2014 Dana Estates Cabernet Sauvignon Hershey Vineyard

Community Tasting Notes (2) Avg Score: 96.5 points

• Options

  • Post a Comment
  • View Cailles's profile
  • Report Issue

  6/17/2019 - Cailles wrote: 96 Points

  22x Dana Estates 2013-2016: Once-in-a-lifetime tasting with winemaker Chris Cooney. We tasted the past 4 vintages (2013- 2016) of all their wines. Conclusions: 1) Incredibly high level: 93 as lowest score, many 95/96s and one 98 point wine (I rarely go so high in such broad tastings where you can't follow the wine over 5h). 2) Main reasons: weightless structure (not many Napa wines achieve that level), very elegant, high aromatic intensity, complexity and precision, perfect ripeness. 3) "Entry-level" wines (Vaso - great in 13/16, Onda - always a bit too fat) are very good but do not have the length or elegance (Onda) of the big 3, which each have a distinctive profile: Helms is probably the most purely perfumed (but overall a tad behind the others), Lotus is the most hedonistic and dense wine, Hershey the most complex, intellectual wine. 4) Wine of the Night? Probably the Lotus 2014. But others might likely surpass it one day (Hershey 13/16, Lotus 16). The 3 big wines got a 2-4 hour decant (which did good), all others PnPed.
  
  TN: Dana’s Hershey wines are the most complex and intellectual wines of the three marked by the elegance and weightlessness, the subtle aroma delivery, the perfect balance like no other wine in the lineup. These wines are soft like the finest Bordeauxs but they’re not Bordeaux in style but still distinctively Napa. This is certainly one of the finest wines Napa Valley has to offer if you’re looking for more than just sexy sweet Napa monsters. Again this complex, multi-layered minerality component with liquid rocks, wet earth, various herbs, some stems along the very well balanced, fresh and elegant dark fruit component. Very deep, long, balanced, fresh and weightless. While the 2013 and 2016 have clearly more upside this seems to be in a perfect spot today. 96 to 97 points.

  Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Comment

• Options

  • Post a Comment
  • View sirpat00's profile
  • Report Issue

  6/13/2019 - sirpat00 Likes this wine: 97 Points

  Dana estate vertical and horizontal 2013-16 (Restaurant Löwen, Meilen): Dana Estates vertical / horizontal – I am trying to coin "vertizontal" – with 22 wines in Zurich. The line-up included all vintages 2013-16 for all estates (including Vaso) and two vintages of the Sauvignon Blanc. The consistency I encountered here was amazing. Powerful yet elegant and light on the palate is a description that worked for almost all vintages and estates (including the Vaso). Of these vintages the 2016 stood out as exceptional, but I was also quite fond of the (controversial) 2013. In terms of estates Lotus and Hershey are playing in a league of their own. The "budget" Vaso is punching on par with Onda and Helms and hence offers great value for money. See the tasting story for more background and winemaker comments.
  
  Tasting note:
  This came across almost cool in terms of style despite a clearly ripe fruit. Just a drop of vanilla in the mix with an oaky, wooden layer around lots of fruity intensity. A quite powerful palate with more punch than for the other vineyards of the vintage. Also some sweet notes to be found here. Delicate, sexy, intriguing. A great wine.

  1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment

Professional reviews have copyrights and you can view them here for your personal use only as private content. To view pro reviews you must either subscribe to a pre-integrated publication or manually enter reviews below. Learn more.