Loved this wine. Aromatic once the cork was pulled. Just beautiful. Fairly priced for the quality. The wine continues to evolve. I decanted for approximately 60 minutes. Tannins subsided as the wine's silkiness started to present itself. Happy I got on the River's Marie bandwagon when it first came out.
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Opened but not decanted. This had been opened about an hour prior to dinner. It could have used a decant for sediment purposes as this was throwing quite a bit of fine sediment near the end of the bottle. Inky dark color in the glass with no visible sign of being almost ten years old. Dark fruits and mocha (think chocolate milkshake) on the nose. Similar palate with excellent balance, nicely integrated fine tannins and a long finish. No hurry here. 94+
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PnP, would have benefitted from a decant. Aromas of blackfruit, blueberry, black raspberry, spice, forest floor and a touch of oak. Lots of flavor with blackberry, blueberry, black raspberry, spice, and cedar. Great balance, long finish with smooth tannins. Good now, but probably still better in a few years.
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I drank this at the Wineberserkers offline at DiFara's in NYC. This wine drank well with pizza! It was a good drinking wine. Not decanted. Drink and enjoy or hold. Wish I had another. One of my good friends noted that this was WOTN. I was happy to share with my wine friends. We were 27 people with close to 40 wines, mostly red, and some Champagne.
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very good showing, nice nose, lengthly finish, tannins largely smooth and resolved but still sufficent to provide a good frame. This is probably more a mid-term than long-term wine from this point
Delicious ripe blackberry, cassis, oak, and spice on the nose and silky palate with soft tannins and lovely acidity on the long finish. Drinking beautifully!
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A dark brooding beauty with medium legs, the nose is immediately greeted by blackberry, boysenberry, wet forest floor and a little pine tar and eucalyptus. The palate is greeted with blue fruit yielding to a blackberry and black cherry compote rush and then takes a licorice bow with a tad citrus tartness to leave you wanting more.
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This wine is in the zone. Cork withdrawn with a dark violet stain on the cork without too much tartrate. Pours a dark violet that tames to a dirty raspberry meniscus. The nose has all the fruits: blackberry cassis, black cherry, boysenberry, a little blueberry and 'brambleberry' note. Had a lot of fig, ripe plums. Entry is quite full-bodied. Blackberry cassis, red cherry, plums, red and black licorice all on the front. Goes a little darker and more brambly towards the middle which is where the fruit core morphs to an espresso bean and then to a purple fruit molasses. Brambly fruit meets purple fruit preserves! Finishes with a hefty amount of black cherry, grilled spiced nuts, blackberry compote, dark chocolate, and resolving tannin. Whew!...... This is a CLASSIC St Helena wine. I have always seen this AVA as the perfect 'mix' of the red fruited Rutherford AVA to the South and black fruited Calistoga to the North and many times seems to have a lot of both characteristics as this one certainly does. I have a bottle of this in the 2015 and 2016 releases. I am quite partial to 2014 here recently, and think most of them are drinking in a very good spot right now when it comes to Cali wines. Well done!
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One hour in my glass before tasting. Very deep plum color, with slight rim fade. Turkish spice, blackberry, and creosote on the nose. Smooth, tongue drying palate. Full tannins on the longish finish. This was excellent, but tertiary notes make it past its prime for my palate.
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Benefits from an hour decant. Great aromatics showing blackfruit, blueberry, black raspberry, spice, forest floor and a touch of oak. Rich flavors with blackberry, blueberry, black raspberry, spice, and cedar. Great balance, long finish with smooth tannins. Good now, but probably still better in a few years. If you open now, decant.
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Pop and pour and enjoyed with food (udon noodles in a miso-vegetable soup, in case you were wondering). Dark purple color. Nose offers dark fruits, hint of dark chocolate and vanilla bean. Good fruit on the intro (black cherry) with some acidity to carry the fruit. Shows a richness and slight sweetness from the alcohol. Brown spice notes adds an additional dimension. Softens and rounds out a bit more with air. Soft tannins on the finish. Delicious.
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Really drinking well with an hour of air before enjoying. Nose is deep and dark and inviting. On the palate it has more of a fruit attack of dark purple fruits than anticipated. Really nice finish. Will wait a few years to see if the deeper notes come out on the palate but if you like a more fruit forward wine drink now. I really enjoyed it tonight.
