First time trying this wine. Remarkably good. Very pleasant ripe fruit, fairly complex and smooth with a bit of a decant. Probably should have bought a case or two.
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It’s been almost a year and a half since my last bottle of this and it continues to show very well. No need to decant; it was ready to go right upon opening and offered a lot of modern cab joy at a very reasonable price. This might be the best buy in Napa Valley cabernet, for my palate.
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Similar to the taster just before me, I had my last bottle of the 2016 two years ago and don’t think it has changed all that much in the interim. It’s a dark profiled, fruit forward Napa cab that over-delivers for the price point. No need to overthink it; just open and enjoy.
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Consumed entire bottle within a few hours of opening, so little time for it to develop with air. But a very smooth, dark fruit driven Napa cab. I still find it lacks some complexity and excitement, but it is so easy to drink and works well with steak. Two years since my previous bottle, but I don't detect a lot of change in that time.
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TRB and MS Blind Tasting; 1/14/2022-1/23/2022: Light nose. Some light honey together with light red fruit on the nose. Dark red in color. A lightly dry finish with significant acidity. FS87
NS HL 3/5 FD 2/5 AS 1/5
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Pop and pour, consumed over 3 hours. Appearance: Clear, medium ruby. Nose: Clean, medium+ intensity, youthful aromas of blackberry, cassis, bell pepper, lead pencil shavings, and lavender with hints of vanilla. Palate: Dry, high acid and gripping tannin, enough structure to manage the 14.5% abv well, medium+ bodied, medium intensity with flavors of dark fruit - black berry and cassis, spice, and gritty earth with a medium+ finish.
Overall very good to outstanding wine, quite youthful at the moment, still 3-5 years away from maturity.
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Ample fruit without being jammy. Nobody would confuse it with Bordeaux, but for lovers of large framed Napa cab (not of the cough syrup variety), this is delicious. I look forward to another year of evolution for the next bottle.
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Fruit forward and plush. This was ready to go with minimal air. I liked it better than my wife, who thought she initially got some barnyard on the nose (I did not). After several hours, the last glass was slightly acidic, so I don't know that I would hold this for extended cellaring. Surely no worries over the next few years, though.
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DCWino has pegged this one. Really enjoyable with a good ribeye, but will be curious to see how these develop with just a few more years in bottle. On 2nd night, this was more balanced (i.e., less monolithic) and more enjoyable. Will probably give these a few years to mature.
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Double blind Cab based wine tasting (Eddie V's - Tysons Corner, VA): Initially similar to the second wine. Very primary expressive nose displaying ripe black fruit, black cherry, blackberry jam, blueberry pie, licorice, lead pencil, sweet spices and crushed rocks. Very good concentration, very finely layered ripe blue fruit, silky, slightly lean and polished, bright acidity, good mineral presence, fine tannins and a long ripe black fruit driven finish with lead pencil and licorice at the end. Similar to the second wine, lacks concentration especially compare to the first wine.
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Served double blind, nice red and blue fruits, sweet oak, cinnamon, five spice, good balance but lacked the mid palate of the better wines in the flight.
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Pop and pour, consumed over 3 hours. Nose: Medium-plus expressiveness, red fruit overtones - raspberry and cranberry, dark fruit undertones - blackberry, shoe polish, sweet tobacco, and lavender. Palate: Medium-full bodied, spicy red and dark fruit attack, spice driven mid-palate lift, blueberry and tobacco notes in the back-end, flavors appear to be just scratching the surface, seems dense and powerful - needs time. Finish: Lengthy 45-60 seconds dominated by spicy dark fruit, tobacco, and earthy notes. Wow, this is enjoyable now but screams potential greatness in the coming years.
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Fragrant earth, raspberry, tobacco, blueberry, cedar, spice box and white flowers on the nose. The pallet is full of red berry fruit, which is nicely integrated and rides fairly high on the pallet. Good acid, but without significant depth or underlying structure. It's round, fairly plush and easy to drink. Medium level finish and goes down easy. This will probably be a nice drink for the next 3-5 years. Not sure it will age well much past then.
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Way too young, I know, but we wanted to try this to get a sense of it, and to help inform future buying decisions.
