2012 JP Harbison Cabernet Sauvignon Pony Express Estate

Community Tasting Notes (7) Avg Score: 96 points

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  5/14/2023 - Geaux Tigers Likes this wine: 99 Points

  Opened and was ready to roll from the start. Black purplish color, no sign of bricking. Drank over 2 hrs while cooking supper. So good, never made it to dinner!
  
  Explosive nose, fresh crushed blueberries, Asian spice, hint of creosote, cedar, pencil shavings, spiced plums, tilled soil. Palate was equally sublime with fresh plum, ripe black cherry, ripe blackberry, black raspberry. Long finish with an ever so slight hint of eucalyptus and black olive.
  
  Restrained hedonism with balance. BDX lovers will still hate it. Napa lovers might side eye it, me, I love what Russell did with this. At or near peak for my palate, but sadly, my last bottle. Was hard to find any imperfection here, but going with something just short of the Benjamin.
  
  Full disclosure, I am an Eastern Oakville homer, so take that into account.

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  11/12/2021 - Geaux Tigers Likes this wine: 99 Points

  Opened and poured into the decanter, black as night lovely inky texture. Was thinking this would need a 90 minute decant, but was ready from the go.
  
  Gorgeous nose with dried fruit,plum, cedar, lead pencil, black cherry, dried blueberry, touch of menthol herbs. The nose is up there with the best anyone anywhere has to offer.
  
  On the palate, fruit fruit fruit — gorgeous balanced fruit. Black cherry, hint of black raspberry, blueberry, with a long lingering finish. The fruit is gorgeous but in no way overdone-this is really starting to develop tertiary notes-they’re extremely complementary to an already gorgeous profile. 98 on open.
  
  At 1 hr, the (earlier expected) faint creosote charred embers notes appeared to bolster what was already a great nose. The palate was still good but became more complex, blurring the line between a boisterous BDX and a semi-restrained Napa. 99 pts. Why no 100? I’m not sure either, but it just didn’t feel like perfection.
  
  No oak or tannin influence, they’ve completely integrated. None of the sometimes hard edges you find on the backend of Russell’s younger wines. In the end the decant was actually needed as this threw off a lot of sediment.
  
  This is well into my preferred drinking window but these easily have many years left. This is why I age wine and why I prefer Napa cabs in the 9 to 12 year range. This wine tells me Russell can makes wines that don’t need early consumption. Mine won’t last past 15 yrs (no restraint on my part), so I think I found the peak for my palate.

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  2/13/2021 - MAXIMUM SATISFACTION wrote: 90 Points

  Bought direct at release. Decanted a few hours then back into the bottle. Not my favorite this time. It came of very bitter with little body/structure. Still some sweet notes coming through that I would equate to flat soda. Seemed over the hill and the extracted style did not do that any favors. Not sure the deal with this bottle but did really like another bottle a few years back. Drank like a decent $40 bottle. No pleasure at even the release price.

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  9/5/2020 - FoinZap Likes this wine: 94 Points

  Decanted and poured. Dark plum color. Nose is black fruit, tobacco, earth, pencil lead. Strong fruit-forward palate, blackberry, black cherry, crushed rock, milk chocolate, a spice note, also a touch bitter on the finish. Full bodied, slightly grainy mouth feel. Softened and balanced out nicely with time in the glass. My personal preference would be for the bitter note to be better integrated, but a overall a very nice effort.

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  1/21/2018 - MAXIMUM SATISFACTION wrote: 99 Points

  Opened in bottle for 2 hours and decanted an additional 3. Still incredibly young but ultra expressive even at this stage. Incredible complexity with compacted layers of extracted blue/black fruit, cassis liqueur, menthol, milk chocolate, cherry syrup...peaking through. An amazing amount of freshness counterbalances this with wild raspberry, strawberry juice, tobacco, crushed granite, and lead. The final result is nearly flawless with clean/precise fruit shinning through. The finish lingers strong for at least a minute. This will only improve over the next 5 years.

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