let me begin by saying I made a mistake, because now I am even more bummed I was not on Kinsman's list to be able to purchase this wine, and it was all sold out when I went to Napa and tasted with Shae (although she did manage to bring some of this to the tasting, which I was grateful for!) This is outstanding wine and the quality comes through in spades! I wish I had some (may as well be greedy...I wish I had cases) of this tucked away in my cellar because as good as it is now, you tell it will be something very special down the road...all the components for a world class wine are there. Hopefully, someone will invite me over in a few years to taste this again! (I know I can't count on Marvin, because he still incapable of holding anything that long....you know, the road to hell is paved with good intentions!) Although, I must admit two things, first, if he wasn't Marvin, I may not have gotten him to bring a bottle of this! Second, he does try, but like me, he is too weak! I have the benefit of a big cellar, so much easier for me to hold wines.
OK...enough babbling, let's get down to brass tacks....The nose on the wine is incredible, tons of black fruit and lilacs with notes of graphite, spice, oak and vanilla. On the palate, gobs of black fruit, including blackberry and cassis, some cedar notes, some anise, some sweet tobacco and toasty oak. The can taste the structure of the wine, the tannins are smooth, but still slightly chewy, the acidity is there keeping the fruit lively, of course, the fruit is pure and not overly sweet. The palate also shows layers of dark and milk chocolate, some cigar box, some baking spice and some blackberry cobbler, finishing with toasted oak, cocoa and vanilla. This alone would be enough to make you fall in love with this wine.
However, a few hours later, the profile changes on the nose and palate purple flowers (violets) become even more prevalent, the chocolate starts to come through more, and blue fruits start to emerge. On the following day, this wine is still going strong (was kept in the cellar the whole time with the cork slightly pushed in)...Black and blue fruit still dominate, but some secondary flavors start to emerge, giving you a clue to where this wine is heading down the road...a little earthiness shows up and the tobacco notes become slightly more pronounced. On day three, fruit is still going strong, but turning slightly liqueur-ish, as alcohol starts piercing the veil for the first time. What a ride! I would think this wine needs at least 5-7 years, and will likely peak at 10-12 years...open now with a decant for some hedonistic pleasure (although I think holding will provide the best experience)...patience will definitely be rewarded! 96+ today (out of 98) and should flirt with perfection down the road!
November 12, 2022 - Wine weekend in the Twin Cities; 11/10/2022-11/12/2022 (Where the frosty air is refreshing.. kind of): N: Creamy and macerated black fruits with complex earth. Fresh, intense and dried earth.
P: Gorgeous black fruits, dark oak, molten tar with integrated earth and clean river minerals.
[Day 2, slow-ox'ed for 14hrs, recorked and left at cellar temp]
N: There’s no longer the fun, youthful creamy macerated fruits, but rather a much more serious and dark profile of dark red flowers, dark red fruits, tilled healthy dry earth, dark tree bark and very subtle graphite.
P: More serious in a sense that the flavors are less hedonistic but became more dark and focused of fruits and earth. The creamy fruits has turned into something that’s more nuanced but has similar intensity and flavor profile. There's also bitter black tea, subtler tar notes and black minerals with some savory river minerals on the finish.
Also ready to go straight from the bottle. Depending how you like your poison, enjoy it in its youth now or cellar for even more development and pleasure. I would recommend checking this out in 4-6 years and I know how hard that will be (well, for me at least).
June 16, 2022 - Went to Press with friends
Had a quick conversation with som
Had a few wines in mind to try
1.scarecrow
2.Macdonald
3.Rhadamanthus and a few more
Did not want to put valley wines next to each other so decided to try Macdonald vs rhad
I have to say that while the wines were being ‘warmed “ up
Accent was on appetizers so when they brought hot pretzels everyone at the table started to warm up (these pretzels are really really good)
So now THE wines:
Consensus at the table was unequivocal-NIGEL
Men,what a wine it is
My personal opinion is -genius
I have to say it is becoming very difficult with these Napa wines
On one hand they are soo good,on the other how do one decides what to choose against this - French first grows,
Quintarelli cab,Vega
There are different types of wine drinkers
Ones that drink different wines at the table to compare and learn
Ones that like to try one particular wine step by step describing different nuances of it
Or ones that like both
Macdonald is outstanding wine please don’t get me wrong
And it may not be fair to compare it to the mountain wine
But it was missing finesse ,precision of rhad
On its own I would rate it 96-98
But then rhad I would rate as 100 without comparing it to any other wine
I am still trying to learn as much as I can
When I tried kapschandy grand vin with Lou few year’s ago I was blown away
Then when I came back home we placed it in line with latour and ausone and to be honest we were divided 50/50
Fruit of kapschandy was superb but parfum was not
Am I getting into debate?
