2016 Bevan Cellars EE Cuvée Tench Vineyard
Community Tasting Note
WineBurrowingWombat Likes this wine:
Friday, July 10, 2020 - Nose: [55°] A wave of sweet, ripe red fruit and florals with fruity oak. [63°] With time, the fruit settles drastically, deep earth begins to show with grass, shiny river minerals and bitter damp oak.
Palate: [56° - 63°] Showing a lot of heat, bitter oak and minerals, even bitter red fruits.. very unsettled, as if it didn't know how to pull itself together.
Okay, with about 3.5 hours of time, it's waking up and coming back to what it was before. Dark rich earth, a lacing of deep bitter minerals and graphite, some steeped tea and just a dollop of dark fruit to give things a softer touch of fruit.
Attributes: Really dark ruby. Dry with medium-plus amounts of firm, grippy tannin. Medium body with medium-minus acidity. Good finish of at least 20-22 seconds.
Thoughts: The heat was really off-putting for the first few hours and presented itself as real booze-y. Only once or twice did this come through and resemble something I've had before. After plenty of air time (~3.5 hours), this finally came through. Wish my last bottle was a bit more of a better experience but I guess stuff like this happens. If it doesn't show well from the bottle, give it the air it needs and be patient with it. Maybe this bottle is just going into a phase or I must've awakened a slumbering beast.. or maybe just this bottle was a little off. Something about the flavors really made me question how the flavors will turn out in the future. I'm not sure how this will do in like 5+ years.. maybe something good in the near future but something for the ~10 year mark?.. I'm not so sure anymore. There's this watered down/pond water aspect to it. But again, this could've just been this bottle.
Other notes: Bordeaux glass. Slow-ox'ed in bottle for the duration of consumption over 5.5 hours (allow air time as needed).
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7 comments have been posted
2 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Report Issue (5,468 views)
Comment posted by Mark1npt:
7/11/2020 3:26:00 AM - Great note! I have the same questions about so many of these big fruit bomb Cali wines.
Comment posted by MJP Hou TX:
7/11/2020 5:29:00 AM - Wine TN's goals! Great post Wombat. Did you pair with any food? Sounds like this needs a good animal fat from a rib-eye to cut the heat.
Comment posted by Quiet Lion:
7/11/2020 8:16:00 AM - Love your detailed notes. I haven't opened my two bottles yet. Galloni says wait till 2022 but I never know with these Bevan blends. This vintage doesn't have Petit Verdot in it.
Did you consider decanting once you tasted it and found it confused? I don't usually decant young Napa wines but in this case I would have though about it. Seems like it finally came around. Hopefully will improve with a bit of age.
Comment posted by WineBurrowingWombat:
7/11/2020 10:50:00 AM - Hey Gents!
Mark1npt: Tell me about it.. going to try whatever remaining Napa bottles I have left.
MJP: No on the food, I usually don't eat food with the wine I drink. It didn't seem like it needed it though.. sounds real tasty though thinking back to it now and it probably would've helped.
Lion: I just let it slow ox in the bottle and revisited every so often. It seemed to have taken a lot longer than usual to open up. I'm on the same boat as you with the young Napa wines, I rarely decant. It's probably bad timing.. I was probably disturbing its sleep. A bit of bottle age should help.
Comment posted by vintage1949:
7/21/2020 4:52:00 PM - Greetings-Bevan is offering a three pack of EE with the vintages being 2012, 2014 and 2016. Let me know if you want link. Dave
Comment posted by vintage1949:
10/17/2020 6:24:00 PM - Greetings,
I have read the word bitter in some reviews of this wine. This worries me. Will decanting for a period of time eliminate this aspect of the wine? What do you think aging will do? Thanks-Dave
Comment posted by WineBurrowingWombat:
10/17/2020 10:12:00 PM - Maybe not eliminate it completely but settle it some for sure. I think if it's bitter to the point where it's off-putting, give it some air. But it should eventually become an enjoyable bitterness. I hope this helps!