December 28, 2023 - This 28-year-old beautiful Cabernet Sauvignon is drinking beautifully. Deep, dark, brick, red, no visual signs of any aging… And on the nose, dark currents, spice, just a hint cedar… Barely perceptible… And on the palate The 19 $96 wine shows, incredible finesse, tannins, nearly completely resolved, and dark black fruit flavors, right through the finish, which is quite lengthy. This was my Christmas dinner bottle… And I guess I had low of medium expectations — but this could be the best I’ve had in the last five or six years, if you’ve got any of these, Que them up, because I don’t think they’re gonna get any better!
November 16, 2023 - Drinking brilliantly with about 80 minutes of air and some time in glass. Showed very young, quintessential napa in style but with some nice tertiary and herbal notes to round out the profile.
August 5, 2023 - An outstanding bottle with fill to mid-neck. Minimal amber rim. Dark fruit, herbal, spicy notes. Tasted at its peak with significant fruit, but more tertiary notes of cigar, cedar and a slight grass/bell pepper finish. A very nice Napa Cabernet at its peak.
December 27, 2022 - 85% cabernet sauvignon, 12% cabernet franc, 3% merlot. Recent auction purchase, but this had a perfect cork with typical ullage for its age. Decanted 1 hr, this shows big lead pencil on the nose and some pleasant fruity acidity on the highly developed and soft palate that has no remaining primary fruit. This is fully mature and very enjoyable, with a lovely gentle sweetness. It doesn't have the level of non-fruit complexity I'd find in a similarly aged classified growth, so in that sense I'm slightly disappointed. It gives plenty of pleasure, though.
July 28, 2022 - Steak/potato/salad night at the Atsumi's. Perfect match to the NY Strip. Wonderful balance. It's all here. Sheer elegance. About a two hour decant, but the beautiful nose was there from the beginning. Sadly, last bottle, but it's been a great ride.
March 25, 2022 - 7.5 years since my last bottle and this is still doing great. Everything is in place and the balance and finish are on point. Certainly in its prime but will drink well for the better part of a decade. I would recommend a 1 hour decant at this point.
February 15, 2022 - I really enjoyed this wine.
Poured relatively youthful - great color that did not look like other mid 90s Napa bottles I've seen.
After about 30-60 mins opened, Really nice menthol, cedar, spice, still nice red/black fruit characteristics. Really good length, surprisingly great wine!
December 25, 2021 - Drank last night as part of a mini-vertical of '96, '99 and '03 DV cabs, notes from memory so not detailed. This edged out the equally excellent '99 as my WOTN, but all 3 wines are drinking very well right now. This is entering its secondary development, and is more red-fruited in its profile than the other two vintages. Red plum, baking spice and a bit of cedar. Better than my last bottle from a few months ago by a good margin.
November 18, 2021 - 深石榴红色，闻香有一点点VA，醋栗，青椒一类的香气，入口酸度中高，单宁细腻如粉，收尾甜美，酒液咸鲜，黑李子一类果香，渐渐散出雪松的香气，后段香草巧克力，收尾甜美，醒酒时间短了点，余味没有完全展现，酒精度感觉不低。酒体并没有传统波尔多后段空洞之感，感觉很像一支美国赤霞珠，但是如此重的青椒味，似乎和纳帕的特点不太一样，但我觉得它肯定是一支新世界酒，盲品揭晓居然是一支纳帕酒，Maya的副牌，老年份确实非常的波尔多风格，要不是捕捉到那一丝甜美，真的非常旧世界，这也许是早期向波尔多风格致敬的作品，和现在的纳帕风格非常不同，很有代表性。
August 7, 2021 - Tasted alongside the '99, this did not show nearly as well as my last bottle, and seemed a bit tired. The fill and cork were pristine, and the bottle was opened to "slow-ox" for ~3h before drinking. Could be that was the wrong approach, but treated the same way, the '99 was singing. A bit thin, more about elegance than power, with cassis and berry notes, finishing a bit raisiny. As they say, "no such thing as great wines, only great bottles."