PnP, consumed over 4 hours. Appearance: Clear, deep ruby - still youthful on the edges. Nose: Clean, medium+ intensity, developing aromas of black cherry, cassis, clove, bell pepper, and eucalyptus. Palate: Dry, medium+ acid, medium+ soft and slightly sweet tannin, medium+ body, medium+ intensity, relatively high 14.5% abv is not detectable on the palate, showing flavors of ripe black cherry and plum, clove, and spice with a long finish. An outstanding wine excelling in all phases - balance, intensity, complexity and length. Drinking well upon opening today but has the structure and backbone to evolve more over the next 2-3 years and drink well for 5+ after that.
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Still drinking very young. Deep dark color, nose of black fruit, mocha, some vanilla, and some light floral notes. Light, but noticeable tannins on the finish, but came across as balanced (if a touch simple).
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Opened, poured some into a decanter and saved the balance under vacuvin. Tasted initially with food (roast pork with Brussel sprouts, spinach and mashed potatoes in case tou were interested). Tasted the flowing day on its own. Dark purple color. Nose offers roses, ripe dark plum, cherry and hint of vanilla- oak. Good round intro of dark fruits, richness bit wirh a tangy citrus peel note for lift. Enjoyable.
Branded cork no vintage. 14.5% abv.
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Full bodied and plenty of structure. Decanted over an hour and we think it still needs a year or so more in the bottle. Will wait to go for the next one.
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Needed any hour to open up. Medium oak but still has a new napa taste without being over the top. Has lots of sweet red fruit. Good but not sure if worth the 95 as a feel there are better TRB for the price.
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Better than 2 years ago and needed at least an hour decant. More on the red fruit side with currant, anise, spice, leather and OAK aromas. Medium bodied with red fruit, plum, currant, anise, leather, spice, lots of oak. Seems on the sweet side (RS?). Still lacking the complexity for this price point.
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This needs a bit of air to show its best. I’d say the last glass was a 2 point improvement over the first. Really a good representation of stags leap cab....reminds me of st helena but with a bit more intensity.
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Pop and pour and consumed over the course of one night; perfumed nose of sweet red fruits, cedar, red currants, graphite and red licorice; palate very similar to the nose with soft, smooth tannins; maybe a little more cedar on the back end as the wine got more air.
Overall, very good and drinking better now than two years ago, but lacking a bit of something to put it over the top for a single vineyard Napa Cab right now at this price.
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If tasting blind, when given options between this being from the 2015 or 2014 vintage, I would've bet half my 401K that it was the former.
This had the intensity and richness of the 15's. I had to walk over and double check the bottle, as I thought I may had mistakenly grabbed the wrong vintage.
This is a full throttle effort from TRB, hailing from the Stag's Leap district, and a solid QPR at a sub $100 price point.
Good now but will be better in 2-3 years.
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Drank over three days; best on the second day. Tight on the nose day 1 and underwhelming for the price; much improved day 2 with a big nose, rich flavors and transitions to a long finish with soft tannins. A green cab - green pepper and forest and a little twiggy.
PnP. !st one I've opened. I've loved most of the wines Thomas Rivers Brown has made, but this one does nothing for me. Very scarce on the nose. A little black fruit, and leather. over the next several hours, the nose got better with some floral and spice, but never reached greatness. Medium body with black fruit, leather, spice and a lot of oak. The finish had tannin, oak, heat and disappeared way too fast. No real finish. i have one 14 and one 15 left. Not a lot of hope there. Nice wines, but not worth the price. Don't see this going anywhere amazing.
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Good, but not amazing. Bright purple, not a huge nose, but some notes of blackberry, some moss/forest floor. Medium to full body, medium finish. For the price there are better Cabs, but it was interesting to try something new. Picked up this bottle from Acme in St Helena.
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Still needs a little time to shed some of the oaky vanillin, but the overall juice is lovely and deep. If it ages into a less overtly sweet version, it'll be fantastic.
