The hype around this wine is utterly lost on me. Tried over 3 days. Yes, it’s intensely structured, I’ll give you that. But it’s also unyielding and almost devoid of fruit. I can only hope that this evolves, as those with more experience tell me it will. Right now, I feel like I spent a lot of money on a case of wine that will never be pleasurable to drink.
Double decanted for about 24 hrs and still evolved after pouring for 1-2 hrs, same on day 2 and 3. Deep dark purple with a hint of ruby color. Blackberry, dark cherry, plum, graphite, soil on the nose. Mulberry, minerals, and cedar on the palate with slight tart acid core that lingers into a 35-40 sec finish. More red cassis and raspberry on the palate as it evolved in glass. I thought this wine presented in a much more French style than a typical modern Napa cabernet, and really interested in seeing how further aging affects this wine. Much less pyrazine than I anticipated, having last tried the 2013.
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Please please put your bottles away for the next 10+ years!
Now that my PSA is complete: decanted for 4 hours before the first pour. Nose is muted and slightly alcoholic. Tannins are gripping with noticable dryness on the younger and teeth. Under ripe blackberries and plums eek through the tannins. The stuffing is there for a great wine, but this is closer to a barrel sample than a 5 year old wine. It needs rest and time in the cellar. With more time in the glass the nose starts to evolve and grow to match the palate.
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Friday Group Brown Bag Tasting (R&D's): Blind. Dark color. Aromas of black fruit and herbs- rosemary and sage. Firm, fine tannins. Flavors of currants, black raspberry and herbs with a long finish. Young; structured, but balanced. In this flight, easy to pick out as one of the Betas.
This had been decanted nearly seven hours, and then spent another 90 minutes breathing in bottle. Poured in the flight 8.5 hours after the cork was first pulled. Lots of potential here- hold to 2027+.
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Cola, bitter herbs, dark fruit (restrained nose at the moment). Concentrated with high acidity giving it lift. Oak is present but not the star of the show and it still provides a lot of food for thought. Tannins are enjoyable now, but built for later. Can’t wait to try this again (absolutely no rush here).
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This has been open 5 days or so. At first it struck me as decent but fairly generic soft Napa/Sonoma Cab, and it stayed that way for 3-4 days, but now it’s improved significantly. Nose of dark fruits like black currant, along with a nice raw meat and blood note, some herbal aspects that approach mint but don’t quite get there, and some soil. The wine has built grip on the palate and finish as well. It does have silky aspects but it’s also got some oomph and structure. Medium weight with nice dark fruits and blood and some minerality. The finish is good and bodes well for the future. A very good Cab for the $ that doesn’t fall into the overdone nonsense common for the region today. Nose - 5.5/6, Palate - 5/6, Finish - 5/6, Je ne Sais Quoi - 1.5/2 = 17/20.
Another taste shows some more reddish fruits - raspberry and some dark cherry. There is a liveliness and a spiciness - dark and baking spices. A hint of sweetness from oak. The palate shows lively with tiny berry fruit - focused and crisp with the good red and dark fruits and the spiciness. All this carries well through to the finish.
Four hour decant. Very tasty, great pairing with steak. Very well balanced, zero sense of alcohol, lovely texture. Fruit is somewhat hidden behind the tannin wall. Definitely not fruit forward. Elegant. Wonderful nose hinting at the future potential.
Day two: left cork in it in fridge overnight. fruit is more apparent with tannins diminished though still present. A somewhat astringent flavor in midpalate. Acid is still hanging. Nose has waned.
I think this has a lot of potential and is quite lovely now. Down the road, I expect this to be quite a lot better. Excellent qpr. As of now, I see no point to saving for second day.
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Calling it corked, but I am not wholly sure. Not on the nose which was de minimus , but the palate was severely torqued with severe green notes and felt utterly off. Confirmed from another taster un-primed. Even with hours in decanter, never got cork on the nose but the wine was marginally tolerable at best.
If you have this I would forget about them for a long time and see what's happening in about 2027.
Medium to dark ruby. Violets, baking spice, purple fruit, not a trace of heat. Palate is medium in body, quite alive, blue and purple fruit. Balanced with nice acid. Lovely texture. This is very nice, and will bring joy for years to come. A more earthy character came out on night 2. Traces of meat and barn.
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The freshness of this cabernet is tip top for a Napa valley mountain fruit, new world offering. Definitely more robust and rich than Ketan’s oak knoll Vare offering, this one coming in at 14.1% (vs the slim 12.3-% Vare bottling). Tons of sweet blue and fresh cassis on the nose. While rich and blue fruity, More tart with nice mouth watering acidity coming thru mid-palate, and a good lingering finish to contemplate all the flavors in your mouth. Definitely one of the better Napa cabs going in the $100/750 range.
**Under $100, that is …
Day 2 notes , is even more open and rich, I’m now getting vanilla and sweet Tobacco on the nose, massive aromatics, and more of that ideal balance of the rich fruit and dryness and acidity on the palate. Muy bueno!
