March 29, 2024 - Opened early and decanted for ~2hrs. Beautiful fruit, great structure and an outstanding pairing for ribeye. Several folks commented on how good this was.
Quite tannic at first and definitely needs air (or more time in bottle) but this is a beautiful wine that is very worth while. Not a cheap date, but omg worth it.
October 7, 2023 - opened this in the afternoon
oh my god ; what have i done
angry tannic mess
thankfully settled down by dinner at Vie and then an old world feel to a great cabernet
opened early[too early]
patience will be rewarded
March 18, 2023 - Great balance. Deep red color with dark fruits and pencil lead shavings. Medium to heavy tannins that gave way after being open about 90 minutes. Wine got better with each sip and finish lasted 30 plus seconds
December 8, 2022 - half bottle
October 6, 2022 - opened half bottle... way too early. hang on for a few yrs still
September 25, 2022 - Slow-ox 2 days. The intense darkness envelops you when you drink this - blackberry, dark plums, mocha, black pepper, licorice, dark tan leather, dark chocolate. An assault on the senses from this darkness shuts out the outside world as the impact first hits you.
Yet in this darkness, a warm sweet caramel lurking in the nose eases your soul. A freshly opened coconut reminds you of more sunshine-y days. A silky mouthfeel and a sensual, gripping finish hold you through the end of the intense journey.
This was one of my favorite wines when I first tasted it last year, and it still is today. Thrilling and sensual. I can't wait to see where this is in the next few decades.
June 10, 2022 - Consumed over three nights on our family trip to Aspen. Open along side 13 Kapcsandy's Roberta's Reserve.
At PNP this wine is painfully youthful. Very much and expression of the vintage and sites this wine is made from. Vine Hill Ranch & Sleeping Lady jumps from the glass on this one. The structure and balance all signature of Nigel's work. The last drop was consumed watching a beautiful sunset on top of Aspen Mountain as our tree kiddo's played in what was left of late season snow.
This will drink well over the next couple of decades. I'm laying these down and drinking Laurea while I wait.
Hold 97+
June 1, 2022 - PNP. Beautiful rendition of modern Napa great. I find all of Nigel’s wines to have similar freshness and balance and I’ve yet to be disappointed by any of them.
April 9, 2022 - This wine reminds me the style of Egon Muller GK Auction, the same crystal. So elegant and board on palate. It's hard to describe the nose cuz it was so gorgeous in my mouth.
April 9, 2022 - Napa in the City: Masterclass & Lunch (The Pool/Grill): In a group that included a lot of the who's who of Napa Bart gave perhaps one of the best speeches about his journey from Eisele through to Accendo. In wine I think it's probably not bad to be a bit countercultural and go against the trends of the day and one of the trends of today is definitely that single vineyard and all about time and place. And yet I find there's a lot of wines that I truly love (Grange, Unico) which take a different approach and go for the best wine that can be made in a year. Blending lets you do that. And thus the idea of Accendo came about. It is very silky in style. Darker fruits. Peppery. A bit bigger but not overpowering. Made to last many years - 40+. A Nigel Kinsmann project (whom we've heard a lot about and yet I'm not sure we've drunk that much of his wine). I tend to disagree with the other note that says this is one of the most approachable - I didn't quite get that (although maybe it was because of the silkiness?) but I do think it's a well structured and interesting wine and I'd love to come back in 20-30 years and see how these go and esp how they go in some years that are perhaps less ideal.