Our conclusion: this was very, very good today, with loads of potential. Decanted for about 30 minutes, and drank over 2 hours. Wonderful mouthfeel aromas, but the alcohol is not well integrated yet.
Unless you a just curious, I can't really recommend opening this today, but I can highly recommend buying more, and cellaring for a few years. That is what we will be doing! For a Napa Cab, a very decent QPR.
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Opened and let breathe for about an hour and a half. Deep ruby nearly purple. Nose of blueberry, a touch of vanilla, and some faint hints of red fruit almost a tinge of strawberry coming across. Deliciously balanced with a bit of vanilla and oak coming through but not at all overwhelming or distracting, very well integrated for such a youthful wine. Delicious fruit coupled with some velvety tannins. A medium/long finish with some savory notes coming on at the finish. Very impressive.
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Well balanced acidity, tannins, and black fruit. Really enjoyed as a PnP. Will be interesting to see how this ages and the success/durability of this label.
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Deep and clear purple. Clean nose with quite a bit going on for a pop and pour. Layers of blueberries, vanilla, cinnamon, blackberries, cassis and violet. High tannins (7.5/10) with balanced acidity and full bodied. Medium dry on the attack of the palate with a velvet like texture. Medium plus intensity with flavors of black plums, oak, nutmeg, bramble and purple flowers. Tannins and acidity pick up the rear of the palate and shows its youth. Long and lingering finish. Drink till 2035. (92+)
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Chocolate covered cherry, cassis, cocoa powder, clove, vanilla, very smooth and ready to go as a PnP. I don’t see this as long lived and as most ‘16’s it’s ready to go early.
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Always fun to try something new. Nose is heavy dose of fruit. First sip, rich fruit as expected, ripe tannin hiding under the velvet skirt. On the close, touch of dust hint of leather. My first date with a 16 Napa, wow, sweet sixteen.
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Very showy and opulent. So ripe, it gives illusion of sweetness. Black and red cassis fruit, but primarily black. As expected it is primary - hasn't had time to develop secondary nuances. Vanilla and and oak are seamlessly integrated. This isn't as big, full and mouth filling as other Cabernets...it has a delicateness for a Cabenet, and I like it. Decadent and luxurious. Hard to keep my hands off this baby.
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3/21/2024 - ogres3 Likes this wine: 92 Points
First time trying this wine.
Remarkably good. Very pleasant ripe fruit, fairly complex and smooth with a bit of a decant. Probably should have bought a case or two.
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11/15/2023 - EMTAME wrote: 92 Points
It’s been almost a year and a half since my last bottle of this and it continues to show very well. No need to decant; it was ready to go right upon opening and offered a lot of modern cab joy at a very reasonable price. This might be the best buy in Napa Valley cabernet, for my palate.
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12/25/2022 - Beezc Likes this wine: 92 Points
Definitely a big cab. More in the new school vein but not too over the top. Good QPR.
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8/27/2022 - FlyPig Likes this wine: 95 Points
Drink
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7/6/2022 - EMTAME wrote: 92 Points
Similar to the taster just before me, I had my last bottle of the 2016 two years ago and don’t think it has changed all that much in the interim. It’s a dark profiled, fruit forward Napa cab that over-delivers for the price point. No need to overthink it; just open and enjoy.
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6/2/2022 - Quarked wrote: 92 Points
Consumed entire bottle within a few hours of opening, so little time for it to develop with air. But a very smooth, dark fruit driven Napa cab. I still find it lacks some complexity and excitement, but it is so easy to drink and works well with steak. Two years since my previous bottle, but I don't detect a lot of change in that time.
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1/14/2022 - cab blends wrote: 90 Points
TRB and MS Blind Tasting; 1/14/2022-1/23/2022: Light nose. Some light honey together with light red fruit on the nose. Dark red in color. A lightly dry finish with significant acidity. FS87
NS HL 3/5 FD 2/5 AS 1/5
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6/4/2021 - prasm Likes this wine: 91 Points
Pop and pour, consumed over 3 hours. Appearance: Clear, medium ruby. Nose: Clean, medium+ intensity, youthful aromas of blackberry, cassis, bell pepper, lead pencil shavings, and lavender with hints of vanilla. Palate: Dry, high acid and gripping tannin, enough structure to manage the 14.5% abv well, medium+ bodied, medium intensity with flavors of dark fruit - black berry and cassis, spice, and gritty earth with a medium+ finish.