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Foggy nose with baking spices. On the palate, berry preserves on toast, smoke and spice box. It has a sensation of sweetness, restrained power, thick mouthfeel and caressing finish.
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Good intensity of cherry, cassis, cinnamon, hint of cocoa on the nose. Dark fruited palate, slightly sweet cherry, long, with good depth and intensity, slightly heavy/rich. Spicy finish that lingers. Mid weight, nicely balanced. Very good Napa cab, but lacking in complexity to take it to the next level. Still a big step up from the regional Napa.
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PnP and frankly too cold at first. Got better with time and as it cooled. Fruit was subdued and seemed to be almost too bitter for me on the back end (too much anise/licorice). Well constructed and I’m guessing better as it goes. Seemed to just be in a weird spot for me on the back half of the palate.
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This wine was slightly corked. It had absolutely no nose.
That said, the TCA was not distracting, and the palate was phenomenal. Lots of glycerine, good mouthfeel, fresh currant and berry flavors and a caressing finish. Looking forward to my remaining bottle not being flawed.
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Bought two bottles of this wine just to see how the other half (1%) drink. The drinking range goes out to 2033 so I will hold my second bottle as long as possible. I am tasting an artificial blend of chemical and alcohol which doesn't come close to the other reviews. Either my taste buds are shot (possible) or the other tasters are rating the price point.
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This is drinking really well. Shows a lot of St. Helena character with scorched earth, graphite, and ripe fruit that treads the line of red and black. As I've said before, TRB has a way of blurring the line between fruit and oak that make his wines so great.
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P&Ped, drank half the bottle on the spot and the rest 24h later. No material decant needed, in my view. Deep cassis fruit, some cedar, liquorice, choclate and sweet spices. Great balance, tight strucutre with polished and soft tannins. Good lenght finish. Drinks absolutely beautifully now. Probably one of the best Napa cabs you can buy in the $100-150 bracket.
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Pulled the cork at 8 am, drank around 5 pm. Great depth of flavor, balanced by acidity and tannin. No formal notes, but this has the stuffing to be MUCH better in a few years.
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Battle of 14's...this vs Myriad 14 G III. This wine is black fruit nose with a red fruited winemaker. This wine is elegant yet powerful. Black fruit nose with a hint of leather and herb. Red fruit front with raspberry liqueur, some mint, dark chocolate. Finish shows a bit of restraint. Still youthful oak tannin. Delicious. Winner of the nose award but the palate was more of a toss up with Myriad winning that battle. Hold or drink!
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This wine has a very intense nose of cassis and vanilla to it. Upfront, you get a very extracted blackberry compote profile that’s pretty nice. I also taste some rock and baking spice. It’s full bodied, lush and dense. It’s really very impressive...
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Light cassis on the nose. Pure cassis on the palate with integrated tannins. This shows typical TRB polish and balance, but it lacks punch for this price point. Nice crowd pleasing wine, but lacks any memorable characteristics.
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Crazy good juice! Just fantastic. Thanks to those who recommended a long decant (I gave it seven hours) as that seemed to help. Only one left now and so wish I had more!
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I had read others notes saying that it needed a lot of air, so I popped the cork at noon and poured into the decanter. A quick initial sip before any air was very tight, lean, and acidic. Seven hours later I poured my first glass, and consumed over the next 4 hours. This showed a deep/dark ruby color with a purple rim. I got some not too ripe blackberry, cassis, red currant, and spice box. This was medium to light weight for a Napa cab, restrained with nice balance. Lots of higher toned flavors and higher acid, on the opposite end of the spectrum what I typically expect from a big Napa cab. The finish had a palate coating vibrant tanginess with no major oak notes. Over the course of the evening it continued to open up and fill out. A very well-make wine that I was enjoying very much, but wasn't wowed by it.
I had about 1/3 of the bottle left for the second day, where I found it to be less vibrant, softer, and IMHO less interesting. 93+
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This was the more restrained wine. More Old World in style - little more subtle earth tones and less vibrance. Which for me made the P-W the better wine for current consumption, although a close race. My compatriot disagreed and drank this R-M.
I agree with other notes that suggest this needs time. Unlike most 2014s which are pretty accessible now, this guy needs some patience. Will let other bottles sleep.
All that said, very happy to have this in my cellar and an excellent QPR.
