January 12, 2024 - Alas, my last bottle consumed almost 10 years since my last opening on 11/2/14. Purple Tooth's review of 11/19/23 is a perfect description of my experience last night. I wish that I had more of this!
December 31, 2023 - Dark ruby with slight bricking around the edges. Gorgeous aromas of dark red berries, lifted mint, baking spices, ripe tobacco and truffles on the nose. Incredibly layered and detailed palate shows silky reddish-black small fruits, touch of truffles/mint, medium (+) acidity, melting tannins and a long perfumed finish. Napa meets Bordeaux in this wine. Superb.
November 19, 2023 - A beautifully healthy bottle with BN fill. This wine is absolutely alive and thriving. Theres no California low hanging fruit in this bottle. Theres no abundance of cassis and oak and sugar!!! This is an attempt at something far more elegant and age worthy. Not quite a Bordeaux, but not a lush. Really just beautiful elegant and balanced with a very coarse and lengthy finish. Cool nuances of mint floating off the top of the glass with ever so faint traces of tobacco making me think that this can improve with time and may be, just may be, at the entrance of something more old world like, though a joy to drink and savor now. 93-95...Drink!
May 19, 2023 - I love reading CellarTracker notes because sometimes they provide useful information, and the rest of the time they provide entertainment. All the comments about this wine peaking or with no more upside completely miss what Cabernet Sauvignon-based wines do when given sufficient runway. There’s nothing suggesting a peak in complexity or even some imminent decline. There’s still berry fruit, the spice notes are bright and focused. It has a tiny touch of leathery/earthy tertiary, but plenty of depth to further develop. This is a wine approaching maturity, rather than creating it. The CellarTracker drinking window that supposedly closes this year has in reality just opened. Continue to cellar and enjoy with confidence.
From my late father’s cellar which had been between 56-58 degrees for the duration.
November 14, 2022 - May hitting its peak. Smooth but not a lot of structure left. No detailed notes, but very enjoyable paring with roast pork
September 5, 2022 - Penultimate bottle from a 6 pack.
Not really improving, but a nice Red Bdx blend.
No formal TN, drink through 2024.
August 24, 2022 - Nice. Soft. In no danger of fading. Good not great.
July 2, 2022 - Drinking well but not fading. 14.7%
April 9, 2022 - Last of the 06's and this bottle drank incredibly well. Good fruit, loads of interesting herbal notes, mid-weight, good acidity. Very much Bordeaux-like except for the sweetness (for lack of a better word) of the fruit. Great effort from ACVV. This could have gone at least a couple more years.
November 21, 2021 - Finishing up the remnants of Friday’s bottle and it has faded a bit. Now more red-fruited, along with cedar and tobacco notes. Red fruit and spice box on the palate, with a medium finish. Has a subtle herbal streak.