on a night a great wine, this paired best with the beef dish at the end of the night - deep powerful currant, blackberries, blueberries in an intoxicatingly deep and lush wine.
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Popped and poured, followed over several hours with my best friend and a couple of ribeyes. Universal glass, no decant.
Pretty aromatic from the start with blackberry pie notes. This wine has relaxed itself a bit, there’s no chewy sense to the wood, and instead it comes across as plush and massive. Acidity was better than expected, too. This has fruit to last 200 years, and while the acidity tasted titrated to me, it seems to be holding in balance. A bottle to drink and enjoy (maybe on its own) but not one I intend to replace.
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A generous glass by Tmud and co. Like the 2013 RBS, it avoids overripe, figgy, or roasted notes. Tannins are melting at this point. We talked about what it means for a wine of this style and caliber to be at peak drinking window. Here the acidity remains balancing, just enough. Mountains of fruit are beginning to recede and the structure is softening enough that I’d say it’s entering a drinking window. Will I want it in 10 more years? I suppose so, for curiosity at least. Will it remain in balance? I’m not betting on it and won’t have much from this era around to find out
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Purchased from winery as a library release, in May 2020; opened bottle, no decant, recorked bottle between servings, on its side to minimize sediment. 5:10pm: Very tightly wound upon opening. Sludge at the cork. 6:00pm: Much more expressive bouquet of red and black fruits. Tannins remain very strong. 6:40pm: bouquet remains strong. Tannins resolving. 7:20pm: bouquet less pronounced. 8:15pm: seems to be losing steam. Finish fairly truncated but well integrated secondary characteristics.
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Battle of the Bastards. I mean battle of the best! Chateau Pavie 2009, Harlan 2009, Schrader CCS 2013 and Schrader CCS 2019. New Years Eve celebration and the wines were all amazing. Except for the Schrader CCS 2019, all were in their prime drinking window. The Schrader CCS 2019 was very good -- it just needs a couple of years and/or a looooong decant. All wines were decanted for 2-3 hours and all of them got better as the night went on.
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Drinking real well right now, better with a couple hours of air. Dark cassis, cherry, blackberry, dried roses, cinnamon, clove, great acidity and purity of fruit. Great stuff!
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Decanted for 2 hours and then drank over the next two hours. Wine was fantastic, very complex and structured. Very well balanced, with nice fruit forward flavor. The nose was unique and floral. We enjoyed it. My score, 97.
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Beach 2021; 8/7/2021-8/14/2021 (Kiawah Island, SC): Perfect. Transcendental. Utterly perfect. Overachieved my expectations, I though it would be a slight step up from the RBS but I was wrong. Potentially the best California Cabernet I've had since a 2001 Harlan around a decade ago. Dark blackberry, blueberry compote, dark chocolate. Tannins were there for structure but not over the top and decanting surely helped. Graphite, vanilla, cassis, waves of flavor. So well integrated, such a iron fist/velvet glove that I think is Schrader's signature style. Not a hard edge, but so back with flavor and depth. Finish lasted forever, was floored. Presumably will last forever but approachable now, was in a perfect spot for my tastes.
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An ethereal wine. Slow ox’ed for 5 hours then decanted for a little over an hour, and consumed over the next 2 hours. Captivating wine that is brimming with cassis, spring flowers, softening tannins, and a long finish.
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Amazing wine. Benefitted from a 2 hour decant, but shined after that. Blackberry, blueberry, cassis, floral, pencil shavings on the nose. Loaded with smooth, silky, balanced fruit. Blackberry, cassis, spice, floral and pencil shavings. Long silky smooth finish. Incredible now with a decant, but should hold for years.
Wow, decanted for four hours and needed every one of them. Intense dark fruit with layers of sweet cassis, berry, dark plum and integrated fine tannins leading to an incredibly long, rich lingering finish
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Anamazing wine. Needed a 2 hour decant, but shined after that. Blackberry, blueberry, cassis, floral, pencil shavings on the nose. Loaded with smooth, silky, balanced fruit. Blackberry, cassis, spice, floral and pencil shavings. Long silky smooth finish. Incredible now with a decant, but should hold for years.
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After seeing recent notes i decided to open a bottle against my better judgement. This bottle was in hibernation. Unfortunately i only had 3 hours in a decanter with it. This bottle needs 3-4 years to open up. Tightly bound with heavy tannin. Black cherry and blackberry with dark chocolate and stone on the pallet. Full bodied with mouth coating tannin with a 60 second finish. In contrast to other ccs which are silky, soft and seductive, this wine was very concentrated and tight.