I had a chance to taste this in 2019 and was thrilled to be able to try it again now. A wine in perfect balance... robe the color of black cherries, with a fragrant nose showcasing cassis, sage, sweet toffee, floral notes. Midweight, with flavors of tart-ripe cassis, firm tannins but with a silky texture, very long finish. 97+
Bottle prep: I opened this 24 hours before tasting, tried a small sample, then loosely recorked and left the bottle overnight in a cool cellar. In fact this wasn't enough air, and the wine noticeably opened over the 4 hours after we started drinking it.
Ageing: The 2017 hasn't yet been released, but I think will need a little cellar time to let the tannins unwind. This will age effortlessly, so I would drink a bottle at age 8, then revisit around age 12 or beyond. At peak, which should be around 2030, this could merit an even higher score!
For me, the 2017 was a remarkable and exceptional wine, and unexpected too (this was the year of the massive Sonoma wildfires, but also heat stress and a strange mix of very heavy spring rains with very dry summer conditions). From a barrel sample.
96 now, then (97-98). The wine was really good, and it stood out even side by side with other wines from more celebrated vintages. Dark in color, with a very expressive nose that reminds me of one of the wines in the Bond portfolio (Quella). Perhaps this isn't a surprise: Ketan used to be a winemaker at Bond. The nose shows a mix of what people are calling red, black and blue fruits (they have in mind red currents, black cherry and blueberry) -- I would actually have gone with "black caps" myself, which is a kind of stunted wild blackberry. You also fund loamy notes, hints of tobacco and cocoa, perhaps a touch of coffee liqueur. Ketan poured this cold but I kept the remaining half bottle and finished it later at room temperature with my family, and the palate evolved a lot during that time. On opening, a bit stern, with considerable structure. A few hours later, the acidity and tannins were softened and the fruit was far more prominent and had a lovely restrained sweetness. A long mineral-supported finish lingers for ages...
Not a hint of heat spike or smoke taint issues here. And the wine may merit 97-98 as it ages: this won't be sold for years and I may be the first to have tasted it outside the winery team themselves!
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5/9/2024 - swillpower wrote:
The hype around this wine is utterly lost on me. Tried over 3 days. Yes, it’s intensely structured, I’ll give you that. But it’s also unyielding and almost devoid of fruit. I can only hope that this evolves, as those with more experience tell me it will. Right now, I feel like I spent a lot of money on a case of wine that will never be pleasurable to drink.
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9/8/2022 - Asull2k Likes this wine: 92 Points
Double decanted for about 24 hrs and still evolved after pouring for 1-2 hrs, same on day 2 and 3. Deep dark purple with a hint of ruby color. Blackberry, dark cherry, plum, graphite, soil on the nose. Mulberry, minerals, and cedar on the palate with slight tart acid core that lingers into a 35-40 sec finish. More red cassis and raspberry on the palate as it evolved in glass. I thought this wine presented in a much more French style than a typical modern Napa cabernet, and really interested in seeing how further aging affects this wine. Much less pyrazine than I anticipated, having last tried the 2013.
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9/1/2022 - pa1966stang Likes this wine: 92 Points
Please please put your bottles away for the next 10+ years!
Now that my PSA is complete: decanted for 4 hours before the first pour. Nose is muted and slightly alcoholic. Tannins are gripping with noticable dryness on the younger and teeth. Under ripe blackberries and plums eek through the tannins. The stuffing is there for a great wine, but this is closer to a barrel sample than a 5 year old wine. It needs rest and time in the cellar. With more time in the glass the nose starts to evolve and grow to match the palate.
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8/19/2022 - AllRed wrote: 93 Points
Friday Group Brown Bag Tasting (R&D's): Blind. Dark color. Aromas of black fruit and herbs- rosemary and sage. Firm, fine tannins. Flavors of currants, black raspberry and herbs with a long finish. Young; structured, but balanced. In this flight, easy to pick out as one of the Betas.
This had been decanted nearly seven hours, and then spent another 90 minutes breathing in bottle. Poured in the flight 8.5 hours after the cork was first pulled. Lots of potential here- hold to 2027+.
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8/2/2022 - spinnin_and_sippin Likes this wine:
Cola, bitter herbs, dark fruit (restrained nose at the moment). Concentrated with high acidity giving it lift. Oak is present but not the star of the show and it still provides a lot of food for thought. Tannins are enjoyable now, but built for later. Can’t wait to try this again (absolutely no rush here).
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7/14/2022 - Seth Rosenberg Likes this wine: 94 Points
This has been open 5 days or so. At first it struck me as decent but fairly generic soft Napa/Sonoma Cab, and it stayed that way for 3-4 days, but now it’s improved significantly. Nose of dark fruits like black currant, along with a nice raw meat and blood note, some herbal aspects that approach mint but don’t quite get there, and some soil. The wine has built grip on the palate and finish as well. It does have silky aspects but it’s also got some oomph and structure. Medium weight with nice dark fruits and blood and some minerality. The finish is good and bodes well for the future. A very good Cab for the $ that doesn’t fall into the overdone nonsense common for the region today. Nose - 5.5/6, Palate - 5/6, Finish - 5/6, Je ne Sais Quoi - 1.5/2 = 17/20.