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Not as dark and unforgiving as the 2015 we popped a few months back, this wine was more approachable. Overall still a "good, but not great" wine, and hard to justify the price. Sounds like an interesting project, just wondering whether it's going to improve in 2016 (and whether I can convince myself that it's worth the price point). 92-93 for me.
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This ripe and sweet 100% Cabernet Sauvignon is drinking well right now, though I expect it to calm down (read: improve) in a year or so. Dark purple in color, medium in body, nose of blueberry, black licorice, and pencil lead. Tastes of blueberry pie, sweet cherry, red licorice, and vanilla, with a sweet and lingering finish. 14.5% alcohol. Decant at least an hour, in order to allow some of the sweetness to blow off.
I enjoyed this wine, since it combined the typical TRB polish and sweetness with the more earthy and tannic profile of Stag's Leap. I thought this had more character than, say, TRB's efforts with Gemstone or Meyer in 2014, where the wines came across as a bit more generic. This has the ripeness and intensity to reward cellaring for a few years, which I would recommend. This clearly isn't at a level of a Maybach or Schrader, but it doesn't cost as much either. A solid wine, with good things to come.
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Just smelling the wine tells you this is something great. The nose is loaded with blueberry and a sweetness that is difficult to pinpoint. No red fruits more blue/black fresh berry.
The mouthfeel is wonderful with a long lingering finish. The palate has the same blueberry with a pleasant sweetness not represented by residual sugar but more of a ripe fruit.
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Pop and pour, trying to get a feel for where this is at. Approachable after being open for about 30 minutes. Nose gives up some dark fruits and a small amount of leather. Typical Cali cab. Not giving up a lot on the palate. Pretty pronounced tannin and some heat on the finish. Hopefully this comes together in the future. I have 3 more and won't touch for a while.
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Day 1: PnP. 14.5%abv. 100% cab from Regusci vineyard. Opaque purple/black, big legs in glass. Nose shows Christmas cake, wet earth, leafy, surprisingly closed given the level of extraction. In mouth, med plus weight, zippy start with red and black fruit, coffee, spicy chocolate sauce, acid and noticeable tannins. Finished relatively short. Needs 2-5 years more time to start showing its stuff. Rated over 90 based more on potential as this has the structure to develop and last several years.
Day 2: much the same
Day 3: a lot more Air and this still showed solid tannins, depth of fruit, and a few more layers to the palate. Will score this 91-92 with a revisit in no less than 2 years.
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Decided to revisit because I'm considering buying some to lay down. Like most of the 2014 Napa cabs that I've had recently it appears to be in a transition/difficult phase and isn't showing as well. The fruit isn't showing the same depth/concentration, the finish was somewhat lacking - fairly short and not much depth, etc.. Decanted for two hours and drank over another two. A little improvement with time but it never really came around. I'll refrain from rating because it's not in the best place right now but low 90s at best if rating. Once again, going to try and stay away from the 2014 Napa cabs for another year or so.
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Coravin pour. Mid-weight push of black and dark red core fruit; blackberry, black and red currant, wet earth, processed vanilla extract, and black slate notes. A fairly level attack, with a medium-bodied (if not fairly flat) delivery of flavor.
Where this especially lost me was on the finish...or rather, the not-finish. This wine was a pedestrian stroll across the palate, with a falling off the cliff finish; a "Hey, where did you go??" type of finish. Unfortunately a snoozer for me. Another one of the numerous TRB ventures that fell short. And when you're talking in the $100 range, there a far more interesting wines out there in that bracket. This was tasted next to a 2014 Selah (yet ANOTHER TRB project), which yielded similar results. 88-89 points for the Caterwaul on its best sips.
Hold or drink now? I guess one might as well hold a year to see what happens, cuz their ain't too much happening right now.