Ski trip - Three wino familes; 2/14/2020-2/17/2020 (Wisp Resort): Expressive nose displaying perfectly ripe black and blue fruit, crème de cassis, blackberry concentrate, crushed blueberry, vanilla, ink, lead pencil and mineral. Perfectly integrated palate, beautifully layered concentrated black fruit, intense yet incredibly refined and silky palate, perfect amount of acidity and mineral, and a seamless long cassis fruit driven finish with vanilla and ink at the end. Really surprised by how harmonious and balanced this is showing. Perfectly approachable, drinking beautifully.
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Probably the most perfect bottle of California Cabernet I've experienced. Took some time to open up (2 hours in decanter). Was even better the next evening, which indicates ample tannins for much longer ageing. Have another bottle, but saving for 2025 :-)
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A bit tight upon opening, need several hours of decanting. Dark red fruit, baking spices, tea, silky body with very fine chewy tannins on the finish. Although this is a big wine it’s not as big as most other Schraders, not necessarily a bad thing. This should be better with 3-4 more years.
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Opaque. Cali sun, dark fruits and sweet spices on the nose. Add flower stems, spices and dark chocolate on the palate. Fine grained tannins. Lingering finish. It will blow your mind today, but do feel good about putting it away for that special occasion. It will last to dazzle another day.
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This was my 1st Schrader CCS in quite some time and it was very impressive. Dark purple with a sweet, strong smell. I had a couple of sips before decanting and it needed a little decant. 2 hours later, it was ready. Most impressive was it's finish. The CCS is clone 4, which is my preferred clone. Clone 4 is typically darker in color and stronger in flavor. I must admit, I was hoping for that something extra but at least last night, that didn't happen. Thus, 95-96 points. I am still trying to figure out how Parker rated this wine 100 points. It is really good To Kalon fruit but it's certainly not the best that I have had from that vineyard.
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pnp, consumed over about 90 minutes. a much different animal from the rbs, with my palate preferring the rbs profile. this was tightly wound, subtle and nuanced and not as open-knit or explosive as i want it to be. if this was my first schrader, i would probably walk away feeling very "meh" on them and wouldn't regret getting kicked off the list. if scoring, 90-92. i would think it will get much better with time, but i'm not sure it will ever be a wine that inspires ME.
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Zachys Power of Packaging - Jan 2016 (Smith & Wollensky (48th & 3rd Ave)): Very fun to try this back-to-back with the 2005. This is still much earlier in its evolution. Brambles and leaves and blackberries. Suspect it will be quite nice and evolve well, but it's not really yet open or ready for business. Surprising because the tasting we had a few nights ago I was mostly only getting the red fruits in the Schraders, but this was definitely an exception.
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Zachys Schrader Dinner (Bouley): I took no notes on this wine so just going off of memory from a few days later. What I do know is the Colesworthy in this flight really wowed me and the standard To Kalon was not quite my thing at the moment and this wine was somewhere in between. I'm sure still those lovely deep red fruits and a wine I'd love to enjoy on its own sometime so it can strut it's stuff.
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Speechless is one way of looking at it. Opaque in color, light might reflect off this wine, but it's not getting through. The intoxicating perfume is all about the truffle, smoke, black cherry liqueur, blue fruits and wet earth notes. The texture is polished velvet, with the weight of motor oil and a fruit filled finish that remains for more than 60 seconds. This is a benchmark style of Cabernet Sauvignon.
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11/25/2023 - MOCGator Likes this wine: 97 Points
Astonishing for the very tannic 2013’s. Typical ToKalon.
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11/18/2023 - danielbleier Likes this wine: 97 Points
on a night a great wine, this paired best with the beef dish at the end of the night - deep powerful currant, blackberries, blueberries in an intoxicatingly deep and lush wine.
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10/7/2023 - jviz wrote: 95 Points
Popped and poured, followed over several hours with my best friend and a couple of ribeyes. Universal glass, no decant.
Pretty aromatic from the start with blackberry pie notes. This wine has relaxed itself a bit, there’s no chewy sense to the wood, and instead it comes across as plush and massive. Acidity was better than expected, too. This has fruit to last 200 years, and while the acidity tasted titrated to me, it seems to be holding in balance. A bottle to drink and enjoy (maybe on its own) but not one I intend to replace.
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4/1/2023 - Rramey Likes this wine: 94 Points
50th Birthday Wine!
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3/3/2023 - jviz wrote: 96 Points
A generous glass by Tmud and co. Like the 2013 RBS, it avoids overripe, figgy, or roasted notes. Tannins are melting at this point. We talked about what it means for a wine of this style and caliber to be at peak drinking window. Here the acidity remains balancing, just enough. Mountains of fruit are beginning to recede and the structure is softening enough that I’d say it’s entering a drinking window. Will I want it in 10 more years? I suppose so, for curiosity at least. Will it remain in balance? I’m not betting on it and won’t have much from this era around to find out
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10/15/2022 - Amerique wrote: 96 Points
Rich, delicious black cherry fruit with sweet cassis flavors, very round, excellent structure, mild tannins, ample finish
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7/16/2022 - bsbrown05 Likes this wine:
Purchased from winery as a library release, in May 2020; opened bottle, no decant, recorked bottle between servings, on its side to minimize sediment.
