This drank like a song last night. It took approximately 45 minutes to open up but once it did it was an absolutely world class bottle of wine. Incredible. Just incredible.
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When opened there was beautiful dark purple color but a tartness and absence of fruit which was concerning because I have five more bottles. By the time dinner was served it was fabulous - great fruit, finish and mouthfeel. This is a wonderful 23 year old wine showing no signs of giving out. Bravo. Open your bottles an hour early.
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Wonderful sweet blackberry and dark cherry aromas and flavors with sweet oak and mocha notes culminating in a long finish and refreshing depth with soft tannins.
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Popped, poured and I like it, very nice and ready to drink. 92+ points with a lively, vibrant, dark and rich color, nice dark ripe berry fruit, dark ripe cherry. With 2/3's of a bottle remaining there may notes to come on this lovely Cab.
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Massive as usual with blackberry, blueberry, maple and violet notes on the nose and palate. Very nicely integrated at this point and showing a good graphite/smoke component in the mid palate. Then finishing with a flourish of blue fruit and cresote.
Powerful and balanced by a decent amount of acid still. Has some very good years remaining. Enjoy these now if you have a few.
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This bottle was Coravin'd three times. On this showing it was quite Porty on the nose. However the palate was lively fresh full of Blueberry, BlackBerry, Cassis and dense fruit. Backed up with some sweet herbs and a charcoal note.
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Decanted. Very impressive. Red and black fruits seamlessly together with spice and pepper notes. Pretty and powerful, but not overdone. In an excellent spot now.
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A dark bold wine that has tamed over the years, these Mark Herold wines need every bit of 10 years to mature and mellow out, still plenty of life left, can age another 5 to 10 years easy. This isn't going anywhere anytime soon. At least its not the big fruit bomb it was in its youth. Definitely decant for an hour at least beforehand IMHO, had to open up and when it did, it rewarded. No addtional fireworks, just a well made big bold Napa Cab. Insert usual descriptors etc .
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Cassis and coffee with dark berries. So Mark Herold, the extracted style is big time present. How this wine is Coombsville AVA sourced is amazing. It seems like such a warmer and richer AVA. Is it the hillside growing or just Mark and his chemistry set? Not my favorite MH wine but a strong contender. Check it out this, it has more than few years to go if you find this after 2014.
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Nice cream de cassis on the nose. Good dark fruit taste profile with a some floral notes mixed with a little spice and smoke. This cabernet is both dense and balanced. I'd recommend it.
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Dark purple almost black, nose and palate show a little heat... A little too much (I bet it's more than 14.8%), but ripe delicious dark fruits w some coffee notes, and enough acidity to balance. Drank nicely over 3 hrs w steak. Drink now or within 5Yrs. 93-95.
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I enjoyed this wine for the aroma. started out floral, and migrated into green vegetable accents. I got rubber at some point, and this was nice for all the aroma's. Problem is that this wine even at 2005 is very chewy. I decanted for 2hrs, and drank slowly over the next 6, and it stayed very chewy the whole night. The tastes are bright and vibrant which leads me to believe this wine is just too young, and needs more time in the bottle.
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Very disappointing and very different than first bottle (and the next one opened, too.) In hindsight, this was a compromised bottle even though there were no signs of corkage or heat exposure. Overwhelming flavors of coffee and soy sauce and smell to match, totally confounding.
Reall nice wine. Dry, full body, medium+ tannins and acidity and pretty high alcohol, but the wine is so dense with fruits and phenolics, that it is well balanced. Beautiful black fruits with a touch of vanilla and spices. Strong finish.
Big Cab, typical Mark Herold product with a lot going on beneath the huge façade. Perfect with the massive T-Bones on the charcoal Weber! This wine has at least 5 years ahead of it for the secondaries to begin to take on the fruit and become really interesting!
