Tasting at Maine Cabin: Deep and dark and saucy. Super grippy. Really young, but fresh, with blackberry and saucy plums, mixed with all sorts of deep herbal and black tea vibes. Incense sticks, pepper, savory spices. I'd love to revisit this in five more years, but it was still a lot of fun.
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Not the strongest vintage of this wine, but quite good none the less. Fully ripe cab franc fruit. Still a bit of tannin sticking out. I think this needs 2-3 more years to hit its plateau.
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Medium purple color. Aromas of juicy black cherries and plums, lots of spices (paprika, pepper, tobacco, clove) with violet petals and wild herbs. Bright acidity frames the wine nicely, there's a concentrated core of deep cherry and I even get some wild blueberry - the depth of fruit surprised me, and it took time to get the non-fruit elements to come out. When they did, especially on day two, I got a nice mix of smoky earth, tobacco, tomato leaf, graphite, pine resin. Young and quite blue at first, but opens really nicely. Yummy stuff. I'll hold off on my last bottle for at least three years.
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-- decanted about 1.25 hours before initial taste -- -- tasted non-blind over 3 hours on Day 1; revisited on Day 2 --
NOSE: Day 1: red-fruited with a hint of chocolate coffee; light pyrazine note; hint of red licorice; moderately expressive; beguiling, yet simultaneously reserved; complex; medium-strength oak note. Day 2: starting to oxidize a touch; not as oaky as Day 1.
BODY: violet-garnet color of medium depth; clear; medium-light to medium bodied.
TASTE: Day 1: woodsy; red-fruited; some noticeable oak and oaky tannins; medium+ acidity; frankincense; alc. not noticeable; oak became very strong about 2.50 – 3.0 hours after uncorking. Day 2: still tastes oaky, but not as bad as Day 1; red-fruited and stony, but this comes across as a thin(er) wine that was beaten with an oaken club; some nice garrigué on the finish. *Maybe* this wine soaks up the oak and has fruit left-over when it's all said and done, but I'm not optimistic. I believe I would score this wine around 90 or 91 but for the terribly strong oak aspect. The oak on this is terribly unfortunate. Best to Hold for now.
50, 5, 10, 12, 6 = 83
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On the nose, spicy, darker red fruit. Pretty appealing, but doesn’t scream chinon. Flat and lifeless on the palate. Not sure what happened here. Storage?
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Cherry, mixed berry, menthol, lavender, violet, black tea, crushed rocks, and tobacco. Balanced, medium bodied wine with suave tannins. Nice grip on the finish. Very complete on the nose and while the palate will undergo additional development, it's already quite drinkable (91+).
Edit: Two hours later, the wine fills out on the back end, leading to a savory finish. Solid wine, given the challenges of the overall vintage (91-93 pts).
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For not the greatest vintage, I must tell you I loved this. I agree with much of RICHARDP's from 7/2016: "On the palate, sour cherry, cranberry, rhubarb, and notes of tobacco and ash, with a light touch of green herbs and light drying tannins on the medium to long finish; good acidity." I drank half of this and left it with cork in for 7 days in the frig (forgot about it) and amazingly it was just as good when I got back to it. In many ways, very old school, and I mean that in the best of ways.
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Owned a couple of these and saw more for a steal so I figured I would try one and see if it was worth going deeper. Really wanted to like this but got nothing but sweet tart acidity, no depth and almost nothing in terms of fruit. I don't believe this was flawed. Would be interesting to try another vintage.
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Camphor and a note of plum on the nose. On the palate, sour cherry, cranberry, rhubarb, and notes of tobacco and ash, with a light touch of green herbs and light drying tannins on the medium to long finish; good acidity. This is good, but the 2011 is better at this point. This needs a few years to integrate the tannins and smooth itself out. Still a good value at $55.
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9/30/2023 - isaacjamesbaker wrote: 92 Points
Tasting at Maine Cabin: Deep and dark and saucy. Super grippy. Really young, but fresh, with blackberry and saucy plums, mixed with all sorts of deep herbal and black tea vibes. Incense sticks, pepper, savory spices. I'd love to revisit this in five more years, but it was still a lot of fun.