5:10pm: Very tightly wound upon opening. Sludge at the cork.
6:00pm: Much more expressive bouquet of red and black fruits. Tannins remain very strong.
6:40pm: bouquet remains strong. Tannins resolving.
7:20pm: bouquet less pronounced.
8:15pm: seems to be losing steam. Finish fairly truncated but well integrated secondary characteristics.
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3/17/2022 - Bcw1989 wrote:
Classic Schrader taste, look and smell. Fantastic bottle of wine.
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1/2/2022 - #1Winelover Likes this wine: 99 Points
Battle of the Bastards. I mean battle of the best! Chateau Pavie 2009, Harlan 2009, Schrader CCS 2013 and Schrader CCS 2019. New Years Eve celebration and the wines were all amazing. Except for the Schrader CCS 2019, all were in their prime drinking window. The Schrader CCS 2019 was very good -- it just needs a couple of years and/or a looooong decant. All wines were decanted for 2-3 hours and all of them got better as the night went on.
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1/1/2022 - Niagara wrote:
So many fines in this one the wine was turbid, even after careful decanting. Odd.
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10/31/2021 - pakabear Likes this wine: 96 Points
Drinking real well right now, better with a couple hours of air. Dark cassis, cherry, blackberry, dried roses, cinnamon, clove, great acidity and purity of fruit. Great stuff!
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8/24/2021 - Mdb1982 Likes this wine: 97 Points
Decanted for 2 hours and then drank over the next two hours. Wine was fantastic, very complex and structured. Very well balanced, with nice fruit forward flavor. The nose was unique and floral. We enjoyed it. My score, 97.
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8/11/2021 - andrewdodd86 Likes this wine: 100 Points
Beach 2021; 8/7/2021-8/14/2021 (Kiawah Island, SC): Perfect. Transcendental. Utterly perfect. Overachieved my expectations, I though it would be a slight step up from the RBS but I was wrong. Potentially the best California Cabernet I've had since a 2001 Harlan around a decade ago. Dark blackberry, blueberry compote, dark chocolate. Tannins were there for structure but not over the top and decanting surely helped. Graphite, vanilla, cassis, waves of flavor. So well integrated, such a iron fist/velvet glove that I think is Schrader's signature style. Not a hard edge, but so back with flavor and depth. Finish lasted forever, was floored. Presumably will last forever but approachable now, was in a perfect spot for my tastes.
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8/11/2021 - rustyRudy Likes this wine: 100 Points
Simply amazing, drinking phenomenally now, great fruit, everything in balance and super finish.
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6/29/2021 - brianngibson wrote: 99 Points
An ethereal wine. Slow ox’ed for 5 hours then decanted for a little over an hour, and consumed over the next 2 hours. Captivating wine that is brimming with cassis, spring flowers, softening tannins, and a long finish.
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6/21/2021 - gharter Likes this wine: 99 Points
Amazing wine. Benefitted from a 2 hour decant, but shined after that. Blackberry, blueberry, cassis, floral, pencil shavings on the nose. Loaded with smooth, silky, balanced fruit. Blackberry, cassis, spice, floral and pencil shavings. Long silky smooth finish. Incredible now with a decant, but should hold for years.
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1/6/2021 - Teknsteel Likes this wine: 98 Points
Decanted for 3 hrs as per the previous note. Amazing.
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12/25/2020 - happy712 Likes this wine: 96 Points
Decant 3 hours to start accessibility window, will evolve for next few hours. Simply fantastic.
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12/25/2020 - Niagara wrote: 96 Points
Big and lush. Still young but since I’m not, I’m not waiting to drink it.
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11/9/2020 - Acohen Likes this wine: 99 Points
Wow, decanted for four hours and needed every one of them. Intense dark fruit with layers of sweet cassis, berry, dark plum and integrated fine tannins leading to an incredibly long, rich lingering finish
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8/22/2020 - gharter Likes this wine: 98 Points
Anamazing wine. Needed a 2 hour decant, but shined after that. Blackberry, blueberry, cassis, floral, pencil shavings on the nose. Loaded with smooth, silky, balanced fruit. Blackberry, cassis, spice, floral and pencil shavings. Long silky smooth finish. Incredible now with a decant, but should hold for years.
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2/16/2020 - beau11 wrote: 97 Points
After seeing recent notes i decided to open a bottle against my better judgement. This bottle was in hibernation. Unfortunately i only had 3 hours in a decanter with it. This bottle needs 3-4 years to open up. Tightly bound with heavy tannin. Black cherry and blackberry with dark chocolate and stone on the pallet. Full bodied with mouth coating tannin with a 60 second finish. In contrast to other ccs which are silky, soft and seductive, this wine was very concentrated and tight.