Overall very good to outstanding wine, quite youthful at the moment, still 3-5 years away from maturity.
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12/23/2020 - Bob23 Likes this wine: 92 Points
Ample fruit without being jammy. Nobody would confuse it with Bordeaux, but for lovers of large framed Napa cab (not of the cough syrup variety), this is delicious. I look forward to another year of evolution for the next bottle.
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8/31/2020 - EMTAME wrote: 92 Points
Fruit forward and plush. This was ready to go with minimal air. I liked it better than my wife, who thought she initially got some barnyard on the nose (I did not). After several hours, the last glass was slightly acidic, so I don't know that I would hold this for extended cellaring. Surely no worries over the next few years, though.
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8/16/2020 - YankeeRobio Likes this wine: 94 Points
Plum, prune, licorice, sweet tobacco. Very nice
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8/3/2020 - Justinwine wrote: 92 Points
I enjoyed this wine. A very nice wine.
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6/28/2020 - Beezc Likes this wine: 92 Points
A nice fruit forward Cabernet. Big and flamboyant in style.
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4/16/2020 - BrunelloBob wrote: 91 Points
Delicious, better after about an hour.
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3/29/2020 - Quarked wrote: 92 Points
DCWino has pegged this one. Really enjoyable with a good ribeye, but will be curious to see how these develop with just a few more years in bottle. On 2nd night, this was more balanced (i.e., less monolithic) and more enjoyable. Will probably give these a few years to mature.
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11/14/2019 - dcwino wrote: 92 Points
Double blind Cab based wine tasting (Eddie V's - Tysons Corner, VA): Initially similar to the second wine. Very primary expressive nose displaying ripe black fruit, black cherry, blackberry jam, blueberry pie, licorice, lead pencil, sweet spices and crushed rocks. Very good concentration, very finely layered ripe blue fruit, silky, slightly lean and polished, bright acidity, good mineral presence, fine tannins and a long ripe black fruit driven finish with lead pencil and licorice at the end. Similar to the second wine, lacks concentration especially compare to the first wine.
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11/14/2019 - pakabear Likes this wine: 92 Points
Served double blind, nice red and blue fruits, sweet oak, cinnamon, five spice, good balance but lacked the mid palate of the better wines in the flight.
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11/3/2019 - BrunelloBob wrote: 91 Points
I let this breath in bottle for 3-4 hours. That softened it, but I don't think it improved it.
Cassis, blackberry etc. Nice Napa cab at a relative QPR
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9/7/2019 - anthonyiez wrote: 93 Points
Wow what a great value from Napa. After 2 hrs the nose was intoxicating. Wish I had bought more.
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8/10/2019 - prasm Likes this wine: 92 Points
Pop and pour, consumed over 3 hours. Nose: Medium-plus expressiveness, red fruit overtones - raspberry and cranberry, dark fruit undertones - blackberry, shoe polish, sweet tobacco, and lavender. Palate: Medium-full bodied, spicy red and dark fruit attack, spice driven mid-palate lift, blueberry and tobacco notes in the back-end, flavors appear to be just scratching the surface, seems dense and powerful - needs time. Finish: Lengthy 45-60 seconds dominated by spicy dark fruit, tobacco, and earthy notes. Wow, this is enjoyable now but screams potential greatness in the coming years.
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4/12/2019 - budman Likes this wine: 91 Points
Red and blue fruit. Sort tannins. Surprisingly approachable.
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4/11/2019 - Cristal2000 wrote: 91 Points
Fragrant earth, raspberry, tobacco, blueberry, cedar, spice box and white flowers on the nose. The pallet is full of red berry fruit, which is nicely integrated and rides fairly high on the pallet. Good acid, but without significant depth or underlying structure. It's round, fairly plush and easy to drink. Medium level finish and goes down easy. This will probably be a nice drink for the next 3-5 years. Not sure it will age well much past then.
