January 6, 2024 - One of the best ‘17s out there. Pretty ruby/magenta color. Took about 3 hours to better express. Loads of sweet dark fruits to baking spices, gentle herbs and new leather. Chewy tannins, good acid on long finish.
December 24, 2023 - I have not rated a wine this high ever. I feel the wine as I drink it and see the grapes that have produced it. The finish is amazing. Well-rounded wine. Not a lot of fruit to hit you in the face with. A wine that would age another 10 years easily and still be wonderful. As I said, the finish is just flat-out. It is the best wine I have tried. I have over on the site over 3000 wines consumed, it is much more, and I say this is the best finish out of all of them. Please try this wine. And the years are fantastic try the 2013, it you can get your hands on it. or the 2015, what a treat.
December 3, 2023 - Opened at cellar temp. Reticent nose giving up just slight hints of cocoa and red fruits. My wife and I felt the fruit and acid were in balance and found the wine to be an easy drinker, despite noticable tannins. Cocoa, fruit, and tobacco on the palate. We paired some with mozzarella and cheddar, and some with dark chocolate. While my wife and I both agreed that this wine would have been better without food, we disagree a bit on the fruit. I thought it leaned towards raspberry, cherry, and other red fruits, while my wife thought it was closer to the black fruit end of the spectrum. Regardless, we both enjoyed this and will have the last bottle in the next 2-4 years, this time without food.
August 23, 2023 - Delicious wine - on tasting (mid-2023), this was my favorite of the 2017-2020 vintages. Might be the year or it might just be that these wines benefit from 6+ years of age.
Really nice acidity - on the high side compared to other years. Crushed Sweet Tart acid, in a good way. A bit of tomato leaf that blew off after a few minutes. Lovely wine.
August 1, 2023 - Love Memento Mori and the crew there but this vintage of the flagship (or possibly just this bottle) are not on par with every other MM bottle I’ve had. Felt disjointed, acid seemed out of balance and the tannins were awfully prevalent…. The harmony just wasn’t there. I will say, in spite of all that, still had a long finish! Might just be the vintage, I’ll keep buying more MM of course but this bottle didn’t perform.
April 5, 2023 - Wines Before / At / After a Passover Seder (The Krengels - Bannockburn IL): Small glass. Also ultra ripe and powerful with a sweet cola-like character that never thrills me, even if I almost understand why others like this.
January 19, 2023 - This ‘17 MM Flagship is tasting so mighty fine. Impeccable display of fruit purity, depth and balance. More red fruited at first like raspberry purée, fresh strawberries, going into organic dark plums, cigar wrapper, tobacco, tomato leaf, fennel and anise seed. Palate has incredible layers of fruits and spices and is beautifully balanced! Nice acidity and nice long finish of soft tannins. Cheers all!
March 12, 2022 - Return to Napa; 3/6/2022-3/13/2022 (Wineries and various restaurants): I do think that 2017 as a vintage got unfortunately a bad rap and yet I’ve really enjoyed the wines from that vintage that we’ve been trying thus far. Black fruits. A bit lighter and fresher than the 2019. Heavier tannin towards the end. Built for a long time.
December 19, 2021 - 1-2 hour decant. Have always been a huge MM fan but this bottle couldn’t overcome the difficulties of the ‘17 vintage. Everything you’d want in a wine was there, but muted, too much so. Maybe better with age?
November 18, 2021 - Two hour slow ox. Opaque magenta color. Dark raspberry taffy, bay leaf, and toffee on the nose. Smooth, dry palate. Firm, full tannins on the longish finish.
This is perhaps the ‘17 Napa red I’ve ever had. More air may make it even better. I’d suggest a 2-3 hour full decant. Had this at a high end wine tasting in Houston.