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Uncorked and transferred to wide bowl for 1 hour. Somewhat subdued nose of dark cherry, stone fruit, and menthol. Has the characteristic RM richness In taste, but expresses itself as quite primary and monolithic at this juncture. Glides across the palate in a very seamless manner. I really think this needs 3-5 years to flesh out and broaden. Enjoyable nonetheless at this early age.
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2/14/2024 - 2 Utes Likes this wine: 94 Points
Loved this wine. Aromatic once the cork was pulled. Just beautiful. Fairly priced for the quality. The wine continues to evolve. I decanted for approximately 60 minutes. Tannins subsided as the wine's silkiness started to present itself. Happy I got on the River's Marie bandwagon when it first came out.
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12/28/2023 - joshdrinkswine2008 wrote: 93 Points
Delicious well aged Napa cab - blackberries, spice, Casios, hints of leather and tobacco. A treat
Did not decant and glad I didn’t - drank most powerful within first 30 minutes of opening and seemed to lose some of its vibrancy as evening moved on
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11/29/2023 - thelostverse wrote: 94 Points
Opened but not decanted. This had been opened about an hour prior to dinner. It could have used a decant for sediment purposes as this was throwing quite a bit of fine sediment near the end of the bottle. Inky dark color in the glass with no visible sign of being almost ten years old. Dark fruits and mocha (think chocolate milkshake) on the nose. Similar palate with excellent balance, nicely integrated fine tannins and a long finish. No hurry here. 94+
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9/16/2023 - gharter Likes this wine: 94 Points
PnP, would have benefitted from a decant. Aromas of blackfruit, blueberry, black raspberry, spice, forest floor and a touch of oak. Lots of flavor with blackberry, blueberry, black raspberry, spice, and cedar. Great balance, long finish with smooth tannins. Good now, but probably still better in a few years.
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2/22/2023 - dhammer53 wrote: 94 Points
I drank this at the Wineberserkers offline at DiFara's in NYC. This wine drank well with pizza! It was a good drinking wine. Not decanted. Drink and enjoy or hold. Wish I had another. One of my good friends noted that this was WOTN. I was happy to share with my wine friends. We were 27 people with close to 40 wines, mostly red, and some Champagne.
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11/24/2022 - thalver wrote: 93 Points
very good showing, nice nose, lengthly finish, tannins largely smooth and resolved but still sufficent to provide a good frame. This is probably more a mid-term than long-term wine from this point
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8/29/2022 - pjhr Likes this wine: 94 Points
Delicious ripe blackberry, cassis, oak, and spice on the nose and silky palate with soft tannins and lovely acidity on the long finish. Drinking beautifully!
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4/27/2022 - wineguy1968 Likes this wine: 93 Points
Delish fruit forward but with balance and decent finish . Fare amount of sediment so recommend a decant.
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4/24/2022 - ptelgenh wrote: 94 Points
Cassis is the dominant flavor here. Tannins softenening. Fruit forward.
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3/3/2022 - Acohen Likes this wine: 94 Points
Fruit forward with cassis, plum, mocha and great long finish
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3/2/2022 - Acohen Likes this wine: 94 Points
Rich currant, cassis with espresso, plum and silky integrated tannins
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12/30/2021 - jschnabel wrote: 93 Points
A dark brooding beauty with medium legs, the nose is immediately greeted by blackberry, boysenberry, wet forest floor and a little pine tar and eucalyptus. The palate is greeted with blue fruit yielding to a blackberry and black cherry compote rush and then takes a licorice bow with a tad citrus tartness to leave you wanting more.
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12/11/2021 - Richard P Howden Likes this wine: 92 Points
Very good overall. Loads of blackberry and cherry on the nose over a cassis laden palate. Very tasty richness, just a bit of heat.
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12/10/2021 - mflesh Likes this wine: 95 Points
This wine is in the zone. Cork withdrawn with a dark violet stain on the cork without too much tartrate. Pours a dark violet that tames to a dirty raspberry meniscus. The nose has all the fruits: blackberry cassis, black cherry, boysenberry, a little blueberry and 'brambleberry' note. Had a lot of fig, ripe plums. Entry is quite full-bodied. Blackberry cassis, red cherry, plums, red and black licorice all on the front. Goes a little darker and more brambly towards the middle which is where the fruit core morphs to an espresso bean and then to a purple fruit molasses. Brambly fruit meets purple fruit preserves! Finishes with a hefty amount of black cherry, grilled spiced nuts, blackberry compote, dark chocolate, and resolving tannin. Whew!...... This is a CLASSIC St Helena wine. I have always seen this AVA as the perfect 'mix' of the red fruited Rutherford AVA to the South and black fruited Calistoga to the North and many times seems to have a lot of both characteristics as this one certainly does. I have a bottle of this in the 2015 and 2016 releases. I am quite partial to 2014 here recently, and think most of them are drinking in a very good spot right now when it comes to Cali wines. Well done!