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2/15/2020 - dcwino wrote: 98 Points
Ski trip - Three wino familes; 2/14/2020-2/17/2020 (Wisp Resort): Expressive nose displaying perfectly ripe black and blue fruit, crème de cassis, blackberry concentrate, crushed blueberry, vanilla, ink, lead pencil and mineral. Perfectly integrated palate, beautifully layered concentrated black fruit, intense yet incredibly refined and silky palate, perfect amount of acidity and mineral, and a seamless long cassis fruit driven finish with vanilla and ink at the end. Really surprised by how harmonious and balanced this is showing. Perfectly approachable, drinking beautifully.
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10/29/2019 - corkcork wrote: 96 Points
Drinking beautifully!
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2/13/2019 - bonedocnine Likes this wine: 100 Points
pretty much perfect
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12/29/2018 - driz Likes this wine: 100 Points
Probably the most perfect bottle of California Cabernet I've experienced. Took some time to open up (2 hours in decanter). Was even better the next evening, which indicates ample tannins for much longer ageing. Have another bottle, but saving for 2025 :-)
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11/23/2018 - pakabear Likes this wine: 94 Points
A bit tight upon opening, need several hours of decanting. Dark red fruit, baking spices, tea, silky body with very fine chewy tannins on the finish. Although this is a big wine it’s not as big as most other Schraders, not necessarily a bad thing. This should be better with 3-4 more years.
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2/24/2018 - jnocera Likes this wine: 97 Points
Really in a great spot. Classic To Kalon juice with a great wine maker. Hard to screw this one up. Ready to drink in my opinion.
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12/24/2017 - DMA1YO wrote:
1
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11/12/2017 - Teknsteel Likes this wine: 97 Points
Opaque. Cali sun, dark fruits and sweet spices on the nose. Add flower stems, spices and dark chocolate on the palate. Fine grained tannins. Lingering finish. It will blow your mind today, but do feel good about putting it away for that special occasion. It will last to dazzle another day.
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7/24/2017 - #1Winelover Likes this wine: 95 Points
This was my 1st Schrader CCS in quite some time and it was very impressive. Dark purple with a sweet, strong smell. I had a couple of sips before decanting and it needed a little decant. 2 hours later, it was ready. Most impressive was it's finish. The CCS is clone 4, which is my preferred clone. Clone 4 is typically darker in color and stronger in flavor. I must admit, I was hoping for that something extra but at least last night, that didn't happen. Thus, 95-96 points. I am still trying to figure out how Parker rated this wine 100 points. It is really good To Kalon fruit but it's certainly not the best that I have had from that vineyard.
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3/14/2016 - caeleric Likes this wine:
pnp, consumed over about 90 minutes. a much different animal from the rbs, with my palate preferring the rbs profile. this was tightly wound, subtle and nuanced and not as open-knit or explosive as i want it to be. if this was my first schrader, i would probably walk away feeling very "meh" on them and wouldn't regret getting kicked off the list. if scoring, 90-92. i would think it will get much better with time, but i'm not sure it will ever be a wine that inspires ME.
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1/30/2016 - MC2 Wines Likes this wine:
Zachys Power of Packaging - Jan 2016 (Smith & Wollensky (48th & 3rd Ave)): Very fun to try this back-to-back with the 2005. This is still much earlier in its evolution. Brambles and leaves and blackberries. Suspect it will be quite nice and evolve well, but it's not really yet open or ready for business. Surprising because the tasting we had a few nights ago I was mostly only getting the red fruits in the Schraders, but this was definitely an exception.
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1/28/2016 - MC2 Wines Likes this wine:
Zachys Schrader Dinner (Bouley): I took no notes on this wine so just going off of memory from a few days later. What I do know is the Colesworthy in this flight really wowed me and the standard To Kalon was not quite my thing at the moment and this wine was somewhere in between. I'm sure still those lovely deep red fruits and a wine I'd love to enjoy on its own sometime so it can strut it's stuff.
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1/26/2016 - Jeff Leve wrote: 100 Points
Speechless is one way of looking at it. Opaque in color, light might reflect off this wine, but it's not getting through. The intoxicating perfume is all about the truffle, smoke, black cherry liqueur, blue fruits and wet earth notes. The texture is polished velvet, with the weight of motor oil and a fruit filled finish that remains for more than 60 seconds. This is a benchmark style of Cabernet Sauvignon.
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1/25/2016 - tcarter Likes this wine: 100 Points
Schrader Wine Dinner (Spago Beverly Hills): Lush, gorgeous wine. Perfection.
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