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12/18/2022 - Vas19 wrote: 92 Points
Not the strongest vintage of this wine, but quite good none the less. Fully ripe cab franc fruit. Still a bit of tannin sticking out. I think this needs 2-3 more years to hit its plateau.
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6/22/2020 - isaacjamesbaker wrote: 91 Points
Medium purple color. Aromas of juicy black cherries and plums, lots of spices (paprika, pepper, tobacco, clove) with violet petals and wild herbs. Bright acidity frames the wine nicely, there's a concentrated core of deep cherry and I even get some wild blueberry - the depth of fruit surprised me, and it took time to get the non-fruit elements to come out. When they did, especially on day two, I got a nice mix of smoky earth, tobacco, tomato leaf, graphite, pine resin. Young and quite blue at first, but opens really nicely. Yummy stuff. I'll hold off on my last bottle for at least three years.
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3/14/2020 - Andyofoto wrote:
Incredible. Feel lucky if this is in your cellar.
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1/7/2019 - grafstrb wrote: 83 Points
-- decanted about 1.25 hours before initial taste --
-- tasted non-blind over 3 hours on Day 1; revisited on Day 2 --
NOSE: Day 1: red-fruited with a hint of chocolate coffee; light pyrazine note; hint of red licorice; moderately expressive; beguiling, yet simultaneously reserved; complex; medium-strength oak note. Day 2: starting to oxidize a touch; not as oaky as Day 1.
BODY: violet-garnet color of medium depth; clear; medium-light to medium bodied.
TASTE: Day 1: woodsy; red-fruited; some noticeable oak and oaky tannins; medium+ acidity; frankincense; alc. not noticeable; oak became very strong about 2.50 – 3.0 hours after uncorking. Day 2: still tastes oaky, but not as bad as Day 1; red-fruited and stony, but this comes across as a thin(er) wine that was beaten with an oaken club; some nice garrigué on the finish. *Maybe* this wine soaks up the oak and has fruit left-over when it's all said and done, but I'm not optimistic. I believe I would score this wine around 90 or 91 but for the terribly strong oak aspect. The oak on this is terribly unfortunate. Best to Hold for now.
50, 5, 10, 12, 6 = 83
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6/9/2018 - christyler wrote:
On the nose, spicy, darker red fruit. Pretty appealing, but doesn’t scream chinon. Flat and lifeless on the palate. Not sure what happened here. Storage?
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6/5/2018 - MarkLA wrote: 91 Points
Cherry, mixed berry, menthol, lavender, violet, black tea, crushed rocks, and tobacco. Balanced, medium bodied wine with suave tannins. Nice grip on the finish. Very complete on the nose and while the palate will undergo additional development, it's already quite drinkable (91+).
Edit: Two hours later, the wine fills out on the back end, leading to a savory finish. Solid wine, given the challenges of the overall vintage (91-93 pts).
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2/5/2018 - cadamson Likes this wine: 93 Points
For not the greatest vintage, I must tell you I loved this. I agree with much of RICHARDP's from 7/2016: "On the palate, sour cherry, cranberry, rhubarb, and notes of tobacco and ash, with a light touch of green herbs and light drying tannins on the medium to long finish; good acidity." I drank half of this and left it with cork in for 7 days in the frig (forgot about it) and amazingly it was just as good when I got back to it. In many ways, very old school, and I mean that in the best of ways.
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5/1/2017 - Mrp2008 wrote:
Owned a couple of these and saw more for a steal so I figured I would try one and see if it was worth going deeper. Really wanted to like this but got nothing but sweet tart acidity, no depth and almost nothing in terms of fruit. I don't believe this was flawed. Would be interesting to try another vintage.
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10/23/2016 - doctornoah wrote: 93 Points
Gorgeous. Complex, rich, elegant. Best Loire red I've had in some time and I drink a lot of them.
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7/9/2016 - RichardP wrote: 91 Points
Camphor and a note of plum on the nose. On the palate, sour cherry, cranberry, rhubarb, and notes of tobacco and ash, with a light touch of green herbs and light drying tannins on the medium to long finish; good acidity. This is good, but the 2011 is better at this point. This needs a few years to integrate the tannins and smooth itself out. Still a good value at $55.
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