Get together with a friend and we decided to put this against the 2015 Carter Fortuna cab since both are still available for purchase, at a similar price point, and two of our favorite winemakers. Dark red and black fruit - blackberry, dark currants, and dark cherry. Smooth mid-palate coupled with solid depth/concentration. Nice flavors of dark berries and some spice. Decent finish but a little short - I believe this vintage could use some more time to open-up which is no surprise in light of its youth. Let it slow ox for around one hour which probably wasn't fair - I believe with a couple hour decant it would have shown better. Ideally I believe this vintage could use another year or two to let the fruit soften and open-up. I expect another point or two higher with some more time. 100% cab.
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2/11/2023 - wendyinwlv wrote: 93 Points
Gave it a long decant - about 2 hours. Drinking very well now; nice mouthfeel and finish.
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11/10/2022 - prasm Likes this wine: 93 Points
PnP, consumed over 4 hours. Appearance: Clear, deep ruby - still youthful on the edges. Nose: Clean, medium+ intensity, developing aromas of black cherry, cassis, clove, bell pepper, and eucalyptus. Palate: Dry, medium+ acid, medium+ soft and slightly sweet tannin, medium+ body, medium+ intensity, relatively high 14.5% abv is not detectable on the palate, showing flavors of ripe black cherry and plum, clove, and spice with a long finish. An outstanding wine excelling in all phases - balance, intensity, complexity and length. Drinking well upon opening today but has the structure and backbone to evolve more over the next 2-3 years and drink well for 5+ after that.
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8/12/2022 - Cow Town Likes this wine: 92 Points
Still drinking very young. Deep dark color, nose of black fruit, mocha, some vanilla, and some light floral notes. Light, but noticeable tannins on the finish, but came across as balanced (if a touch simple).
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4/8/2022 - t_moderne wrote: 94 Points
Opened, poured some into a decanter and saved the balance under vacuvin. Tasted initially with food (roast pork with Brussel sprouts, spinach and mashed potatoes in case tou were interested). Tasted the flowing day on its own.
Dark purple color. Nose offers roses, ripe dark plum, cherry and hint of vanilla- oak.
Good round intro of dark fruits, richness bit wirh a tangy citrus peel note for lift.
Enjoyable.
Branded cork no vintage.
14.5% abv.
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12/15/2021 - Geoff Weathersby Likes this wine: 94 Points
Drinking beautifully right now
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10/10/2021 - wendyinwlv wrote: 93 Points
Full bodied and plenty of structure. Decanted over an hour and we think it still needs a year or so more in the bottle. Will wait to go for the next one.
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5/29/2021 - Bob23 Likes this wine: 92 Points
Needed plenty of air to shed the dill notes I cannot stand. But once it did - lovely.
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1/19/2021 - Bob23 Likes this wine: 92 Points
Still plenty of structure. Has shed some baby fat, but still doesn’t feel fully integrated.
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8/30/2020 - mdahar wrote: 92 Points
Needed any hour to open up. Medium oak but still has a new napa taste without being over the top. Has lots of sweet red fruit. Good but not sure if worth the 95 as a feel there are better TRB for the price.
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8/26/2020 - gharter Likes this wine: 88 Points
Better than 2 years ago and needed at least an hour decant. More on the red fruit side with currant, anise, spice, leather and OAK aromas. Medium bodied with red fruit, plum, currant, anise, leather, spice, lots of oak. Seems on the sweet side (RS?). Still lacking the complexity for this price point.
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7/10/2020 - wineguy1968 Likes this wine:
This needs a bit of air to show its best. I’d say the last glass was a 2 point improvement over the first. Really a good representation of stags leap cab....reminds me of st helena but with a bit more intensity.
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5/25/2020 - tcufletch Likes this wine:
Pop and pour and consumed over the course of one night; perfumed nose of sweet red fruits, cedar, red currants, graphite and red licorice; palate very similar to the nose with soft, smooth tannins; maybe a little more cedar on the back end as the wine got more air.
Overall, very good and drinking better now than two years ago, but lacking a bit of something to put it over the top for a single vineyard Napa Cab right now at this price.