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Decanted 4 hours and rebottled. Lots of cassis on the nose with some notes of liquer. Great attack of ripe, dark fruit on the palate dominated by blackberry and cassis. Full bodied but quite smooth. I didn't find a lot in terms of secondary charateristics. Some notes of smoke, chocolate and spice. This seemed a little one dimensional but it does come at you pretty hard. Moderate finish with smooth tannins, no doubt softened by the long decant. Very good but i was hoping for better. Not sure that this will improve from here so i will drink my other bottle sooner rather than later.
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Nose: evolves so nicely over several hours. Begins with gravel, cherry, blackraspberry and beautiful floral aromas. Then gains smokey charcoal and blueberry elements before the wine puts on weight. Palate: complex and evolves with the nose. As the wine changes it shows plum, blackberry, fig paste, black cherry, minerality, smoke an chocolate. Palate feel grows more plush over several hours. Finally Indian spices, black fruit, creamy texture and smoked chocolate dominate. Finish: long and mouth coating, shows it's alcohol on the finish.
The 2005 remains my favorite Kobalt. Thanks to Drycab for getting me to pop this tonight.
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Still a big nose that belies a little finesse that was totally unexpected from theis formerly bruiser of a wine. It seems on the edge, however, so I'd say to drink up now.
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Decanted 3 hours. Thick, black and still primary. Licorice, tobacco and a strong minerality resolving. Fine tannic core. Can't wait to see where this is in a few years.
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Young, powerful Napa Cab! Needs another 3-5 years cellaring, 25 years of life ahead. Heavy tannin, big juicy cherries/cassis and enough oak to balance it all out.
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This wine is coming along very nicely. As of this date, the wine needed 6 hours of air before the tannins began to really soften. The nose was pure joy as it enveloped my senses. Sweet and pungent, but not overwhelming. The mouthfeel was a bit fleshy and showed the depth of this wine. The finish was a good 45 sec. Plus . Highly recommended. This Kobalt will go the long hall. 2 years since my last bottle and it improved with age. Paired perfectly with rib eye. Just remember to decant for HOURS if you plan to drink this prior to 2014 at least. This is a big wine with a wall of tannins that needs significant taming.
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Nose: Started with sweet Blackberry and Caramel notes, and opened to reveal lots of layers of black/blue fruits. Blueberry, Blackberry, Cassis and complexities of smoke, truffles and some floral aromas. Palate: Enormous depth and richness. This wine really fills the mouth and shows all the dark fruit as well as an earth, charcoal and flower mix. Finish: Shows black cherry and a long long lingering blackberry and vanillin note. some minerality and chocolate notes show on the finish.
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Popped and let sit then decanted 3 hours later. Some complexity coming through that wasn't there before that is giving me great hope for the future of this wine. Hold and then drink in the next 5 years.
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decanted 4 1/2 hours and then back into the bottle. Very forward with fruit, very intricate wine, still young, but a powerhouse of a cab from Napa. Should age very gracefully for 10-15 years
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We enjoyed this at The Studio in Laguna Beach, CA. Wayne the sommelier picked this out as I was to enjoy the night and not worry about reading the wine list. I asked for something along the lines of a Cask/Rubicon. At first taste the tannins were having their way with me. It was deep deep inky purple, darn near black, lost of berries and florals on the nose, thick and really chewy, and reminded me of some of those big Bordeauxs from France I can never remember the names of. My mistake was ordering the scallops. Don’t get me wrong, but it was a bad match for the meal. No one in our group ordered beef. What a shame. Don’t get me wrong, everything was delicious and I am look to add a few bottles of this to the collection.
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Wine is too young, I knew that, but I love Kobalt and wanted to see what another year in the bottle did for the wine. Decanted 4 hours, should have left it for another 2-3 hours. Typical fruit bomb from Mark Herold, but I enjoy wines of this nature. in 5 to 10 years this wine will be amazing. I will wait another year and try a bottle at that time to see how it develops.