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2/26/2019 - YankeeRobio Likes this wine: 96 Points
Great wine, prune, licorice, sweet tobacco.
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1/20/2019 - MaineMark Likes this wine: 92 Points
Way too young, I know, but we wanted to try this to get a sense of it, and to help inform future buying decisions.
Our conclusion: this was very, very good today, with loads of potential. Decanted for about 30 minutes, and drank over 2 hours. Wonderful mouthfeel aromas, but the alcohol is not well integrated yet.
Unless you a just curious, I can't really recommend opening this today, but I can highly recommend buying more, and cellaring for a few years. That is what we will be doing! For a Napa Cab, a very decent QPR.
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1/12/2019 - pakabear Likes this wine: 93 Points
Similar to previous bottles, chocolate covered cherries, cocoa, cinnamon, vanilla, great balance and smooth silky palate. Ready now.
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1/12/2019 - Kiteman12 Likes this wine: 93 Points
Nose- cherry, dark stone fruit, cola.
Palate- stone fruit all the way. Plum. Cola. Very tannic but to be expected this young. Great value. Great wine.
Paired with homemade dumplings and soy honey Brussels sprouts...followed by 78% dark chocolate. Great with it all!
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1/4/2019 - BI81 Likes this wine:
Opened and let breathe for about an hour and a half. Deep ruby nearly purple. Nose of blueberry, a touch of vanilla, and some faint hints of red fruit almost a tinge of strawberry coming across. Deliciously balanced with a bit of vanilla and oak coming through but not at all overwhelming or distracting, very well integrated for such a youthful wine. Delicious fruit coupled with some velvety tannins. A medium/long finish with some savory notes coming on at the finish. Very impressive.
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12/29/2018 - Steve Bird wrote: 92 Points
Well balanced acidity, tannins, and black fruit. Really enjoyed as a PnP. Will be interesting to see how this ages and the success/durability of this label.
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12/18/2018 - pakabear Likes this wine: 93 Points
This bottle was even better than the first, really nice cab drinking beautifully right now as a PnP, typical open ‘16 style.
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12/17/2018 - cab blends wrote: 92 Points
Classic Napa floor but significant sandy loamy soil on the palate. Nose is light and make evolve over time.
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12/13/2018 - Millennial Drinkers wrote: 92 Points
Deep and clear purple. Clean nose with quite a bit going on for a pop and pour. Layers of blueberries, vanilla, cinnamon, blackberries, cassis and violet. High tannins (7.5/10) with balanced acidity and full bodied. Medium dry on the attack of the palate with a velvet like texture. Medium plus intensity with flavors of black plums, oak, nutmeg, bramble and purple flowers. Tannins and acidity pick up the rear of the palate and shows its youth. Long and lingering finish. Drink till 2035. (92+)
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12/13/2018 - pakabear Likes this wine: 92 Points
Chocolate covered cherry, cassis, cocoa powder, clove, vanilla, very smooth and ready to go as a PnP. I don’t see this as long lived and as most ‘16’s it’s ready to go early.
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12/13/2018 - cab blends wrote: 92 Points
This was a pnp tonight. Clearly I will give this at least 2 hours decant next time.
H3/5 Pronounced fruitiness yet moderately dry on the palate.
I think this has significant potential. Moderately high acidity in the finish with woodiness throughout.
(92 - 94)
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12/10/2018 - shadow wrote: 93 Points
Always fun to try something new.
Nose is heavy dose of fruit.
First sip, rich fruit as expected, ripe tannin hiding under the velvet skirt.
On the close, touch of dust hint of leather.
My first date with a 16 Napa, wow, sweet sixteen.
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12/8/2018 - Jay A wrote: 93 Points
Very showy and opulent. So ripe, it gives illusion of sweetness. Black and red cassis fruit, but primarily black. As expected it is primary - hasn't had time to develop secondary nuances. Vanilla and and oak are seamlessly integrated. This isn't as big, full and mouth filling as other Cabernets...it has a delicateness for a Cabenet, and I like it. Decadent and luxurious. Hard to keep my hands off this baby.
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12/6/2018 - avoking wrote: 92 Points
Decent for the price point.
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