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2/25/2020 - blarmston Likes this wine: 93 Points
If tasting blind, when given options between this being from the 2015 or 2014 vintage, I would've bet half my 401K that it was the former.
This had the intensity and richness of the 15's. I had to walk over and double check the bottle, as I thought I may had mistakenly grabbed the wrong vintage.
This is a full throttle effort from TRB, hailing from the Stag's Leap district, and a solid QPR at a sub $100 price point.
Good now but will be better in 2-3 years.
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11/23/2019 - wineguy1968 Likes this wine:
Really delicious and balanced. Hard to put down the glass.
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9/19/2019 - budman Likes this wine: 93 Points
Very similar to my previous bottle.
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6/11/2019 - WinthropT96 Likes this wine: 92 Points
Drank over three days; best on the second day. Tight on the nose day 1 and underwhelming for the price; much improved day 2 with a big nose, rich flavors and transitions to a long finish with soft tannins. A green cab - green pepper and forest and a little twiggy.
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5/31/2019 - budman Likes this wine: 93 Points
Bright red fruit, soft tannins, medium to long finish.
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3/14/2019 - soyhead wrote:
a small taste, which was plenty. Lots of heat and oaky flavors. a bit colaesque. overblown (for me)
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1/13/2019 - fisk15 wrote: 92 Points
Drinking pretty well with a double decant and some slow ox. Still a bit to acidic and herbal for me.
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12/29/2018 - Rktekt3 wrote: 89 Points
Sorry but this wine is not the cats meow. $95 per, no.
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9/29/2018 - gharter wrote: 88 Points
PnP. !st one I've opened. I've loved most of the wines Thomas Rivers Brown has made, but this one does nothing for me. Very scarce on the nose. A little black fruit, and leather. over the next several hours, the nose got better with some floral and spice, but never reached greatness. Medium body with black fruit, leather, spice and a lot of oak. The finish had tannin, oak, heat and disappeared way too fast. No real finish. i have one 14 and one 15 left. Not a lot of hope there. Nice wines, but not worth the price. Don't see this going anywhere amazing.
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9/20/2018 - tcufletch wrote: 93 Points
Unlike the 2015 that took a full 2-3 days to open up, this is ready for business right now. Dark and delicious, very balanced.
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8/7/2018 - wdcwineguys Likes this wine: 91 Points
Good, but not amazing. Bright purple, not a huge nose, but some notes of blackberry, some moss/forest floor. Medium to full body, medium finish. For the price there are better Cabs, but it was interesting to try something new. Picked up this bottle from Acme in St Helena.
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7/9/2018 - Bob23 Likes this wine: 92 Points
Still needs a little time to shed some of the oaky vanillin, but the overall juice is lovely and deep. If it ages into a less overtly sweet version, it'll be fantastic.
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4/26/2018 - ageverett Likes this wine: 93 Points
Splash decant and drank over 90 minutes.
Not as dark and unforgiving as the 2015 we popped a few months back, this wine was more approachable. Overall still a "good, but not great" wine, and hard to justify the price. Sounds like an interesting project, just wondering whether it's going to improve in 2016 (and whether I can convince myself that it's worth the price point). 92-93 for me.
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3/13/2018 - msuwine wrote: 93 Points
This ripe and sweet 100% Cabernet Sauvignon is drinking well right now, though I expect it to calm down (read: improve) in a year or so. Dark purple in color, medium in body, nose of blueberry, black licorice, and pencil lead. Tastes of blueberry pie, sweet cherry, red licorice, and vanilla, with a sweet and lingering finish. 14.5% alcohol. Decant at least an hour, in order to allow some of the sweetness to blow off.
I enjoyed this wine, since it combined the typical TRB polish and sweetness with the more earthy and tannic profile of Stag's Leap. I thought this had more character than, say, TRB's efforts with Gemstone or Meyer in 2014, where the wines came across as a bit more generic. This has the ripeness and intensity to reward cellaring for a few years, which I would recommend. This clearly isn't at a level of a Maybach or Schrader, but it doesn't cost as much either. A solid wine, with good things to come.