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Dinner at The Hobbit. Decanted for 1 hour. Plush notes of blackberries, plum, anise, and mocha. Started off a bit acidic and disjointed, but after being open for an additional hour, the wine softened up, came together, and drank very well. 90-91 points.
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Sweet, plummy but with restraint. I like the smokey smoothness of it but I didn't sense the earthiness/minerals as much as others did, which was what I found lacking in the middle. Definitely has some stuffing to it but not enough in my opinion.
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this wine took a whole day to open up. the first day, it tasted laid back and distint, but by the second day, it had opened up dramatically, and gained much in flavor. the first day, it was actually more bordeaux tasting than like a california cab, but by the second day, a lot of the cab characteristics came back. probably drank it too young, but i wanted to taste it first before ordering more from the winelist.
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Let it open up for about 2 hours. It started off lush but a little tight. As it opened up it certainly gained length, seamlessness and subtle complexity. The nose blossomed with lots of fresh red fruit and herbs. Visually it was dark, opaque with red ruby edges. In the mouth it was full of fruit, leather, herbs, and cedar. This wasn't an overexracted, over the top beast. It was full, but it was pretty refined and elegant. The tannins were integrated and sweet.
My first experience with Kobalt, and i have to say that I'm impressed. Had it with roast beef and garlic potatoes.b b n N
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The color of this wine is very inky, blue to purple. After some time in the decanter the aromas are very floral combined with blueberry and a minty freshness. The fruit is not quite as forward as previous vintages which may be good for some but not for others. Blackberry, currant and the almost Bordeaux like graphite mineral finish makes for a complex wine that, for me at least, is unlike any of the previous Kobalt cabs I have enjoyed. It's still early so I think it will improve with bottle age. Not "worse" than the 2004, just different.
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1/16/2020 - Rbtrage wrote: 91 Points
Better than the previous bottles. Not overly fruity this time. Still very fruit forward without other complex flavors.
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9/29/2019 - timshel wrote:
This drank like a song last night. It took approximately 45 minutes to open up but once it did it was an absolutely world class bottle of wine. Incredible. Just incredible.
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4/28/2019 - Rbtrage wrote: 89 Points
Too fruity...
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4/12/2019 - Rbtrage wrote: 90 Points
Good but too sweet for me...
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11/2/2018 - RAD2626 wrote: 91 Points
When opened there was beautiful dark purple color but a tartness and absence of fruit which was concerning because I have five more bottles. By the time dinner was served it was fabulous - great fruit, finish and mouthfeel. This is a wonderful 23 year old wine showing no signs of giving out. Bravo. Open your bottles an hour early.
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6/9/2018 - pjhr Likes this wine: 94 Points
Wonderful sweet blackberry and dark cherry aromas and flavors with sweet oak and mocha notes culminating in a long finish and refreshing depth with soft tannins.
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7/27/2017 - Yack Man Likes this wine: 92 Points
Popped, poured and I like it, very nice and ready to drink. 92+ points with a lively, vibrant, dark and rich color, nice dark ripe berry fruit, dark ripe cherry. With 2/3's of a bottle remaining there may notes to come on this lovely Cab.
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5/2/2017 - RockinCabs wrote: 92 Points
Massive as usual with blackberry, blueberry, maple and violet notes on the nose and palate. Very nicely integrated at this point and showing a good graphite/smoke component in the mid palate. Then finishing with a flourish of blue fruit and cresote.
Powerful and balanced by a decent amount of acid still. Has some very good years remaining. Enjoy these now if you have a few.
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1/12/2017 - bonedoc wrote: flawed
Corked!
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12/25/2016 - pjhr Likes this wine: 94 Points
Drinking beautifully! A wonderfully rich and complex Calif. Cab!
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3/6/2016 - RockinCabs wrote: 92 Points
This bottle was Coravin'd three times. On this showing it was quite Porty on the nose. However the palate was lively fresh full of Blueberry, BlackBerry, Cassis and dense fruit. Backed up with some sweet herbs and a charcoal note.
