March 15, 2023 - Do you want to mama Jacqui a beautiful showing for this Napa Valley blend of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 38% Cabernet franc. On the nose, showing a hint of maturity with tobacco, cedar, and dried berries… But on the pallet, the fruit really shows with ripe cherry, spice, and smoky flavors… there are tenants that are perfectly resolved, and smooth… Chewy and sumptuous!
September 23, 2022 - DOA. Perfect cork, second bottle.
September 23, 2022 - DOA. Perfect cork, first bottle.
August 7, 2022 - I don't usually write a 2nd tasting note on a wine so soon unless there is a significant change and that is actually what has happened. This bottle is much better then the previous one drunk about a year ago and the difference is in the air - this one was opened in bottle for almost 3 hours prior to consumption and then the 1st glass was poured out for a bit more before consumption and that made all the difference. Otherwise at this point I recommend a 60-90 minute decant. With this treatment drinking very well, fully mature, quite a good QPR wine but still definitely time to drink not hold - probably slightly past prime but fruit still very solid and secondary flavors settling in. Reddish purple, peripheral bricking present, soft mouth feel, oak and tannins essentially gone, fruity somewhat acidic core present, medium bodied and with a pleasant aftertaste. Muted nose of blackberry, soysauce, kirsch and a smokey finish. Flavor profile retains classic high end Napa cab profile of dark fruit, cassis and blackberry up front with black tea, anise and soy sauce in the mid-palate and a very earthy forest floor finish.
August 10, 2021 - Decent, reasonable and utterly drinkable but clearly a bit over the hill with fruit fading fast. Drink up any holdings very soon.
July 11, 2021 - From my posting on Instagram:
In Vino Veritas (in wine there is truth; people speak the truth when they are drunk), bottle #149-154 of my cellar sacrifices. I put together a six bottle vertical of Viader, starting with 1995 and ending with 2000, with the help of Alan and Delia Viader in filling my vertical. A friend hosted an amazing dinner for the six of us which was outstanding! Great food and 11 other bottles brought by another couple, the Viader was poured during the main course. Needless to say, we planned ahead for Uber.
A brief background on Viader- Delia Viader was born in Argentina but the best then spent lots of time in France. She graduated with a PhD from Sarbonne and moved to California as the single mother of four. She asked her dad for a loan to buy the land. He thought she was crazy because he had already paid for her degree and now she wanted to be a “farmer”. Anyway, she went on to develop many firsts in Napa, with growing vertically instead of horizontally, mixing Cab Franc with Cabernet Sauvignon, and too many to list. She is respectfully known as the “Mother of wine”.
The tasting was a huge success and it seemed no one could agree on a favorite. To me, the 2000 was my fav. Thank you Alan and Delia Viader for making this happen as we all loved these wines! 🍷🍷🍷🍷👍👍👍👍 #wine #winelover #winelovers #redblend #redblendwine #viaderwinery #viader #alanviader #deliaviader #cabernetsauvignon #cabernetfranc #napawine #napa #napavalley #napacab
March 30, 2021 - At two decades plus, it is now showing vibrancy in the fruits, moreso than when young but its showing subtle signs of diminution from aging with ever-so-slight signs of opacity and rust color hues setting in with a bit of funkiness as fruits give way to non-fruit notes, mostly upon opening which burned off somewhat after an hour.
The fill level, label, foil and most importantly the cork were perfect, as if new.
Dark garnet color with hues of purple, medium full bodied, complex but nicely balanced, black cherry, black currant fruits with notes of spice, toasty oak and hints of graphite and dark mocha on the tangy crisp acid and smooth silky tannin laced finish.
https://unwindwine.blogspot.com/2021/03/viader-napa-bordeaux-blend-1997.html
October 31, 2020 - Decanted this wine for 3 hrs. Still has plenty of fruit. Tannins have softened. Beautiful color. It’s not past it’s prime but needs to be enjoyed in the next few yrs.
March 22, 2020 - A bit past prime drinking
January 18, 2020 - earthy nose. silky tannins. drink now.