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7/22/2021 - Mountster27 Likes this wine: 93 Points
Very interesting spice / incense note on the nose.
More subtle fruit than I expected but with broad range and a lengthy finish.
Very enjoyable
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7/18/2021 - JackCali wrote: 93 Points
Drank at winery, drinking well now, moderate fruit and tannins
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4/23/2021 - AGELVIS Likes this wine: 94 Points
One hour in my glass before tasting. Very deep plum color, with slight rim fade. Turkish spice, blackberry, and creosote on the nose. Smooth, tongue drying palate. Full tannins on the longish finish. This was excellent, but tertiary notes make it past its prime for my palate.
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4/4/2021 - gharter Likes this wine: 95 Points
Benefits from an hour decant. Great aromatics showing blackfruit, blueberry, black raspberry, spice, forest floor and a touch of oak. Rich flavors with blackberry, blueberry, black raspberry, spice, and cedar. Great balance, long finish with smooth tannins. Good now, but probably still better in a few years. If you open now, decant.
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2/17/2021 - bonedoc wrote: 94 Points
14’s
RM Panek: brighter on the palate w some red raspberries and a little more acid than
Mt Brave: darker fruit profile, less acid, excellent concentration and showing for this wine at this price.
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2/15/2021 - bonedoc wrote: flawed
Corked
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1/17/2021 - t_moderne wrote: 93 Points
Pop and pour and enjoyed with food (udon noodles in a miso-vegetable soup, in case you were wondering).
Dark purple color.
Nose offers dark fruits, hint of dark chocolate and vanilla bean.
Good fruit on the intro (black cherry) with some acidity to carry the fruit. Shows a richness and slight sweetness from the alcohol. Brown spice notes adds an additional dimension. Softens and rounds out a bit more with air. Soft tannins on the finish.
Delicious.
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11/15/2020 - Amerique wrote: 95 Points
Rich, delicious, black cherry fruit with lots of tannin, excellent structure, short finish, sweetness noted
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7/5/2020 - Jbird73 wrote: 94 Points
Really drinking well with an hour of air before enjoying. Nose is deep and dark and inviting. On the palate it has more of a fruit attack of dark purple fruits than anticipated. Really nice finish. Will wait a few years to see if the deeper notes come out on the palate but if you like a more fruit forward wine drink now. I really enjoyed it tonight.
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11/27/2019 - magyarsvensk Likes this wine: 96 Points
Foggy nose with baking spices. On the palate, berry preserves on toast, smoke and spice box. It has a sensation of sweetness, restrained power, thick mouthfeel and caressing finish.
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11/21/2019 - Richard P Howden Likes this wine: 91 Points
Good intensity of cherry, cassis, cinnamon, hint of cocoa on the nose. Dark fruited palate, slightly sweet cherry, long, with good depth and intensity, slightly heavy/rich. Spicy finish that lingers. Mid weight, nicely balanced. Very good Napa cab, but lacking in complexity to take it to the next level. Still a big step up from the regional Napa.
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11/6/2019 - norzano Likes this wine: 91 Points
PnP and frankly too cold at first. Got better with time and as it cooled. Fruit was subdued and seemed to be almost too bitter for me on the back end (too much anise/licorice). Well constructed and I’m guessing better as it goes. Seemed to just be in a weird spot for me on the back half of the palate.
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10/31/2019 - magyarsvensk wrote: flawed
This wine was slightly corked. It had absolutely no nose.
That said, the TCA was not distracting, and the palate was phenomenal. Lots of glycerine, good mouthfeel, fresh currant and berry flavors and a caressing finish. Looking forward to my remaining bottle not being flawed.
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4/27/2019 - spicy1 wrote: 87 Points
Bought two bottles of this wine just to see how the other half (1%) drink. The drinking range goes out to 2033 so I will hold my second bottle as long as possible. I am tasting an artificial blend of chemical and alcohol which doesn't come close to the other reviews. Either my taste buds are shot (possible) or the other tasters are rating the price point.
