2018 Carter Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon La Verdad Beckstoffer Las Piedras Vineyard
Community Tasting Note
sean7711 Likes this wine:
96 Points
Thursday, June 1, 2023 - 2018 LPV Showdown - Carter La Verdad vs. Vice Versa
Opened these on Thursday to celebrate my promotion to partner at my company. Overall, I preferred the Vice Versa a bit more. Carter was a touch hotter, and just a bit more finesse in the VV bottling. Of course, we are splitting hairs as both bottles were excellent, and LPV continues to be one of my favorite single vineyard expressions.
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4 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Report Issue (3,016 views)
4 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Report Issue (3,016 views)
Comment posted by Mark1npt:
6/6/2023 7:45:00 PM - Congrats, my friend! Well earned, I'm sure!
Sorry to hear this one was hot....maybe needed more air time? Or just aging?
Comment posted by sean7711:
6/7/2023 7:32:00 AM - Thanks Mark!
I think it was a bit of both. I did a ~2 hour decant, I think with 4-5 it would have been better. I also have one more bottle so I am going to age that a few more years to see how it tastes then.
Comment posted by Mark1npt:
6/7/2023 8:33:00 AM - I've got but one bottle, so may wait a little longer, too!
Comment posted by Jazz Nut:
6/8/2023 8:55:00 PM - Thanks for the note--and congratulations on being made partner!
I only bought one bottle of the 2018 Carter La Verdad, and have been waiting for an optimal window--do you think it was there, or would be waiting 6-12 months be better? I don't mind waiting. With that said, I really enjoyed the 2017 vintage of this wine on the early side, and there were NO regrets. I tried a 2019 6 months ago, and it was good, but very primary.
Comment posted by sean7711:
6/9/2023 7:42:00 AM - Thanks Jazz!
I think the best days of this bottle are still to come. I am just speculating on timing, but I think 12 more months or more, and this bottle will be in an optimal spot.
FWIW here are my La Verdad scores by vintage and consumption date:
2016 - 4/20 - 98 pts
2017 - 7/20 - 95 pts
2018 - 6/23 - 96 pts
2019 - 4/22 - 97 pts
I still have 1 bottle of these vintages remaining, so clearly I enjoyed all of these vintages in their youth (each were drank between 3-5 years of harvest), but glad I can check in on them in the future. I am wondering if Bevan will change up the early drinkability on these for the '21s?
Comment posted by Mark1npt:
6/9/2023 2:05:00 PM - Sean, thanks for your date/info....useful!
Judging by how Bevan loads up his own big boys, I don't know if Carters will be as early drinking as they used to be under Smith. Mike likes to make his wines to be drunk, sell out and repeat it all next year...though certainly they can age awhile. The unknown is? How does Mark Carter want the wines to be made and to drink? We don't know that, but he is a bit on the older side, maybe early 70's? So, he probably doesn't want to have to wait another decade to drink his own wines!