RayT
Member #338,373 signed up 5/31/2014
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2016 Joseph Phelps Cabernet Sauvignon Estate Grown Napa Valley
12/14/2023 - RayT Likes this wine: 91 Points
Been at least 5 years since I drank a bottle of this (different vintage). When I have drank these at an earlier stage I always tell myself they need more age. This was a last minute pull so this was a pnp.
This full bodied wine was garnet in color with a nice nose of blackberry, blueberry, coffee, and baking spices. Similar on the palatte with cassis, blackberry, spice, tobacco and earth. This needed some air to come together. Probably best at the 4 hour mark. It was smoother on day 2 but lost some vibrancy of the fruit. Still was fine on day 3 so this wine still has plenty of life left in it. As this wine got more air (2nd and 3rd day) the cassis and tobacco started to dominate the wine.
It always surprises me how this bottling is more powerful than the Insignia but it lacks its elegance and complexity. Ideally I would hold this bottle 1 more year. If drinking now give it a 2-3 hour decant.
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2019 Vice Versa Cabernet Sauvignon Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard
12/12/2023 - RayT Likes this wine: 97 Points
Had this with dinner at my friend Dick's house about 4 months ago and I am just catching up with TN. Called the winery and talked to Samantha before drinking and she said decant this 2 hours which I did. I think this could have used 4 hours. We drank this over an hour and it did continue to fill out so I wish I had given it more air.
This was dark fruited with blackberry, black currant, tobacco, spice rack, and a touch of earth with a long finish. This wine went incredibly well with a slow cooked beef roast. While this wine was very good it was a bit overmatched by a 2016 Realm Absurd. I felt the fruit from The Absurd had more depth and polish. In defense of the Vice Versa the Absurd had 3 more years in bottle.
I had drunk a barrel sample of the Vice Versa To Kalon 2 years previous to this and that had more depth and complexity then it did this night. Since drinking this wine 4 months ago I feel the 19's are headed towards a slumber so I would hold off on this bottle or give it a very long slow ox or decant.
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2016 Realm Cellars The Absurd
12/8/2023 - RayT Likes this wine: 100 Points
Wow! This was ABSURDLY good! Had this with dinner at my friend Dick's house about 4 months ago and I am just catching up with TN. He almost popped the 2019 Absurd but I talked him in to popping the 2016 instead. We decanted this for an hour before dinner. I tried this on pnp and it was delicious but it filled out a touch with air.
This wine is dark purple almost black in color with a beautifully expressive nose and a palate to match. Intense flavors of creme de cassis, blackberry, blueberry, chocolate, and forest floor with a finish that goes on and on. The purity and depth of the fruit is just insane. With the power of this wine I was surprised that it does not come across as overbearing at all. This was also fantastic with the slow cooked beef roast we had. We drank this next to a 2019 Vice Versa To Kalon which is the only other wine I have given a 100 pts too and the Realm was substantially better and the best wine I have ever drank.
I coached baseball for 15 years and specialized in hitting. There are two components to hitting: the mechanics and timing. You can have a picture perfect swing and if your timing is off (to early or to late) you miss the ball. I feel like wine is a bit of the same.
This wine has great mechanics as Realm takes its very best fruit from that year and concocts a magical potion overseen by a stellar line up. This night the timing was just perfect and the wine knocked it out of the park.
This was my first time drinking this wine so a big thank you to my friend Dick for sharing this wonderful wine with us!
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