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1/19/2018 - Kiteman12 Likes this wine: 96 Points
Just smelling the wine tells you this is something great. The nose is loaded with blueberry and a sweetness that is difficult to pinpoint. No red fruits more blue/black fresh berry.
The mouthfeel is wonderful with a long lingering finish. The palate has the same blueberry with a pleasant sweetness not represented by residual sugar but more of a ripe fruit.
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1/18/2018 - hiltondg wrote: 90 Points
Pop and pour, trying to get a feel for where this is at. Approachable after being open for about 30 minutes. Nose gives up some dark fruits and a small amount of leather. Typical Cali cab. Not giving up a lot on the palate. Pretty pronounced tannin and some heat on the finish. Hopefully this comes together in the future. I have 3 more and won't touch for a while.
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1/13/2018 - dclaggett wrote: 91 Points
Day 1: PnP. 14.5%abv. 100% cab from Regusci vineyard. Opaque purple/black, big legs in glass. Nose shows Christmas cake, wet earth, leafy, surprisingly closed given the level of extraction. In mouth, med plus weight, zippy start with red and black fruit, coffee, spicy chocolate sauce, acid and noticeable tannins. Finished relatively short. Needs 2-5 years more time to start showing its stuff. Rated over 90 based more on potential as this has the structure to develop and last several years.
Day 2: much the same
Day 3: a lot more Air and this still showed solid tannins, depth of fruit, and a few more layers to the palate. Will score this 91-92 with a revisit in no less than 2 years.
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12/21/2017 - Badmonkey wrote:
Decided to revisit because I'm considering buying some to lay down. Like most of the 2014 Napa cabs that I've had recently it appears to be in a transition/difficult phase and isn't showing as well. The fruit isn't showing the same depth/concentration, the finish was somewhat lacking - fairly short and not much depth, etc.. Decanted for two hours and drank over another two. A little improvement with time but it never really came around. I'll refrain from rating because it's not in the best place right now but low 90s at best if rating. Once again, going to try and stay away from the 2014 Napa cabs for another year or so.
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12/16/2017 - Rktekt3 wrote: 90 Points
Poped this one open last night. It was nice but not as solid as I had hoped for. Not very complex. The $100 price point is a bit high for this IMHO.
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12/15/2017 - csimm wrote: 89 Points
Coravin pour. Mid-weight push of black and dark red core fruit; blackberry, black and red currant, wet earth, processed vanilla extract, and black slate notes. A fairly level attack, with a medium-bodied (if not fairly flat) delivery of flavor.
Where this especially lost me was on the finish...or rather, the not-finish. This wine was a pedestrian stroll across the palate, with a falling off the cliff finish; a "Hey, where did you go??" type of finish. Unfortunately a snoozer for me. Another one of the numerous TRB ventures that fell short. And when you're talking in the $100 range, there a far more interesting wines out there in that bracket. This was tasted next to a 2014 Selah (yet ANOTHER TRB project), which yielded similar results. 88-89 points for the Caterwaul on its best sips.
Hold or drink now? I guess one might as well hold a year to see what happens, cuz their ain't too much happening right now.
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11/16/2017 - Badmonkey wrote: 94 Points
Get together with a friend and we decided to put this against the 2015 Carter Fortuna cab since both are still available for purchase, at a similar price point, and two of our favorite winemakers. Dark red and black fruit - blackberry, dark currants, and dark cherry. Smooth mid-palate coupled with solid depth/concentration. Nice flavors of dark berries and some spice. Decent finish but a little short - I believe this vintage could use some more time to open-up which is no surprise in light of its youth. Let it slow ox for around one hour which probably wasn't fair - I believe with a couple hour decant it would have shown better. Ideally I believe this vintage could use another year or two to let the fruit soften and open-up. I expect another point or two higher with some more time. 100% cab.
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