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8/16/2015 - pjhr Likes this wine: 93 Points
Wonderful sweet blackberry and dark cherry aromas and flavors with sweet oak and mocha notes culminating in a long finish with soft tannins.
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8/9/2015 - Geaux Tigers Likes this wine: 94 Points
Great stuff! Last bottle so wish I had more! On the lookout for more.
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3/5/2015 - Acohen Likes this wine: 91 Points
Big rich cab with cassis, berry and classic cab notes. Needs time to open and show itself but then nice traditional sweet cab
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2/16/2015 - bonedoc wrote: 93 Points
Ripe, sweet fruit, better for quaffing than w food.
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12/31/2014 - gmbdds wrote: 94 Points
Decanted. Very impressive. Red and black fruits seamlessly together with spice and pepper notes. Pretty and powerful, but not overdone. In an excellent spot now.
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9/14/2014 - wallstreet wrote: 93 Points
A dark bold wine that has tamed over the years, these Mark Herold wines need every bit of 10 years to mature and mellow out, still plenty of life left, can age another 5 to 10 years easy. This isn't going anywhere anytime soon. At least its not the big fruit bomb it was in its youth. Definitely decant for an hour at least beforehand IMHO, had to open up and when it did, it rewarded. No addtional fireworks, just a well made big bold Napa Cab. Insert usual descriptors etc .
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8/9/2014 - Vitis Maximus Likes this wine: 93 Points
Cassis and coffee with dark berries. So Mark Herold, the extracted style is big time present. How this wine is Coombsville AVA sourced is amazing. It seems like such a warmer and richer AVA. Is it the hillside growing or just Mark and his chemistry set? Not my favorite MH wine but a strong contender. Check it out this, it has more than few years to go if you find this after 2014.
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6/22/2014 - RockinCabs wrote: 94 Points
Similar to previous notes. This is drinking really well at the moment.
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4/20/2014 - CV Griz Fan Likes this wine: 95 Points
Nice cream de cassis on the nose. Good dark fruit taste profile with a some floral notes mixed with a little spice and smoke.
This cabernet is both dense and balanced.
I'd recommend it.
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4/4/2014 - bonedoc wrote: 93 Points
Rich, ripe, sweet seemingly some residual sugar.
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1/16/2014 - bonedoc wrote:
Dark purple almost black, nose and palate show a little heat... A little too much (I bet it's more than 14.8%), but ripe delicious dark fruits w some coffee notes, and enough acidity to balance. Drank nicely over 3 hrs w steak. Drink now or within 5Yrs. 93-95.
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12/27/2013 - awise45 wrote: 95 Points
Excellent, and in full bloom. Purple body and garnet rim, explosive flavors.
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12/6/2013 - Spook16 wrote: 91 Points
I enjoyed this wine for the aroma. started out floral, and migrated into green vegetable accents. I got rubber at some point, and this was nice for all the aroma's. Problem is that this wine even at 2005 is very chewy. I decanted for 2hrs, and drank slowly over the next 6, and it stayed very chewy the whole night. The tastes are bright and vibrant which leads me to believe this wine is just too young, and needs more time in the bottle.
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10/24/2013 - awise45 wrote: flawed
Very disappointing and very different than first bottle (and the next one opened, too.) In hindsight, this was a compromised bottle even though there were no signs of corkage or heat exposure. Overwhelming flavors of coffee and soy sauce and smell to match, totally confounding.
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8/10/2013 - awise45 wrote: 94 Points
Super rich and very alcoholic at first taste, but more mellow and lush as the night progressed. Lots of dark, deep fruit.
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7/23/2013 - bordeaux4wino Likes this wine: 93 Points
Reall nice wine. Dry, full body, medium+ tannins and acidity and pretty high alcohol, but the wine is so dense with fruits and phenolics, that it is well balanced. Beautiful black fruits with a touch of vanilla and spices. Strong finish.
