Community Tasting Notes 8

• Dpal670 Likes this wine: 99 points

  November 10, 2023 - I took my friends to mayaans place for tasting a year and and a half ago
  It was our last day in Napa
  Usually I m not big on reviews or tasting notes
  Specifically did not share any notes on that visit
  Wanted to try his wines at home
  Finally that day came
  I have to tell you that previous comments perfectly describe his wines
  Not only one can place his wines against any cult wine in Napa but also spend extremely reasonable amounts to acquire them
  Very few people in Napa are as hard working as him
  Amazing how he keeps his sanity
  He is so humble, mellow
  Had the whole lineup prepared for us
  Great wines , just great
  Believe me I follow ct notes constantly
  All of the reviews left here were written by folks who know their wines and palates.I try to narrow down the reviews that go along with my taste and usually it comes down to the same wines and the same reviewers over and over
  Read these reviews and try to taste his wines
  You won’t regret it
  Mayaan cheers to you
  David and Mila are your huge fans
  We are always looking forward for your new projects
  Don’t work too hard 🫠😊

  1 person found this helpful Comments (1)

• Cristal2000 Likes this wine: 98 points

  July 7, 2023 - What a ridiculous value in Napa. This wine is off the charts good and I'd encourage you to blind it next to wines twice the price in Napa and see how it stacks up. I recently had the 2019 edition, and remarkably, I think this is even better.
  
  Soaring aromas of creme de cassis, fragrant earth, olive tapenade, and dark chocolate. The palate is defined by power wrapped in elegance, with deeply concentrated layered pure fruit lifted by significant acidity and tons of grainy, earthy complexity. This wine hits all the right notes, with a full mid palate, ripe yet firm tannins and a super long finish. It was the truly the best of all the vineyards La Pelle sources from, and a wine that I can't recommend highly enough. Add on top that Maayan is one of the nicest guys in the business and you have a no brainer. 98+

  4 people found this helpful Comment

• WineBurrowingWombat Likes this wine: 97 points

  July 25, 2022 - Nose: [55°-58°] Blue berries, cassis, intense red fruit, clean and new oak (almost like snapped pencils), subtle but firmly spiced earthiness with hints of wet stone, and dark roses. Gentle chocolate notes emerge with some air time. [64°-66°] Develops into a deep red and savory graphite nose, with a freshness from the fruits that rounds everything out. There is also this pleasant, fruity, decaying mulch that comes with some time. Deeper earth comes with plenty of time.
  
  Palate: [56°-60°] Elegant but rich, intense black and red currants, some sort of exotic and dried spice with oak, dark green herbs, twigs and dark earth. Finely powdered graphite with savory, clean river minerals and pure, steeped tea that trails into the finish. The finish of tannin and savoriness plays quite nicely with the red fruit component. [62°+] Profile currently, with little air time, portrays more of the savory, earthy side with an open sky of dark fruit. With air, flavors becomes more fresh with juicy, dark fruits and maintains a swiftness from the savory minerals.
  
  Attributes: Dark ruby. Dry with medium-plus amounts of strong, fine tannin. Medium to medium-plus body with medium-plus acidity. Amazing finish of at least 35+ seconds.
  
  Thoughts: Obviously young, but wanted to get a sense of what is coming. Amazing structure and flavors already. This is more on the restrained style, not in-your-face fruit. The longer I have this in the glass, the more serious the sip becomes. As always, I hate how the last sips were the best. I definitely rushed this too much. Even so, amazing freshness, bold flavors and stupid long finish. Try not to touch until 4-6 years, like most 18s from personal experience. Started off as a 96 but gained a point through evolution and length on the finish.
  
  Serving notes: Bordeaux glass. Served one glass and emptied bottle into a decanter at cellar temp ~55° and consumed over 5 hours. Recommend serving and maintaining ~56°-62° with a decant of at least 3-5 hours at cellar temp if opening now, and taste along in the earlier hours.

  3 people found this helpful Comments (7)

• bsumoba Likes this wine: 95 points

  September 2, 2021 - Popped the cork on the bottle this time. Gave it about 3-4 hours of air. Decanting made a big difference, along with being more at room temperature. Much more expressive nose now. This wine comes off as elegant with red ripe cherries, sweet blackberries and some iodine. On the palate, similar fruit notes with great acidity and a tannin structure that will allow this to age. As it sits in glass, more chocolate notes come out. I think the best window was the 3 hour mark at this stage. I might have been wrong this is "shutting down" but I do think its best years are yet to come. I'll wait another 3-5+ years to try this again.

  3 people found this helpful Comments (9)

• bsumoba Likes this wine: 94 points

  August 28, 2021 - Coravin pour. Enjoyed indoors while the outdoors hit 100F with some salami and crackers. Dark, brooding purple color, concentrated and almost syrup like. The wine might start to enter a sleepy phase as the nose was a tad muted. You cannot mistaken this for anything but Napa with its dark blackberries, velvety tannins and fruit forward character on the palate. This is good stuff, but it is still quite young. I would wait if you have this as I really believe the wine is starting to close up. Even with couple hours of air after pouring, it wouldn't unfurl and untangle all that is bunched up. Still this was worth opening as it is my first La Pelle and I'm glad to see there is some restraint here and it is not ripe, fruit bomb. My next bottle will be opened in another 5+ years.

  3 people found this helpful Comments (2)

Pro Reviews 2

Wine Definition

• Vintage 2018
• Type Red
• Producer La Pelle
• Varietal Cabernet Sauvignon
• Designation Reserve
• Vineyard n/a
• Country USA
• Region California
• SubRegion Napa Valley
• Appellation Napa Valley

Community Holdings

• Pending Delivery 10 (4%)
• In Cellars 198 (82%)
• Consumed 34 (14%)

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