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4/23/2019 - mhewitt wrote: 95 Points
This is drinking really well. Shows a lot of St. Helena character with scorched earth, graphite, and ripe fruit that treads the line of red and black. As I've said before, TRB has a way of blurring the line between fruit and oak that make his wines so great.
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4/19/2019 - sirpat00 Likes this wine: 95 Points
P&Ped, drank half the bottle on the spot and the rest 24h later. No material decant needed, in my view. Deep cassis fruit, some cedar, liquorice, choclate and sweet spices. Great balance, tight strucutre with polished and soft tannins. Good lenght finish. Drinks absolutely beautifully now. Probably one of the best Napa cabs you can buy in the $100-150 bracket.
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2/3/2019 - Eric.S Likes this wine:
Pulled the cork at 8 am, drank around 5 pm. Great depth of flavor, balanced by acidity and tannin. No formal notes, but this has the stuffing to be MUCH better in a few years.
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1/16/2019 - mflesh wrote: 95 Points
Battle of 14's...this vs Myriad 14 G III. This wine is black fruit nose with a red fruited winemaker. This wine is elegant yet powerful. Black fruit nose with a hint of leather and herb. Red fruit front with raspberry liqueur, some mint, dark chocolate. Finish shows a bit of restraint. Still youthful oak tannin. Delicious. Winner of the nose award but the palate was more of a toss up with Myriad winning that battle. Hold or drink!
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12/30/2018 - CV Griz Fan wrote: 96 Points
This wine has a very intense nose of cassis and vanilla to it. Upfront, you get a very extracted blackberry compote profile that’s pretty nice. I also taste some rock and baking spice. It’s full bodied, lush and dense. It’s really very impressive...
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11/23/2018 - jcassi01 wrote: 92 Points
Light cassis on the nose. Pure cassis on the palate with integrated tannins. This shows typical TRB polish and balance, but it lacks punch for this price point. Nice crowd pleasing wine, but lacks any memorable characteristics.
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11/23/2018 - RobbieC Likes this wine:
Crazy good juice! Just fantastic. Thanks to those who recommended a long decant (I gave it seven hours) as that seemed to help. Only one left now and so wish I had more!
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7/6/2018 - td1836 Likes this wine: 93 Points
I had read others notes saying that it needed a lot of air, so I popped the cork at noon and poured into the decanter. A quick initial sip before any air was very tight, lean, and acidic. Seven hours later I poured my first glass, and consumed over the next 4 hours. This showed a deep/dark ruby color with a purple rim. I got some not too ripe blackberry, cassis, red currant, and spice box. This was medium to light weight for a Napa cab, restrained with nice balance. Lots of higher toned flavors and higher acid, on the opposite end of the spectrum what I typically expect from a big Napa cab. The finish had a palate coating vibrant tanginess with no major oak notes. Over the course of the evening it continued to open up and fill out. A very well-make wine that I was enjoying very much, but wasn't wowed by it.
I had about 1/3 of the bottle left for the second day, where I found it to be less vibrant, softer, and IMHO less interesting. 93+
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7/23/2017 - ageverett Likes this wine: 94 Points
Decanted for 4 hours. Drank over three hours.
Also had a 2014 Pulido-Walker Panek open.
This was the more restrained wine. More Old World in style - little more subtle earth tones and less vibrance. Which for me made the P-W the better wine for current consumption, although a close race. My compatriot disagreed and drank this R-M.
I agree with other notes that suggest this needs time. Unlike most 2014s which are pretty accessible now, this guy needs some patience. Will let other bottles sleep.
All that said, very happy to have this in my cellar and an excellent QPR.
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6/10/2017 - drdan8 Likes this wine: 92 Points
Uncorked and transferred to wide bowl for 1 hour. Somewhat subdued nose of dark cherry, stone fruit, and menthol. Has the characteristic RM richness In taste, but expresses itself as quite primary and monolithic at this juncture. Glides across the palate in a very seamless manner. I really think this needs 3-5 years to flesh out and broaden. Enjoyable nonetheless at this early age.
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2/22/2017 - #1Winelover wrote: 92 Points
This is not ready. It will be interesting how this evolves as I cannot decant due to location constraints.
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2/10/2017 - BrixandCru Likes this wine: 91 Points
Big fruit, slight bitter finish with a hint of Mild eucalyptus. This win needs another 3-5 years in bottle so it can fully Intergrate.
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