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5/24/2013 - drycab wrote:
Big Cab, typical Mark Herold product with a lot going on beneath the huge façade. Perfect with the massive T-Bones on the charcoal Weber! This wine has at least 5 years ahead of it for the secondaries to begin to take on the fruit and become really interesting!
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12/25/2012 - Yamadori wrote: 90 Points
Decanted 4 hours and rebottled. Lots of cassis on the nose with some notes of liquer. Great attack of ripe, dark fruit on the palate dominated by blackberry and cassis. Full bodied but quite smooth. I didn't find a lot in terms of secondary charateristics. Some notes of smoke, chocolate and spice. This seemed a little one dimensional but it does come at you pretty hard. Moderate finish with smooth tannins, no doubt softened by the long decant. Very good but i was hoping for better. Not sure that this will improve from here so i will drink my other bottle sooner rather than later.
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12/21/2012 - bamhome wrote: 91 Points
Dark inky purple. Creamy Blackberry and perfume on the nose. Well balanced blackberry, blueberry, with not as long a finish as I hope. Good Cali Cab.
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9/7/2012 - RockinCabs wrote: 95 Points
Nose: evolves so nicely over several hours. Begins with gravel, cherry, blackraspberry and beautiful floral aromas. Then gains smokey charcoal and blueberry elements before the wine puts on weight. Palate: complex and evolves with the nose. As the wine changes it shows plum, blackberry, fig paste, black cherry, minerality, smoke an chocolate. Palate feel grows more plush over several hours. Finally Indian spices, black fruit, creamy texture and smoked chocolate dominate. Finish: long and mouth coating, shows it's alcohol on the finish.
The 2005 remains my favorite Kobalt. Thanks to Drycab for getting me to pop this tonight.
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8/6/2012 - drycab wrote:
Still a big nose that belies a little finesse that was totally unexpected from theis formerly bruiser of a wine. It seems on the edge, however, so I'd say to drink up now.
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6/29/2012 - rdsboca wrote: 92 Points
Big and bold black fruit - cherry and blueberry dominate. Hedonistic but not hot. Really fun to drink.
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3/23/2012 - wallstreet wrote: 93 Points
fruity, big, lush, typical Mark Herold wine and typical of the 05 vintage. decant 2 hours , consume, repeat :) Will last a long time, no need to hurry
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2/21/2012 - MJTed wrote: 93 Points
Decanted 3 hours. Thick, black and still primary. Licorice, tobacco and a strong minerality resolving. Fine tannic core. Can't wait to see where this is in a few years.
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11/29/2011 - MondovinoCA wrote: 94 Points
Young, powerful Napa Cab! Needs another 3-5 years cellaring, 25 years of life ahead. Heavy tannin, big juicy cherries/cassis and enough oak to balance it all out.
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3/30/2011 - wallstreet wrote:
This wine is coming along very nicely. As of this date, the wine needed 6 hours of air before the tannins began to really soften. The nose was pure joy as it enveloped my senses. Sweet and pungent, but not overwhelming. The mouthfeel was a bit fleshy and showed the depth of this wine. The finish was a good 45 sec. Plus . Highly recommended. This Kobalt will go the long hall. 2 years since my last bottle and it improved with age. Paired perfectly with rib eye. Just remember to decant for HOURS if you plan to drink this prior to 2014 at least. This is a big wine with a wall of tannins that needs significant taming.
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8/25/2010 - RockinCabs wrote: 94 Points
Nose: Started with sweet Blackberry and Caramel notes, and opened to reveal lots of layers of black/blue fruits. Blueberry, Blackberry, Cassis and complexities of smoke, truffles and some floral aromas. Palate: Enormous depth and richness. This wine really fills the mouth and shows all the dark fruit as well as an earth, charcoal and flower mix. Finish: Shows black cherry and a long long lingering blackberry and vanillin note. some minerality and chocolate notes show on the finish.