Don’t want to do that
I think the lesson is to enjoy TODAY
Don’t look into small details and remember there is always something more and something better in life
Mr Kinsman cheers to you
I will definitely continue to buy more of your wines
June 6, 2022 - Opened in the bottle pretty much all day. This was in great form from the start but additional time helped. Big ripe dark fruit with a cooling mineral and mint streak running through it. Cassis, milk chocolate, baking spice…accompany. Very polished but over exuberant and needing years to settle in.
I would not be mistaking this for anything other than Napa. Quality wise it’s up there with the best of them.
April 11, 2022 - Tasted La Voleuse with Rhadamanthus. LV drank very well but tight. Came back to LV on Monday afternoon with RJ after wine was in fridge for two days. LV ready to drink, very elegant, notes of chocolate. 97 pts. Rhadamanthus very different and complex. 100 pts. This Diamond Mountain fruit competes with the best of Paulliac. These wines are the future of Napa, compare strongly with Harlan, Screagle, McDonald. Cellar both for 10 years or decant for 36 hours.
April 11, 2022 - Side by side 2018 La Voleuse and Rhadamanthus. Opened two days. First was LV, which had much stronger nose. Rhad nose was perfumed and more subtle, though with hints of burnt embers. Both are laden with black fruit but very different profiles. LV was elegant and seductive, but with an astringent backbone. Great wine - until I tasted the Rhad. Rhad was a unique tasting experience. Black fruit again, but with notes of vanilla. These are both exceptional wines, but Rhad was the clear winner.
March 27, 2022 - A true revelation of a wine. As many other CTers have noted, this wine is fairly accessible at this point in time with a proper decant.
I opened this bottle and decanted at around 11am. Kept at ~63 degrees in my cellar. Poured back into the bottle around 6 and then drank over several hours, paired with a porterhouse, sauteed mushrooms, and roasted potatoes. The last glasses were the best. I think another 3-4 hours of decant would have helped this even further.
Purple hue, floral nose, smoothly refined tannins. Some mocha, forest floor, and spice. Long finish. Glad I have more bottles of this. I will drink my magnum of this in 2040!
February 20, 2022 - Nose: [58°-65°] Tons of black and dark purple fruits, dried stone near a shallow riverbed, deep earth, wood tinder and bramble that seem to give it a touch of spice. There's soft white and purple flowers that works so well with the fruit. After some air time, there is also some misty underbrush.
Palate: [58°-65°] Huge, dark menacing waves of black and purple fruits, damp and dark forest floor, pleasant spice, tree bark laden with wet earth, soft embers from a smothered campfire and a subtle but definite streak of black bitter minerals on the finish. With some time, hints of milk chocolate shavings surface but without any of the sweetness.
Attributes: Clear dark ruby. Dry with medium-plus amounts of fine and smooth, chewy tannin. Medium-plus to full body with medium acidity (if higher, it is well integrated). Great finish of at least 26-28 seconds.
Thoughts: Amazing straight from the pour and throughout the entire tasting; not once did any of the flavors falter. The flavor profile of this is very similar to the Anjea but just slightly different, like siblings. The fruit in the Anjea seemed to play a supporting role, whereas the fruit in the Rhadamanthus captures your attention. Pure and dense dark fruit without any heaviness, and such a pleasurable complexity to keep things interesting. So, why not 100? It's still young and feels a bit wild and prickly on the palate - time will resolve this. It'll get there. This was gorgeous. Envious of those who were able to grab more than 3 bottles of this. 98-100
Serving notes: Bordeaux glass. Served one glass and emptied bottle into a decanter at cellar temp ~55° and consumed over 10 hours. Recommend serving ~62°-64°. Decanting not necessary, but do so if needed.