(5/5) - Deep Purple color that is holding strong. (12/15) - this wasn't the most aromatic wine in recent memory. Just seemed to lack some oomph here. What notes you did get were black fruits, plum, mild oak spices. (18/20) - Not overly jammy, but carried very primary fruit, well integrated silky tannins and some lead pencil on the finish. It was good and not as I expected from TRB in terms of plushness (in a good way). A very drinkable wine right now. (7/10) - overall, this is a very good wine. I'm docking some decent points here primarily because I don't think it's worth $250 or the $100+premium over the standard Riverain.
Opened for Father's Day with a Tomahawk Cowboy Ribeye. For my money, I'd put the normal cost of this wine toward AXR single vineyard cabernets, Theorem cabernets (also made by TRB), and several others.
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I gave this an hour of air and tried the first sips. Blah nose with blueberry cola everywhere — frankly not very good.
Finished the ‘14 O’Sahughnessy MV paired with it first and came back to this 60 min later. What a transformation in 60 min!
Perfumed herbal/black cherry fruited nose-definitely Tench. On the palate, blueberries along with black and red raspberries. Still quite primary with the oak not fully integrated, tannins were fine and complimentary at this point.
My 2 of 3, but this was the group favorite. I thinks these need 3-5 more years minimum of rest and then upside into 96-97 (maybe higher if the oak integrates). These seem to need more age than Bevan’s rendition.
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Decanted about 30 minutes before drinking. Everything that is great about wines from Tench Vineyard and wines made by TRB. Beautiful, rich nose and just incredibly smooth on the palate. Fruit and tannins in balance. Sad that I only have 1 bottle left.
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Blind; I thought this might be a grenache from sqn. The reason being is this was in a flight with two enormous Schrader cabs so I thought the entire flight might have been sqn wines. and this came across much more approachable.
I enjoyed this one much more than the Schrader cabernets. There's a sweet cassis and dark fruit, noticeable oak influence on the attack which turns to a dried powdered milk chocolate note at the finish. This was my favorite of the flight.
This flight set the record for the most amount of glass used to produce three bottles of wine. It was comical.
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Served blind. I had put this on California, modern styled Cab. This wine was big shouldered with a distinct melted chocolate bar note from the oak. Spicy with chocolate and creamy cherry. I believe this was the very first reserve wine that Steve offered. I know there is an audience for these kinds of wines, but my fragile, Champagne-driven palate seems intimidated by this style! To Steve, who has poured his heart and guts into the winery, I respect him for going after his dream and doing all the right things to make wines like this happen.
Three hour decant. Deep dark magenta color. Black cherry, blackberry, hazelnut, bay leaf, and nutmeg on the expressive, fruit forward nose. Dry, satiny, full bodied palate. Firm, medium intensity tannins on the longish finish.
This is nice, but too primary/straightforward for this price point. I like the baseline non-reserve better.
Opened and aired before grilled ribeye dinner. Sweet violet aromas with blackberry liquier and soft, silky tannins. A little sweet on opening but that settled out with some air. Was a pleasure to drink while grilling and after dinner but not quite enough structure for me to pair with the big ribeye.
Popped the cork on this last week and just getting around to posting here.
Bottom line is that this is a very good bottle of wine, but a bit disappointing for me, on this night. This seemed to have lost some of its tension and structure.
Decanted for the usual 90 minutes before first sip, and it was very fruit forward at that point. The quality of the fruit (think dark blackberry) was there, but the structure that I long for and have usually gotten from this bottling wasnt showing up.
Perhaps this may be in a shut down phase or perhaps TRB's approach with this vintage was geared more towards early drinking- I have no clue. But previous bottles from 12-16 months ago showed much more structure.
Seemed to improve a bit as the night wore on (the skirt steak dinner helped), but lets just say that I wont be rushing for the credit card if I see this one come up on K&L auction or WineBid
93-94 at this moment in time.
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Tasted at Acme in St Helena - obviously young but super intense and dark. With a little time it started to show all kinds of fruit and some barrel sweetness. This has fantastic potential.
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Powerful wine from east Rutherford. Bold, ripe fruit. Great balance with silky tannins. Drinks amazing well now, but will definitely age. I think another 4-5 years and it will be even better.
This is a “wow” wine! First tasted with Aaron Michaelis in Napa when I also picked up the 4 bottles I ordered (should have ordered more), and then 2 weeks later at a private tasting at my home. Decanted for 2 hrs prior, the Tench fruit really shines through, mouth-filling with very fine tannins and a smooth 30+ second finish. Held its own for wine of the night even with the 100 point ‘16 VHR!
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Riverain (Oakville): A generous tasting lineup of the 2013, 2014, 2015, and a new 2016 BBS Tench Cabernets.
A concentrated and relatively powerful wine, with a vanilla creaminess that beautifully envelops the core red and black berry fruit. Understandably unresolved and primary at this stage, but still showing it has all the stuffing to become a compelling wine in the coming years. Light in its feet while simultaneously carrying a medium+ weighted stature that adds needed intensity.
Something to hold for another couple of years. 93-94+ points at this juncture.
6/18/2023 - TMOVino2 Likes this wine: 92 Points
(5/5) - Deep Purple color that is holding strong.
(12/15) - this wasn't the most aromatic wine in recent memory. Just seemed to lack some oomph here. What notes you did get were black fruits, plum, mild oak spices.
(18/20) - Not overly jammy, but carried very primary fruit, well integrated silky tannins and some lead pencil on the finish. It was good and not as I expected from TRB in terms of plushness (in a good way). A very drinkable wine right now.