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8/17/2010 - sdatl wrote: 90 Points
A little shut down, but rich and elegant and full of blackcurrant
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5/10/2010 - drycab wrote:
Popped and let sit then decanted 3 hours later. Some complexity coming through that wasn't there before that is giving me great hope for the future of this wine. Hold and then drink in the next 5 years.
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12/6/2009 - wallstreet wrote:
decanted 4 1/2 hours and then back into the bottle. Very forward with fruit, very intricate wine, still young, but a powerhouse of a cab from Napa. Should age very gracefully for 10-15 years
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11/11/2009 - ewineguy wrote: 92 Points
We enjoyed this at The Studio in Laguna Beach, CA. Wayne the sommelier picked this out as I was to enjoy the night and not worry about reading the wine list. I asked for something along the lines of a Cask/Rubicon. At first taste the tannins were having their way with me. It was deep deep inky purple, darn near black, lost of berries and florals on the nose, thick and really chewy, and reminded me of some of those big Bordeauxs from France I can never remember the names of. My mistake was ordering the scallops. Don’t get me wrong, but it was a bad match for the meal. No one in our group ordered beef. What a shame. Don’t get me wrong, everything was delicious and I am look to add a few bottles of this to the collection.
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11/2/2009 - Serge Birbrair wrote:
lots of vanilla on the palate, American oak, will be interesting in 5+ years.
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10/31/2009 - wallstreet wrote:
Wine is too young, I knew that, but I love Kobalt and wanted to see what another year in the bottle did for the wine. Decanted 4 hours, should have left it for another 2-3 hours. Typical fruit bomb from Mark Herold, but I enjoy wines of this nature. in 5 to 10 years this wine will be amazing. I will wait another year and try a bottle at that time to see how it develops.
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5/22/2009 - Paul Lin wrote: 90 Points
Dinner at The Hobbit. Decanted for 1 hour. Plush notes of blackberries, plum, anise, and mocha. Started off a bit acidic and disjointed, but after being open for an additional hour, the wine softened up, came together, and drank very well. 90-91 points.
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4/3/2009 - Hazeo wrote: 91 Points
Sweet, plummy but with restraint. I like the smokey smoothness of it but I didn't sense the earthiness/minerals as much as others did, which was what I found lacking in the middle. Definitely has some stuffing to it but not enough in my opinion.
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10/5/2008 - drycab wrote: 92 Points
Still resolving the oak. Give it another 6 months at least.
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6/1/2008 - swazi wrote: 94 Points
this wine took a whole day to open up. the first day, it tasted laid back and distint, but by the second day, it had opened up dramatically, and gained much in flavor.
the first day, it was actually more bordeaux tasting than like a california cab, but by the second day, a lot of the cab characteristics came back.
probably drank it too young, but i wanted to taste it first before ordering more from the winelist.
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4/20/2008 - Jay A wrote: 94 Points
Let it open up for about 2 hours. It started off lush but a little tight. As it opened up it certainly gained length, seamlessness and subtle complexity. The nose blossomed with lots of fresh red fruit and herbs. Visually it was dark, opaque with red ruby edges. In the mouth it was full of fruit, leather, herbs, and cedar. This wasn't an overexracted, over the top beast. It was full, but it was pretty refined and elegant. The tannins were integrated and sweet.
My first experience with Kobalt, and i have to say that I'm impressed. Had it with roast beef and garlic potatoes.b b n N
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4/2/2008 - whynblog wrote: 92 Points
The color of this wine is very inky, blue to purple. After some time in the decanter the aromas are very floral combined with blueberry and a minty freshness. The fruit is not quite as forward as previous vintages which may be good for some but not for others. Blackberry, currant and the almost Bordeaux like graphite mineral finish makes for a complex wine that, for me at least, is unlike any of the previous Kobalt cabs I have enjoyed. It's still early so I think it will improve with bottle age. Not "worse" than the 2004, just different.
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