September 23, 2023 - Saturday northeast washout from the tropical storm. Made homemade bucatini, sauce and decided to pop one of these. Gave about 4 hours of air. This was a fantastic wine - well balanced, not overly done. A true combination of Napa and Paso - I felt like at various sips the flavors coming from both areas. Savory, minerality, blueberry cobbler. Well done.
February 7, 2023 - LOved It. Brought down to the Chateau Winter Gathering, didnt share, too good
April 11, 2022 - Napa Trip - Trying new wines and meeting new people; 4/11/2022-4/12/2022 (Napa): I have to admit my bias that I'm not a fan of Paso but that's largely due to my minimal experience with them.. so this was a pleasant surprise! Great red and black fruits with nice savoriness and minerals to compliment. Wish I had more time with this one, would've been fun to follow throughout the night.
April 11, 2022 - Spring 2022 Dream Napa Trip; 4/11/2022-4/12/2022: Too little time with this wine and was quite disappointed in myself for not focusing more during the dinner to really understand this wine. Hoping to get another shot at it.
August 21, 2021 - 3 - 4 hours in the decanter. Apparently I have had to follow CSIMM on all of these weeks before my tasting. Up until this wine I purposefully didn’t read anyone’s notes before posting as of course wanted them to be my own un-influenced impressions and I didn’t want to slink away from posting following a CSIMM tasting note… and while I am not going to take my diary (tasting notes) and throw it into the fire (delete notes from CT) what I can’t do is post anything after reading CSIMM’s note below. So with that- this is a BMF wine.
This was the best horizontal tasting from the same winery I have ever had. In the past 30 days I have been fortunate enough to experience and taste some of the very best wines I have ever had and will have, this tasting is no exception.
July 27, 2021 - Vice Versa weekend and dinner: A joint venture with the Bretons and Stephan Asseo of L’Aventure, the Les Cousins is a hybrid of Vice Versa’s Napa juice and L’Aventure’s holdings from the Willow Creek District in Paso Robles. 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, this sub-species Liger unfolds in the glass with a unique succulence that is simultaneously lavish and precise. Black licorice, dark chocolate, wet limestone, warm blackberry cobbler, plum, and black cherry flavors march across the palate with a decidedly direct but also at once openly expressive bearing. It is almost as if Napa is the engine and Paso is the steering wheel, where powerfully-postured ripe fruit is given course and direction. The front end fools you into thinking it is going to be overtly exaggerated and extravagant, but along comes a mineral grip to crack it all into proper form.
To be frank, I’ve sometimes found Central Coast Cabernet Sauvignon to be missing an element of concentration. They can be somewhat one-note for me (though, what Asseo does with L’Aventure is pretty darn phenomenal in general as it is). However, The Vice Versa Les Cousins caulks-in any perceived cracks in complexity and depth. Because I’ve also found many Napa Cabernets to be so bombastic that I can be quickly floored by the palate-burdening sensation of fruit, fruit, and more fruit, I endeavor to discover those Cabernets that carry requisite acidity, frame, and determined purity as well. Here too, the Paso terroir finds purpose in providing focus and keen maneuverability to which the core can travel with distinct persistence.
I mean, let’s be honest; some of these little experimental projects can be fun for the winemakers and proprietors to tinker about and Frankenstein their ways into making wines in attempt to enhance allure in their brands or market some form of fabricated exclusivity. But for us consumers, we are sometimes left wondering if investing in someone’s “just cuz” side project is worth even entertaining. I can tell you as someone who doesn’t have a shower of money constantly raining down on my head, I often ignore these types of ventures and just stick to what I’m relatively comfortable with in a certain winery. Yet, all that said, I can also tell you that as soon as I tasted this wine, my exact quote was, “Hey, hold up Patrice. When are you releasing this and how many am I allowed to get?” So, do your research as I know many of you will, but in the end, I’m ALL about this wine. It is not so unique that it isn’t true to the varietal and doesn’t have a solid place in the Vice Versa lineup. It’s unctuous and delineated in the same breath. It’s perfect fruit and perfect frame. It’s an amazing Cabernet Sauvignon. Period.
98-100 points. Let’s see what happens here once it hits bottle. A very limited production on this. Hopefully I don’t get too busted for doing a write-up on this since there won’t be much of it to go around.
July 24, 2021 - Vice Versa Wine Dinner: Well now, it appears my friend CSIMM wrote a book about this wine, and how it meets his French sensibilities. I happen to overall agree that this wine is going to be special, just not quite at the 100pt level.
Taking Beckstoffer fruit and putting it with some of Paso's best is an interesting concept. Making it all cab is even more interesting, since traditionally that is not the best grape grown in the GSM dominant Paso region. Nevertheless, this turned out to be a fantastic first effort that will unfortunately only come with about 80 total cases split between L'Aventure and VV.
Super expressive both on the nose and palate, it starts you out with wonderful opulent fruit and is really expansive, touching all corners of your taste buds. Lots of blackberry, black licorice, loamy soil, bing cherry and really good levels of minerality framed in by strong and fine grained tannins. As it progresses, the fruit calms and makes way for significant savory character, I assume from the Paso part of the blend. With a perfect mouthfeel, great layering and already developing complexity, this has the potential to be fabulous. It's already super fun to drink.