(7/10) - overall, this is a very good wine. I'm docking some decent points here primarily because I don't think it's worth $250 or the $100+premium over the standard Riverain.
Opened for Father's Day with a Tomahawk Cowboy Ribeye. For my money, I'd put the normal cost of this wine toward AXR single vineyard cabernets, Theorem cabernets (also made by TRB), and several others.
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4/24/2023 - Geaux Tigers Likes this wine: 94 Points
I gave this an hour of air and tried the first sips. Blah nose with blueberry cola everywhere — frankly not very good.
Finished the ‘14 O’Sahughnessy MV paired with it first and came back to this 60 min later. What a transformation in 60 min!
Perfumed herbal/black cherry fruited nose-definitely Tench. On the palate, blueberries along with black and red raspberries. Still quite primary with the oak not fully integrated, tannins were fine and complimentary at this point.
My 2 of 3, but this was the group favorite. I thinks these need 3-5 more years minimum of rest and then upside into 96-97 (maybe higher if the oak integrates). These seem to need more age than Bevan’s rendition.
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3/17/2023 - Phil M1 Likes this wine: 96 Points
Decanted about 30 minutes before drinking. Everything that is great about wines from Tench Vineyard and wines made by TRB. Beautiful, rich nose and just incredibly smooth on the palate. Fruit and tannins in balance. Sad that I only have 1 bottle left.
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11/18/2021 - brigcampbell wrote:
Blind; I thought this might be a grenache from sqn. The reason being is this was in a flight with two enormous Schrader cabs so I thought the entire flight might have been sqn wines. and this came across much more approachable.
I enjoyed this one much more than the Schrader cabernets. There's a sweet cassis and dark fruit, noticeable oak influence on the attack which turns to a dried powdered milk chocolate note at the finish. This was my favorite of the flight.
This flight set the record for the most amount of glass used to produce three bottles of wine. It was comical.
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11/18/2021 - Frank Murray III wrote:
Served blind. I had put this on California, modern styled Cab. This wine was big shouldered with a distinct melted chocolate bar note from the oak. Spicy with chocolate and creamy cherry. I believe this was the very first reserve wine that Steve offered. I know there is an audience for these kinds of wines, but my fragile, Champagne-driven palate seems intimidated by this style! To Steve, who has poured his heart and guts into the winery, I respect him for going after his dream and doing all the right things to make wines like this happen.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comments (2)
5/25/2021 - AGELVIS Likes this wine: 94 Points
Three hour decant. Deep dark magenta color. Black cherry, blackberry, hazelnut, bay leaf, and nutmeg on the expressive, fruit forward nose. Dry, satiny, full bodied palate. Firm, medium intensity tannins on the longish finish.
This is nice, but too primary/straightforward for this price point. I like the baseline non-reserve better.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comments (5)
3/28/2021 - DrBad Likes this wine: 94 Points
Opened and aired before grilled ribeye dinner. Sweet violet aromas with blackberry liquier and soft, silky tannins. A little sweet on opening but that settled out with some air. Was a pleasure to drink while grilling and after dinner but not quite enough structure for me to pair with the big ribeye.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comments (3)
3/1/2021 - blarmston Likes this wine: 94 Points
Popped the cork on this last week and just getting around to posting here.
Bottom line is that this is a very good bottle of wine, but a bit disappointing for me, on this night. This seemed to have lost some of its tension and structure.
Decanted for the usual 90 minutes before first sip, and it was very fruit forward at that point. The quality of the fruit (think dark blackberry) was there, but the structure that I long for and have usually gotten from this bottling wasnt showing up.
Perhaps this may be in a shut down phase or perhaps TRB's approach with this vintage was geared more towards early drinking- I have no clue. But previous bottles from 12-16 months ago showed much more structure.
Seemed to improve a bit as the night wore on (the skirt steak dinner helped), but lets just say that I wont be rushing for the credit card if I see this one come up on K&L auction or WineBid
93-94 at this moment in time.
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9/30/2019 - sjdcellar Likes this wine: 95 Points
Tasted at Acme in St Helena - obviously young but super intense and dark. With a little time it started to show all kinds of fruit and some barrel sweetness. This has fantastic potential.
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9/25/2019 - wdcwineguys Likes this wine: 96 Points
Powerful wine from east Rutherford. Bold, ripe fruit. Great balance with silky tannins. Drinks amazing well now, but will definitely age. I think another 4-5 years and it will be even better.
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9/16/2019 - mhbinn Likes this wine: 98 Points
This is a “wow” wine! First tasted with Aaron Michaelis in Napa when I also picked up the 4 bottles I ordered (should have ordered more), and then 2 weeks later at a private tasting at my home. Decanted for 2 hrs prior, the Tench fruit really shines through, mouth-filling with very fine tannins and a smooth 30+ second finish. Held its own for wine of the night even with the 100 point ‘16 VHR!
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9/29/2018 - csimm wrote: 94 Points
Riverain (Oakville): A generous tasting lineup of the 2013, 2014, 2015, and a new 2016 BBS Tench Cabernets.
A concentrated and relatively powerful wine, with a vanilla creaminess that beautifully envelops the core red and black berry fruit. Understandably unresolved and primary at this stage, but still showing it has all the stuffing to become a compelling wine in the coming years. Light in its feet while simultaneously carrying a medium+ weighted stature that adds needed intensity.
Something to hold for another couple of years. 93-94+ points at this juncture.
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