Another taste shows some more reddish fruits - raspberry and some dark cherry. There is a liveliness and a spiciness - dark and baking spices. A hint of sweetness from oak. The palate shows lively with tiny berry fruit - focused and crisp with the good red and dark fruits and the spiciness. All this carries well through to the finish.
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6/26/2022 - Discobiscuits42 Likes this wine: 95 Points
Four hour decant. Very tasty, great pairing with steak. Very well balanced, zero sense of alcohol, lovely texture. Fruit is somewhat hidden behind the tannin wall. Definitely not fruit forward. Elegant. Wonderful nose hinting at the future potential.
Day two: left cork in it in fridge overnight. fruit is more apparent with tannins diminished though still present. A somewhat astringent flavor in midpalate. Acid is still hanging. Nose has waned.
I think this has a lot of potential and is quite lovely now. Down the road, I expect this to be quite a lot better. Excellent qpr. As of now, I see no point to saving for second day.
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6/7/2022 - winefloat Likes this wine:
Fantastic, more old school style mountain Napa cab. This wine is entirely ready to drink now with some air or cellar for at least 2 decades.
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5/8/2022 - AndrewSGHall wrote: flawed
Calling it corked, but I am not wholly sure. Not on the nose which was de minimus , but the palate was severely torqued with severe green notes and felt utterly off. Confirmed from another taster un-primed. Even with hours in decanter, never got cork on the nose but the wine was marginally tolerable at best.
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5/1/2022 - Bakerbd Likes this wine: 94 Points
Dark flowers, wild blackberry, graphite, grippy tannin, long. Very good now, much better in 5 yrs
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4/24/2022 - 87tellub Likes this wine: 92 Points
If you have this I would forget about them for a long time and see what's happening in about 2027.
Medium to dark ruby. Violets, baking spice, purple fruit, not a trace of heat. Palate is medium in body, quite alive, blue and purple fruit. Balanced with nice acid. Lovely texture. This is very nice, and will bring joy for years to come. A more earthy character came out on night 2. Traces of meat and barn.
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4/21/2022 - Wine G Likes this wine: 96 Points
The freshness of this cabernet is tip top for a Napa valley mountain fruit, new world offering. Definitely more robust and rich than Ketan’s oak knoll Vare offering, this one coming in at 14.1% (vs the slim 12.3-% Vare bottling).
Tons of sweet blue and fresh cassis on the nose. While rich and blue fruity, More tart with nice mouth watering acidity coming thru mid-palate, and a good lingering finish to contemplate all the flavors in your mouth.
Definitely one of the better Napa cabs going in the $100/750 range.
**Under $100, that is …
Day 2 notes , is even more open and rich, I’m now getting vanilla and sweet Tobacco on the nose, massive aromatics, and more of that ideal balance of the rich fruit and dryness and acidity on the palate. Muy bueno!
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6/18/2021 - KPB wrote: 97 Points
I had a chance to taste this in 2019 and was thrilled to be able to try it again now. A wine in perfect balance... robe the color of black cherries, with a fragrant nose showcasing cassis, sage, sweet toffee, floral notes. Midweight, with flavors of tart-ripe cassis, firm tannins but with a silky texture, very long finish. 97+
Bottle prep: I opened this 24 hours before tasting, tried a small sample, then loosely recorked and left the bottle overnight in a cool cellar. In fact this wasn't enough air, and the wine noticeably opened over the 4 hours after we started drinking it.
Ageing: The 2017 hasn't yet been released, but I think will need a little cellar time to let the tannins unwind. This will age effortlessly, so I would drink a bottle at age 8, then revisit around age 12 or beyond. At peak, which should be around 2030, this could merit an even higher score!
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8/3/2019 - KPB Likes this wine: 96 Points
For me, the 2017 was a remarkable and exceptional wine, and unexpected too (this was the year of the massive Sonoma wildfires, but also heat stress and a strange mix of very heavy spring rains with very dry summer conditions). From a barrel sample.
96 now, then (97-98). The wine was really good, and it stood out even side by side with other wines from more celebrated vintages. Dark in color, with a very expressive nose that reminds me of one of the wines in the Bond portfolio (Quella). Perhaps this isn't a surprise: Ketan used to be a winemaker at Bond. The nose shows a mix of what people are calling red, black and blue fruits (they have in mind red currents, black cherry and blueberry) -- I would actually have gone with "black caps" myself, which is a kind of stunted wild blackberry. You also fund loamy notes, hints of tobacco and cocoa, perhaps a touch of coffee liqueur. Ketan poured this cold but I kept the remaining half bottle and finished it later at room temperature with my family, and the palate evolved a lot during that time. On opening, a bit stern, with considerable structure. A few hours later, the acidity and tannins were softened and the fruit was far more prominent and had a lovely restrained sweetness. A long mineral-supported finish lingers for ages...
Not a hint of heat spike or smoke taint issues here. And the wine may merit 97-98 as it ages: this won't be sold for years and I may be the first to have tasted it outside the winery team themselves!
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